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A Zeppelin shot down in Salonica, Greece, on May 5, 1916. Of the incident, Alan Palmer in 'The Gardeners of Salonika' wrote, 'The destruction of a Zeppelin by naval gunners on May 5 in full view of the people of Salonika also raised the spirits of the troops, especially among the British contingent, for their families at home had already been subjected to raids of this type and it was to be another four months before the first Zeppelin was shot down on English soil.' (page 62)
French soldier standing next to an unexploded 420mm shell that fell on Verdun. March, 1916. It weighed 2,100 pounds empty.
Photograph of the Russian monk Grigory Rasputin from The War of the Nations Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings Compiled from the Mid-Week Pictorial. Tsar Nicholas of Russia and his wife were introduced to Rasputin in 1907. According to Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, Rasputin, 'wheedled them, dazzled them, dominated them.'
A French officer charging into battle in a watercolor by Fernand Rigouts. The original watercolor on deckle-edged watercolor paper is signed F. R. 1917, and addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon.
The Allies welcome Italy to the victory banquet, serving her Trento and Trieste. Turkey, Austria-Hungary, and Germany (the Central Powers) look in on the feast. The artwork is from the period between Italy's entry into the war on May 23, 1915, and Bulgaria's joining the Central Powers on October 14. It was a difficult year for the celebrants. Postcard by Aurelio Bertiglia.
"By the end of January 1916 the entrenched camp already contained a remarkable concentration of Allied military and naval power. Rather more than 160,000 men were confined in an area about twice the size of the Isle of Wight, four-fifths of the force within a twenty-mile radius of the port. The nearest Bulgarian posts were twenty-five miles from the fortified line, along the old Greco-Serbian frontier. Beyond the Bulgars and the Allies lay a no man's land which, apart from the Vardar valley and the wooded slopes around Lake Doiran, was bare and mountainous. Occasionally there would be cavalry skirmish between reconnaissance groups or an exchange of artillery fire, but for days on end there was no contact with the enemy—only the monotony of digging and filling sandbags or the tedium of training exercises." ((1), more)
". . . a monster of a shell, the herald of a heavy bombardment, went off outside my door and sent the window glass jangling into my room. With three bounds I was in the cellar, where the other inhabitants also presented themselves in quick time. Since the cellar was half above ground, and was only separated from the garden by a thin wall, we all pressed together into a short tunnel that had been embarked on only a few days previously. With animal instinct, my sheepdog forced his whimpering way between the tight-pressed bodies into the deepest, furthest corner of the shelter. Far in the distance we could hear the dull thud of a series of discharges, then, when we'd counted to thirty or so, the whining approach of the heavy iron lumps, ending in crashing explosions all round our little abode. Each time, there was an unpleasant surge of pressure through the cellar window, and clods of earth and shards came clattering on the tiled roof, while the anxious horses whinnied and stamped in their stables near by. The dog whined throughout, and a fat bandsman screamed as if he were having a tooth pulled each time a whistling bomb approached." ((2), more)
"For the last three days I have been gathering information from all quarters about the new President of the Council,and I have no reason to congratulate myself on what I have ascertained. . . .Neither his personal qualifications nor his administrative record and social position marked him out as fitted for the high office which has just been entrusted to him, to the astonishment of everyone. But his appointment becomes intelligible on the supposition that he has been selected solely as a tool; in other words, actually on account of his insignificance and servility. This choice has been inspired by the Empress's camarilla, and warmly recommended to the Emperor by Rasputin, with whom Sturmer is on the most intimate terms. All this means pleasant times ahead!" ((3), more)
". . . By dawn [on February 6, 1916] the position had been consolidated. Casualties were light at first, but consolidation had to be done under artillery and machine-gun fire, bombs, rifle-grenades and trench-mortars: in the end they numbered about 40, including 5 officers. The position was shelled all afternoon, but there were no further casualties. Radford commanded the garrison of bombers until the relieving battalion came out at night. We found loopholes from which the Germans had fired into our front at a range of 35 yards. The Corps Commander was very complimentary about the whole affair." ((4), more)
"'The offensives,' continued Haig, 'must coincide on all fronts. This was the conclusion reached at the Chantilly conferences. The Russians will not be ready until July; the French will not act before that time. Being short of reserves, they can only undertake one or two important efforts.''The seriousness of the Allied situation,' I said, 'arises from the fact that the Russians have not come up to expectations. At the moment they appear to be in an irremediable muddle. . . .'" ((5), more)
(1) The Entente Allies had been too late in their attempt to save Serbia from being overrun by the German-Austro-Hungarian-Bulgarian invasion in October and November, 1915. France and Britain had landed troops at Salonica, Greece and moved north, but had been prevented from providing any relief by Bulgarian forces. Having failed, the British were eager to abandon the new front, as they were soon to evacuate Gallipoli, the French argued for staying, getting the better of the argument. By late January 1916, Gallipoli had been abandoned, and Salonica reinforced.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 52, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
(2) Ensign Ernst Jünger was stationed in Monchy-le-Preux, France, a dozen kilometers east of the city of Arras, facing the British lines. On February 3, 1916 his unit had been relieved, and was resting in Douchy-les-Mines 'following a taxing time at the front.' The shelling Jünger describes took place the next morning, February 4.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 61, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(3) First and last paragraphs of the entry for February 5, 1916 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. To the Extent Russia had a bicameral legislature, the Russian Council of the Empire was the upper, and appointed, house, the Duma the lower. Empress Alexandra wrote frequently to her husband Tsar Nicholas II urging him to replace key political and military figures. The appointments originated from her counselor Rasputin. A camarilla is a clique, the persons who, in an unofficial capacity, influence someone of greater authority.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 166, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(4) Extract from the entry for February 6, 1916 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, The Royal Welch Fusiliers. Dunn was in the line at Annequin, France, west of La Bassée. The Germans had connected two craters by blowing a mine between them, creating a third, larger crater that connected the other two. From this position, they dominated the British nearby. The British took the craters on February 5, extended their sap or communication trench, and improved the new position. 'Radford' was Captain N.H. Radford.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, pp. 180, 181, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(5) Excerpt from the entry for February 7, 1916, from the war diary of Albert, King of the Belgians, the 'I' in the second paragraph, who met that day with Lord Curzon and Britain's Commander in Chief of its forces in France (and Belgium) General Douglas Haig. At the December, 1915 Second Chantilly Conference representatives from France, Great Britain, Russia, Serbia, and Italy had attempted to shape a common Entente Ally strategy. French Commander in Chief Joseph Joffre presided over the conference. As Lord Privy of the Seal, Curzon was a cabinet member without portfolio.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 87, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
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