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Sackville Street in Dublin, Ireland, looking to the northwest. In the foreground is the monument to Daniel O'Connell, in the distance, that to Admiral Nelson. Between them, its portico prominent, is the General Post Office, the rebel headquarters in the 1916 Easter Rising. On the back is a message dated October 1, 1906, and the card was postmarked the same day.
The rulers of the Central Powers stumped by Verdun. Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Mohammed V of Turkey, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, and Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria puzzle over a map labeled "Verdun." The ink and watercolor drawing is dated March 4, 1916. By R. DLC?The German assault on Verdun began on February 21, 1916 and continued through August.
Map of the Trentino, part of "Italia Irredenta," unredeemed Italy: Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)
A German Fokker Eindecker flying over the front in the Meuse/Verdun sector.
Headstones from Martinpuich Cemetery, Martinpuich, France: for J. Reid of the Royal Field Artillery, died October 6, 1916, and R.E. Bullows of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died November 11, 1916. Martinpuich was in the Somme sector. © 2013 John M. Shea
"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." ((1), more)
"Two other sections went up to reinforce other companies on the firing line. The 4th Section, to which I belonged, was sent to observe on the slope of Cote 304 facing the Mort Homme.Everything was sinister in these places, but this place was even worse, if that's possible. At the bottom of the ravine, where the ruisseau [stream] des Forges flowed, shells of every caliber, fired by both sides, fell without respite. This dark abyss seemed like a volcano in constant eruption, and there we were, hanging right on its rim.Our mission consisted of maintaining liaison, by patrols, with the troops who held the facing slopes. But these patrols took place only on paper, in fictional reports. In reality, the patrols had ceased after three days—there was no one to send out on patrol." ((2), more)
"With nothing more than a rifle, a bayonet, and two packs of cartridges in our pockets, the two of us headed out. A sliver of moonlight shone the way for us, across a terrain as pockmarked as a kitchen strainer. In some places the ground was worked over, slashed and overturned as if by a recent earthquake. Any living thing had been snuffed out.After covering a few hundred meters of this chaotic terrain, our senses were able to discern the limits of this immeasurable horizon of nothingness. We thought we were lost in the middle of an immense desert. It was impossible for us to tell from where we had come and where we were going. Crouched in a shell crater, we sought in vain to orient ourselves by flares, or by the sound of artillery batteries firing." ((3), more)
"No less than 400,000 Austrians were thrown into the narrow sector of 25 miles between the Adige and the Val Sugana. More than 2,000 guns suddenly rained projectiles of all calibers upon the Italian position. A bombardment of incredible violence ensued. Aeroplanes regulated the fire of a 15-inch naval gun [that] showered projectiles on the town of Asiago.Following the hurricane of artillery fire, the Austrian troops attacked in mass formation. Four onslaughts were made on Zugna Torta. The Italian machine guns cut down the grey-blue masses of men; the wire entanglements were heaped with dead. The Austrians then hurled themselves against the advance posts of the Val Terragnolo, but the Alpini defended every foot of the ground, fighting always in the snow." ((4), more)
". . . on the morning of May 16 a cool breeze swept the sky clean of clouds, and a bright sun rose.It didn't take long for several enemy airplanes to make their bothersome droning heard, and they circled over Cote 304 and the Mort Homme all day long, like birds of ill fortune foretelling a great storm. . . .In the afternoon, the German batteries—well briefed, no doubt, by their aviators—opened a rolling fire on Cote 304, lasting at least two hours.How many tons of projectiles fell on this hill?Our brains were shaken by the nearby explosions. Stunned, we expected to be pulverised at any minute. It was just a matter of being caught in a salvo." ((5), more)
(1) 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
(2) Excerpt from the Notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas who had rotated into the Verdun sector on May 6, 1916, and moved to the front line on May 11. Our quotation is from May 13. Barthas' unit was on Hill 304, facing the hill of Mort-Homme. What trenches there are simply come to an end leaving gaps of up to 400 meters between sections and companies. 'No one knew whether we had Germans or Frenchmen in front of us,' he writes. His language gives some sense of the horror of the Battle of Verdun: 'debris,' 'shredded', 'pulverized,' 'torn to bits.' The chaos and shelling exceed anything Barthas has seen in 20 months in the front lines.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, page 194, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(3) Excerpt from the Notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas who had rotated into the Verdun sector on May 6, 1916, and moved to the front line on May 11. He is describing events the night of May 14 when Barthas and his sergeant go on patrol to find out whether French or German soldiers are ahead of them on Hill 304, facing the hill of Mort-Homme. The French had lost and then regained round on Hill 304 in the preceding days. They come upon a ration detail from Barthas' former company, and he learns of the death of several old comrades. As they continue stumbling in the night through shell holes and sections of unconnected trenches, a soldier is killed by a machine gun bullet fired from Mort-Homme.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, page 196, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(4) After a year of war in which Italy had launched five Battles of the Isonzo River in the country's northeast, Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf struck back with his Asiago Offensive on May 15, 1916, attacking in Trentino and Alto Adige on Italy's northern border. Conrad hoped to drive across Italy's north to reach the Adriatic Sea, enveloping the Italian Army. Although he had ample warning of the impending offensive, Italian Commander in Chief Luigi Cadorna made few preparations, but quickly created a new Italian Fifth Army of 180,000 men drawn from the Isonzo Front to halt the Austro-Hungarian advance.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 231, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(5) Excerpt from the Notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas who had rotated into the Verdun sector on May 6, 1916, and moved to the front line on May 11. Cloud cover on the 15th prevented German planes from observing the French positions. Barthas and commanding officer wait in vain for French planes to come and drive the Germans from the sky.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 197, 198, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
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