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Panorama of the Western theater of war 1914/15 from Compiègne to Arras, with the North Sea coast in the distance.
Line on the Ourcq showing advance of the Allies in the Marne Salient from July 18 to July 27, 1918. From The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas.
British troops building a road in Flanders, September 10.
Headstones from the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France of territorial guard Alfred Schirmer and Corporal Albert Levy. Schirmer died on August 8, 1918, Levy on August 10, both likely in the Battle of Amiens. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Artiplast Ansaldo SVA-5 model box and kit. The cover illustration is of two Ansaldo S.V.A.s from the Venetian La Serenissima squadron flown in the August 9, 1918 Flight over Vienna led by Gabriele D'Annunzio.
"With the coming of darkness each day the front awoke. Some very heavy showers during five otherwise fine days made a lot of extra work. Patrolling was never so active. Long stretches of the railway line were examined in moonlight without any enemy being met. The track was surprisingly little knocked about. One patrol came in greatly excited after touching off one of several booby-traps that were found. Patrols penetrated farther each night. The river, its approaches and possible crossing-places were searched." ((1), more)
"The 28th Division, whose red 'Keystone' shoulder patch would soon be nicknamed the 'Bucket of Blood,' was teamed up with the 32d ('Gemutlichkeit') Division from Michigan and Wisconsin in attacking up the Château-Thierry—Fismes road. This road, though secondary to that running from Soissons to Château-Thierry, still constituted a substantial supply route for the German shock troops that Ludendorff was trying to maintain in the Aisne-Marne salient. The Americans of the 28th met only light resistance at first since the 32d Division had been carrying the bulk of the fighting. On August 6, however, the 28th Division arrived within sight of Fismes, most of which was already occupied by troops of the 32d Division." ((2), more)
"I stood watching the progress of the troops on the Longueau—Villers-Bretonneux road, the prolonged clatter of cavalry horses reminding me of earlier days. They were marching slowly to keep within their time. I overtook infantry and tanks moving along in weird masses in the dark, following troops all the way to the Gentelles Plateau. There the ground was taped and pegged; boards indicated the way each unit was to take as far as the approach to the line, to avoid any mix-up or delay. The whole area might have been the scene of a gymkhana. Aeroplanes were droning loudly overhead so as to drown the noise of the approaching tanks. Every object looming in the darkness hid something — the woods sheltered hundreds of silent guns awaiting their signal." ((3), more)
"The Picardy offensive, better known as the Third Battle of the Somme, opened just before daybreak on August 8th [1918]. A heavy mist prevailed, obscuring the preparations of the British and French armies and assisting in the surprise attack that had been planned.Hundreds of small whippet tanks, capable of great speed, were aligned on the battle front to blaze a path for the infantry. Close by were the cavalry and motorcycle brigades, prepared to make the dash down the divergent Roman roads and clean up the intervening terrain.Planned as a surprise assault, the customary long bombardment of the enemy's position was omitted. Instead, the Allied guns swept the German lines for exactly four minutes, wiping out their defences as though with a sponge. Then away sped the British and French tanks, the infantry following on the double quick.Everywhere along that 40-mile front the Germans were taken by surprise." ((4), more)
"In the meanwhile, the picturesque, impulsive Major Gabriele D'Annunzio had directed an aeroplane raid upon Vienna on August 9, 1918 . . . In this beau geste, which blossomed into something of a legend, eight Italian planes—one machine dropped out because of engine trouble—scattered thousands of pamphlets reading, in D'Annunzio's gaudy prose, 'People of Vienna . . . the whole world has turned against you. . . . To continue the war is suicide for you. . . . A decisive victory is like bread from the Ukraine; one dies while waiting for it.' The Viennese were reminded that annihilating bombs, instead of leaflets, might have been unloosed. Under pain of drastic penalties if they neglected to do so, citizens were ordered to turn over the pamphlets to public authorities; the aerial visitation aggravated the unbearable war weariness along the 'blue' Danube." ((5), more)
(1) Excerpt from an entry for August 5, 6, or 7, 1918 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, and fellow soldiers who served with him. The British were preparing for the Battle of Amiens which would open on August 8. 'The river' was the Ancre.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 505, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(2) The 28th 'Keystone' Division was drawn from the Pennsylvania National Guard. The keystone is still visible in Pennsylvania highway signs. It would be two days before the Americans secured Fismes, on the south side of the Vesle River, and moved to take Fismette on the north side. 'Gemutlichkeit' is the German word for coziness or comfortableness. The 32d Division drew on the large German population of the American upper midwest.
Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I by John S.D. Eisenhower, page 170, copyright © 2001 John S.E. Eisenhower and Joanne Thompson Eisenhower, publisher: The Free Press, publication date: 2001
(3) Description by Paul Maze, a liaison officer with the British Fourth Army, of preparations the night of August 7–8, 1918 for the Battle of Amiens, begun the next morning. Gentelles, France, is 14 km southeast of Amiens. A gymkhana is an equestrian competition of timed pattern following.
Hundred Days: The Campaign that Ended World War I by Nick Lloyd, page 41, copyright © 2014 by Nick Lloyd, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2014
(4) German commander Erich Ludendorff would later refer to August 8, 1918, the first day of the Battle of Amiens, as the 'black day for the German Army.' The British Fourth Army and the French First Army on its right advanced as much as eight miles on the first day, inflicting as many as 48,000 casualties, 13,000 of them taken prisoner or missing in action. Over 400 tanks participated in the battle, including the new faster Whippet Tanks and 300 heavy Mark V Tanks.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 451, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(5) Gabriele D'Annunzio was a major Italian writer who had strongly advocated for Italy's entry into the war. He had previously dropped streamers in the colors of the Italian flag and bearing patriotic massages over Trieste, Austria-Hungary, a city with a large ethnic Italian population. He commanded the Ansaldo SVA-5s of the Venetian La Serenissima Squadron in the Flight over Vienna, a round trip of over 1,200 km. In his Letters, Anglo-American writer Henry James refers to D'Annunzio as 'that particular rotten little skunk' while admiring one of his recent poems. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between Russia and the Central Powers in March, 1918 was expected to free up grain from Ukraine. The initial phrase, 'in the meanwhile', is a reference to the devastation visited upon the German army on the previous day in the Battle of Amiens.
The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918 2 Volumes by Arthur James May, page 720, copyright © 1966 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, publication date: 1966
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