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Examples of mining and countermining a fortress, from the 1915 'Scientific American War Book: The Mechanism and Technique of Warfare.
A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
I've killed many Germans, but never women or children. Original French watercolor by John on blank field postcard. In the background are indolent Russian soldiers and Vladimir Lenin, in the foreground stands what may be a Romanian soldier who is telling the Russians, 'You call me savage. I killed a lot of Boches [Germans], but never women or children!'
Detail from Cram's 1903 Railway Map of the Austro-Hungarian Empire showing Transylvania.
French portrait postcard of British General Sir Ian Hamilton in parade dress. Hamilton commanded the Allied invasion force at Gallipoli.
"The 17th April [1915] passed quietly, the weather was fine and sunny, and, as evening approached, there was complete stillness, not a shot being fired by either side. Suddenly at 7.5 P.M. two pairs of mines and one single mine were exploded at 10 seconds interval. As the columns of earth from the explosion of the first pair rose into the air, the crash of bombardment broke the silence and the XV. and XXVII. Field Artillery Brigades and the IX. Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 130th (Howitzer) Battery and the 48th Heavy Battery, with two batteries of French and three of Belgian artillery opened fire on all the approaches to the hill. With the firing of the last mine, the storming party, C Company 1/Royal West Kent and sappers of the 1/2nd Home Counties Field Company R.E., climbed from their trenches and rushed forward. In two minutes they reached the top of the slope and occupied the craters in what remained of the German trenches to the southeast. The surprise was complete . . ." ((1), more)
"The general offensive of which the Emperor spoke to me at Baranovici has begun.In the western Carpathians the Russians are putting forth great efforts. The focus of their attacks at the moment is the Uszok Pass, which is not only at the source of the great rivers of Galicia but commands the entrance to Transylvania.In the last few days the Austro-Hungarians have left 50,000 prisoners in the hands of their enemy." ((2), more)
"On Sunday, the violence of the thunderous detonations grew in length and strength. Then, suddenly, the terrible word retreat was heard. At first in a whisper; then, in loud, forceful tone: 'The Russians are retreating!' And the first-line troops came into sight: a long procession of dirt-bespattered, weary, desperate men — in full retreat! We had received no marching-orders. The thunder of the guns came nearer and nearer. We were frightened and perplexed; they had forgotten us! But they came at last — urgent, decisive orders: we were to start without delay, leaving behind all the wounded and all the equipment that might hinder us." ((3), more)
"On April 20th [1915], a band of Turkish soldiers seized several Armenian women who were entering the city; a couple of Armenians ran to their assistance and were shot dead. The Turks now opened fire on the Armenian quarters with rifles and artillery; soon a large part of the town was in flames and a regular siege had started. The whole Armenian fighting force consisted of only 1,500 men; they had only 300 rifles and a most inadequate supply of ammunition, while Djevdet had an army of 5,000 men, completely equipped and supplied." ((4), more)
"General Headquarters, 21st April, 1915.Soldiers of France and of the KingBefore us lies an adventure unprecedented in modern war. Together with our comrades of the Fleet, we are about to force a landing upon an open beach in face of positions which have been vaunted by our enemies as impregnable.The landing will be made good, by the help of God and the Navy; the positions will be stormed and the War brought one step nearer to a glorious close.'Remember,' said Lord Kitchener when bidding adieu to your Commander, 'Remember, once you set foot upon the Gallipoli Peninsula, you must fight the thing through to a finish.'The whole world will be watching your progress. Let us prove ourselves worthy of the great feat of arms entrusted to us.Ian Hamilton, General." ((5), more)
(1) Southeast of Ypres, Belgium, and held by the Germans, Hill 60 was named for its height, a mere 60 meters high, an artificial hill created from the soil of Messines Ridge when a railroad line was cut through the Ridge. The first underground attack of the war took place on December 20, 1914, near Festubert, Belgium against troops of the Indian Corps. Other attacks followed, including those of March 14 and April 14, 1915 at St. Eloi, south of Ypres. In all these cases, the mines were German. At Hill 60, both German and British miners dug. The Germans planned to set off their mines on April 19. On April 17, the British set off theirs.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. I, Winter 1914-15: Battle of Neuve Chappelle : Battle of Ypres [Second] by J. E. Edmonds, page 168, copyright © asserted, publisher: Macmillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1927
(2) Entry for Sunday, April 18, 1915 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador in Russia. On March 15, the Ambassador had taken an overnight train from Petrograd to Baronovici, a town on the way to Warsaw and the temporary location of Russian General Headquarters where the staff departments were 'housed in a dozen trains standing fan-wise among the trees.' Tsar Nicholas had told Paléologue of the Russian plan to break through the Austro-Hungarian defenses in the Carpathian Mountains, and then turn west to invade Silesia in Germany. In the month between March 15 and April 18, the Ambassador learned how badly the Russians suffered from a lack of munitions, and wondered how any offensive would be possible.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. I by Maurice Paléologue, page 332, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1925
(3) Florence Farmborough writing on April 22, 1915 of the events of Sunday the 19th. Farmborough was a teacher of English in Moscow when war broke out, joined the Red Cross, and trained as a nurse. On April 12 she was in east Galicia, Austria-Hungary, 'practically surrounded by the lovely, undulating ranges of the Carpathians'. Three days later, she heard reports the Germans were reinforcing their Austro-Hungarian ally with troops and heavy guns. On the 17th, the guns began a 22-hour bombardment, and Russian wounded began arriving at her field hospital.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 36, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(4) In 1915, Van, Turkey was a city of about 35,000, the majority of the citizens Armenian, a population that spanned the Russo-Turkish frontier. At the beginning of the war, the Turkish government replaced the governor of Van with Djevdet Bey, brother-in-law of Turkish Minister of War Enver Pasha. The government claimed Armenians had supported the Russians both by joining them in the war against Turkey, and with intelligence when Russia and Turkey first clashed along their border. The Russian victory in the Battle of Sarikamish further poisoned the minds of Enver, Minister of the Interior Talaat, and other Turkish officials against the Armenians. The Turkish defeat of the Allied fleet in its attempt to force the Dardanelles and seize Constantinople convinced the government it had a free hand to turn on its Armenian citizens.
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau, pp. 298, 299, copyright © 1918, by Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Doubleday, Page & Company, publication date: 1918
(5) Address of General Ian Hamilton to the Gallipoli Peninsula invasion force. The landing was originally scheduled for April 23, but was delayed 48 hours due to bad weather. British Secretary of State for War Herbert Lord Kitchener had appointed Sir Ian Hamilton to command the invasion force on March 12, during the Anglo-French naval assault to force the Dardanelles. The two men had served together during the Boer War. The soldiers of the King were from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and India. The French would land on the southern, Asian side of the Dardanelles in part as a diversion. The primary goal was the Turkish capital of Constantinople.
Five Years in Turkey by Liman von Sanders, page 65, publisher: The Battery Press with War and Peace Books, publication date: 1928 (originally)
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