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Gun turrets of Fort Douaumont in the rain, September 22, 2015. © 2015 John M. Shea
Wall panel by Jo Roos, the second of two portraying South Africa's participation in World War I, primarily covering events of 1917 and 1918. Sections include the Campaign in East Africa, the sinking of the Mendi, and scenes from South Africa's participation in the war on the Western Front. © 2015 John M. Shea
Skulls, bones, helmets, rifle parts in a trench at Verdun, a ravine of death.
Austrian postcard of the inundations at Nieuport, Belgium, with soldiers at the flood barrier. Driven to a corner of Belgium by Germany's advance, the Belgians tried to make a stand on the Yser Canal in the flat terrain of Flanders. Driven back, they retreated behind the railway embankment that ran from Nieuport on the coast to Dixmude 20 miles inland. On October 27, 1914 they opened the locks to flood the plain before them, a process that took several days. Unable to break through, the Germans abandoned the Battle of the Yser on October 31.
Headstone of an unknown soldier of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Delville Wood Cemetery. Union of South Africa troops began the assault at Delville Wood on July 15, 1916. It was finally taken in September. On the headstone is superimposed the poem 'To My Daughter Betty, the Gift of God' by Lieutenant Tom Kettle of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, killed in action on September 9, 1916 at Guillemont, France, in the Battle of the Somme. He has no known grave. © 2013 John M. Shea
"On 8 May a series of explosions wracked the depths of the fort, spreading from a box of hand grenades to the petrol canisters used in flamethrowers and, finally, to a magazine of artillery shells. Some 650 German soldiers died—underground, in darkness, blown to pieces, seared by fire or choked by smoke—in the worst disaster of its type that either army suffered at Verdun." ((1), more)
"I was just bursting for a bayonet charge. An enemy machine gun crept up to within thirty yards of us and opened from behind some rocks. We could not dislodge it, so we led out a platoon and smothered it, bayoneting all its personnel. I ended up by using my rifle as a club — with disastrous results — for my stock broke, but it was great. The South Africans behaved splendidly: quite steady, quiet and collected." ((2), more)
"The weather is fine here. It is sad to think about death when you're in good health. What's the good of it all? What's the point of the wholesale wiping out of masses of decent fellows who only want to live peacefully with their families? It's the madness, the wickedness, and the idiocy of a minority which is oppressing the masses—set of sheep that we are!" ((3), more)
"On May 11 [1916], an air accident took the life of the mastermind behind France's fighter effort up to that point. Having turned down offers of a bomber command or a joint fighter and bomber command, Commandant de Rose had convinced the military authorities that the French fighter arm should have a free hand to preemptively seize control of the air over any critical area of the front, taking on defensive or escort roles as secondary options as needed. Upon his return to the Verdun sector, he was doing a demonstration flight for the Ve Armée's new quartermaster-general when his Nieuport suddenly crashed." ((4), more)
"But believing as I do that any action would be justified which would put a stop to this colossal crime now being perpetrated, I feel compelled to express the hope that ere long we may read of the paralysing of the internal transport service on the continent, even should the act of paralysing necessitate the erection of Socialist barricades and acts of rioting by Socialist soldiers and sailors, as happened in Russia in 1905.Even an unsuccessful attempt at social revolution by force of arms, following the paralysis of the economic life of militarism, would be less disastrous to the Socialist cause than the act of Socialists in allowing themselves to be used in the slaughter of their brothers in the causes." ((5), more)
(1) German troops captured Fort Douaumont, one of the principle forts protecting the fortress city of Verdun, on February 25, 1916, surprising a garrison that had no idea it was at risk. The Battle of Verdun at that date was only in its fourth day. The explosion on May 8 convinced General Mangin the time was ripe for the French to retake the fort. A plaque at Fout Douaumont puts the number of Germans killed in the explosion at 679. In a footnote our author Ian Ousby elaborates on 'the worst disaster of its type that either army suffered at Verdun': Between 400 and 500 French 'using the Tavannes railway tunnel as command post, emergency hospital, garrison and place of refuge' died in an explosion and fire on September 4, 1916.
The Road to Verdun by Ian Ousby, page 275, copyright © 2002 by The Estate of Ian Ousby, publisher: Anchor Books, publication date: 2003
(2) Excerpt from the May 9, 1916 diary entry of Richard Meinertzhagen, a British officer of German and Danish extraction pursuing the forces of German Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in East Africa. Since the turn of the year, the British campaign had been led by General Jan Smuts, who had fought in the Boer War. The action Meinertzhagen describes was part of the Battle of Kondoa Irangi, fought between May 7 and 10, 1916 in German East Africa. Soon after killing the men manning the machine gun, Meinertzhagen killed a German officer Kornatsky in hand-to-hand combat.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 176, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
(3) A soldier's letter, one of two quoted by Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government in his diary entry for May 10, 1916. Corday observed that, 'the newspapers have printed only the heroic soldiers' letters.'
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 164, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(4) Escadrille or Squadron 12 was formed in 1912 at Reims, France, under the command of Jean Baptiste Marie Charles de Tricornot de Rose. In February 1915, the 12 took the name MS 12 for the Morane-Saulnier Parasols that replaced earlier planes. On September 21, 1915, equipped with the Nieuport 11, the Bébé, the escadrille was designated N.12, the first single-seat fighter squadron. It was attached to the French Fifth (or Vème) Army.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, pp. 52, 53, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
(5) James Connolly in the magazine Forward, August 15, 1914 as war spread across Europe. Connolly was a labor leader who had founded the Irish Citizens Army to defend workers against assaults by the police, such as those that had occurred during the Dublin Lockout of 1913, which left four workers dead, hundreds injured, and 400 imprisoned. Connolly was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, a signer of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic read from the steps of the rebels headquarters at the General Post Office on Sackville Street, and Commandant General and Commander Dublin Division Irish Volunteers. Connolly was badly wounded in the leg on April 27, a wound that led to gangrene, and was carried from the G.P.O. in a stretcher. British Commander John Maxwell was determined to execute all signers of the proclamation of the Republic despite efforts by British Prime Minister Asquith to halt further executions after the first seven. Unable to stand, Connolly was shot seated in a chair on May 12, 1916. Sèan MacDermott was executed the same day, the last of the Dublin executions for the insurrection.
Revolution in Ireland by Conor Kostick, pp. 22, 23, copyright © Conor Kostick 1996, publisher: Pluto Press, publication date: 1996
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