Western Front: Aisne & Oise. French folding postcard map of the Aisne and Oise, number 3 from the series Les Cartes du Front. The map includes the Champagne front from Compiègne in the west to Chalons-sur-Marne in the east including Soissons, Chemin des Dammes, Laon, Reims, and Château Thierry.
Image text: Les Cartes du FrontNo. 3 — Aisne & OiseMaps of the FrontAisne & OiseEn vente chez tous les librairesLes Cartes du Fronttirées en 5 couleursFormat Dble. Carte-PostaleNo 1. Les Flandres- 2. Artois, Picardie- 3. Aisne & Oise- 4. Argonne — Côte de Meuse- 5. Lorraine- 6. Vosges et AlsaceA. Hatier. Editeur.8.Rue d'Assas, Paris.Outer front:Correspondence of the ArmiesMilitary Franchise
I've killed many Germans, but never women or children. Original French watercolor by John on blank field postcard. In the background are indolent Russian soldiers and Vladimir Lenin, in the foreground stands what may be a Romanian soldier who is telling the Russians, 'You call me savage. I killed a lot of Boches [Germans], but never women or children!'
Image text: T'appelles moi sauvage !. Moi, tuer Boches beaucoup, mais jamais li femmes et li s'enfants !You call me wild. I killed a lot of Boches [Germans], but never women or children!
Peoples of Austria-Hungary in 1914 from Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd. The empire's population included Germans, Magyars, Romanians, Italians, and Slavs including Croats, Serbians, Ruthenians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and Slovenes.
Image text: Peoples of Austria-Hungary in 1914Legend:Germans, Magyars, Romanians, Italians, and Slavs including Croats, Serbians, Ruthenians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and Slovenes.
Russian soldiers resting in the field. Card postmarked November 28, 1916.
Image text: Reverse:Postmarked November 28, 1916.
Syria and Palestine Front: Showing Cairo, Egypt, the northern Sinai peninsula, Akaba on the Red Sea, Jerusalem, Beirut, Damascus, and Aleppo. The Hejaz Railway runs north, parallel to the Mediterranean coast. From Palestine and Syria with Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and with the Island of Cyprus by Karl Baedeker.
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"On the left, the chief effort of the French Sixth Army had been made on the extreme flank at Noyon ; but there had also been hard fighting north of Soissons, and by the evening of the 17th the 45th French Division had gained at least a footing on the plateau of Cuffies (1 1/2 miles north of Soissons). But on that same evening the point of application of the outflanking movement was reported to have shifted from Noyon, westward and slightly northward, to Lagny and Lassigny." ((1), more)
"Friday, September 17, 1915.The strikes have extended to-day to almost all the factories in Petrograd. But no disorder is reported. The leaders say they simply wish to protest against the prorogation of the Duma, and that work will be resumed in two days.One of my informers, who knows working-class circles well, said to me to-day:"There's nothing to fear this time either. It's only a general rehearsal."He added that the ideas of Lenin and his "defeatist" propaganda are making great headway among the educated elements of the working class." ((2), more)
". . . by the time Cadorna suspended the attack late on the 17th [September], Boroević's army was in tatters. As Italian production increased, the artillery gap had widened. The quality of Austrian rations was slipping. The draft was despatching middle-aged intakes to the front with little training. Ominously, combat performance was starting to fracture along ethnic lines." ((3), more)
"We hear that Kornilov has been arrested, and do not know whether to be sad or glad; our loyalties are so evenly divided. Kerensky has been our hero since the political revolution in March 1917, but it was thanks to Kornilov that our Armies — especially our beloved 8th Army — achieved such success in Galicia during the recent summer campaigns." ((4), more)
"The Royal Air Force launched aerial attacks on Daraa on 16 September in a bid to disrupt Ottoman communications and to encourage Liman von Sanders to focus on the defence of the Hijaz Railway. T. E. Lawrence led Arab forces in an attack with armoured cars on the railway south of Daraa, where they succeeded in destroying a bridge. The following day, the main Arab force attacked the railway to the north of Daraa with relative impunity. The Ottomans rushed to repair the line, and Liman called up reserves from the coastal port of Haifa to reinforce Daraa—playing perfectly into Allenby's deception." ((5), more)
(1) After their defeat in the Battle of the Marne, the Germans retreated north to form a defensive line on the Aisne River. The French suffered heavy losses in frontal assaults during the Battle of the Aisne. By September 17, 1914, the enemies began trying to outflank each other on the western end of their lines, efforts that moved west and then north in the so-called Race to the Sea.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1914, Vol. I, August to October by J. E. Edmonds, page 388, copyright © Second Edition 1925, publisher: MacMillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1925
(2) With Tsar Nicholas taking command of the Russian Army, the Tsar and his government prorogued the Duma, Russia's national representative assembly. Two days before, the Ambassador dined with leaders of the Liberal Party who had just heard of the decision. Lenin and the Bolshevik Party argued that the war was an imperialist one, and that Russia should conclude a separate peace with Germany.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 77, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(3) In an attempt to build on the success of his Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, Italian Commander in Chief Luigi Cadorna launched the the success of his Seventh Battle on September 13, 1916. General Boroević's Austro-Hungarian troops were mimicking the defensive tactics of German troops, lightly defending a front line, though supporting it with machine gun nests, so that casualties would be relatively light during the standard bombardment that preceded an infantry assault. Cadorna thought the Austro-Hungarians had two defensive lines; they had four.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 220, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(4) Excerpt from the entry for September 4, (September 17, New Style), 1917 from the diary of Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, on the arrest of General Lavr Kornilov for plotting a military coup against the government of Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky. Kerensky had appointed Kornilov Supreme Commander of the Russian Army on July 31, 1917 following his relative success in the Russian offensive earlier in the month. Although claiming to support the Revolution, Kornilov opposed many of its reforms, and wanted to bring back the death penalty for deserters from the army, many of whom had simply left the front. He had begun planning a coup with conservative officers, financiers, and industrialists in the first days of the revolution. Kornilov asked that command of the government as well as the military be transferred to himself specifically to prevent a Bolshevik coup. Kerensky had already held the titles of Justice Minister and War Minister when he asked the government to hand him power to deal with Kornilov.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 315, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(5) Under the command of General Edmund Allenby, the British entered Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, then continued advancing along the Mediterranean coast in Palestine. Allenby failed to take Nablus in an attack launched on March 8, 1918, and further attacks were suspended after the success of Germany's Spring Offensives made the Allied position on the Western Front desperate, demanding men and materiel in France. With the ultimate German failure and the success of Allied offensives beginning in July, Allenby resumed his campaign. He would do so on September 19, attacking along the coast rather than inland. The Daraa raid deceived German General Otto Liman von Sanders who commanded Turkish and German forces in the region. T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, worked with the Arabs opposing the Turks and led a campaign sabotaging the Hijaz Railway that ran from Medina in Arabia, north to Maan, Amman, and Damascus.
The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East by Eugene Rogan, page 374, copyright © 2015 by Eugene Rogan, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2015
