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The white Russian bear, dyed red with Austro-Hungarian blood, triumphs over the Habsburg Eagle. Russian was victorious in Galicia in 1914 and early 1915. A postcard by Bianchi.
Greetings from the aviator city of Gotha! Postcard with a view of the city of Gotha, Germany, of a pilot in a bi-plane, and an Albatros bi-plane (evidently the same plane and pilot) at the Gotha airfield. Field postmarked December 12, 1916 by the Ersatz Flieger Abteilung, the Reserve Flying Section, Gotha.
'December snow.' Hand-painted watercolor calendar for December 1917 by Schima Martos. Particulates from a smoking kerosene lamp overspread the days of December, and are labeled 'December höra,' 'December snow.' The first five days or nights of the month show a couple at, sitting down to, or rising from a lamp-lit table. The rest of the month the nights are dark, other than four in which the quarter of the moon shows through a window, or Christmas, when the couple stands in the light of a Christmas tree.
An Italian soldier lying in the snow waving a handkerchief to a plane overhead. The logo is for Societa Italiana Aviazione, founded in 1916, which became part of Fiat Aviation in 1918.
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.
"If there remain any Germans still hopeful for their cause, let them realize to-day, when the Central Powers have lost the initiative and are finding a difficulty in refilling their ranks, Russia has not yet reached the zenith of her power, which will only be approached next year, when she will have the largest and best army since the beginning of the War. Next year we shall have material on an equality with the enemy and a superiority in human resources, which should steadily increase as long as the War endures. Our new levies which come in next year equal our best troops, and, as I believe, they are far superior to anything which the enemy can still find to send against us for next year's campaign." ((1), more)
"A squadron of German planes bombed London on June 14th, killing 97 persons and injuring 437, including 120 women and children." ((2), more)
"— The 15th. Dinner with the Abbé Wetterlé. According to a letter from Mulhouse, living is difficult there. There is a shortage of many commodities. A single rabbit costs nine marks. Milk is distributed by drug stores and allowed only for new-born children." ((3), more)
"The tide had turned. On 9 and 13 June, Conrad returned two extra divisions that had recently arrived from the Eastern Front. By now the outcome of the offensive was clear. On 16 June, he stopped the Punishment Expedition." ((4), more)
". . . At 0600 that morning [Jean] Navarre, in concert with Sous-Lieutenant Pelletier d'Oisy of N.69, had shot down a two-seater, but soon afterward Navarre came down in French lines near Samogneux, severely wounded.At that time Navarre was the leading Allied fighter pilot with 12 victories, a record outdone by only two Germans, Boelcke and Immelmann. A succession of events would prevent his adding any further to his tally. Navarre had always been a mercurial individual whose relentless combat activity had undoubtedly taken a psychological toll that nobody, including himself, could fully understand at the time. While he was convalescing, however, his mind was pushed over the edge by news that his twin brother Pierre, recovered from his own wounds and eager to return to action, had fatally crashed during a training flight . . ." ((5), more)
(1) Extract by Russian General Alexsei Brusilov writing after the success of his offensive against the Central Powers, particularly Austria-Hungary. Within little more than a week of launching his attack, Brusilov had taken nearly 200,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners, one in three of the men opposing him.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. IV, 1916, p. 200, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(2) LondonGothaThis quotation is suspect. The Sky on Fire (Fredette) has airplane bombing beginning in 1917. Gilbert has no mention of this significant loss of life.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 262, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(3) Entry from June 15, 1916 from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government. Mulhouse was a city in Alsace, part of Germany, and immediately behind the front lines. The British blockade of Germany made life increasingly difficult, and rationing was imposed.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 174, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(4) His Eastern Front collapsing before Russian General Alexsei Brusilov's offensive (launched on June 4), Austro-Hungarian Commander-in-Chief Conrad von Hötzendorf halted his month-old Asiago Offensive against Italy on June 16, 1916. Begun from the Trentino on May 15, 1916, the offensive surprised the Italians and threatened to drive them from the mountains to the Italian plain, potentially isolating the bulk of the Italian army in the country's northeast. The Italians had been reinforcing their line and slowing the Austro-Hungarian advance even before Brusilov's attack.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 166, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(5) After his recovery and his twin brother's death, French fighter pilot twins Jean Navarre rejoined his squadron in January, 1917, but was soon arrested for fighting, and was subsequently committed to an institution to recover from a breakdown. He died in a flying accident on July 10, 1919. German pilot Oswald Bölcke formed the first Jadgstaffel, or hunter squadron, composed entirely of fighter planes, a specialization that was an improvement on the combining of planes with different functions in the same unit. German ace Max Immelmann was credited with inventing the Immelmann turn, reversing direction by turning the plane 180 degrees while climbing, beginning and ending the maneuver with the plane level. French squadrons were designated by the plane type flown by the squadron. N.69 was a fighter squadron of Nieuport planes.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, page 58, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
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