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Indian soldiers unload a wagon. The caption on the back refers to the soldiers helping the Allies by 'unloading their baggage,' but Indian soldiers fought on their own. © American Press Assciation
Beneath the crown of England, Britannia with her shield and Neptune's trident sits, flanked by the flag of the United Kingdom, and the Royal Standard. Behind her, illuminated by the British crown, is a map of the world with the British Empire in pink: Canada and Newfoundland, the United Kingdom, the Union of South Africa and British East Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand.
French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau greeting General Fernando Tamagnini, commander of Portuguese forces on the Western Front.
England's Distress: Postcard map of England and Ireland with the restricted zone Germany proclaimed around the islands, showing the ships destroyed by submarine in the 12 months beginning February 1, 1917.
French folding postcard map of Verdun and the Meuse River, number 9 from the series Les Cartes du Front. Montfaucon is in the upper left and St. Mihiel at the bottom.
"— Jacques G——, seconded for duty as inspector with the Sûreté Générale, is keeping a watch on Indians in Paris. There are wealthy native Princes who are trying to foment a rising in their country. Cases of arms destined for India have already been seized in France. And I have heard of an Indian Princess who is being closely watched by a woman police spy specially placed in the hotel as chambermaid." ((1), more)
"Monday, May 1, 1916.On April 29 the English suffered a severe reverse in Mesopotamia. General Townshend, who had occupied an entrenched position at Kut-el-Amara, on the Tigris, has been compelled to capitulate by lack of food and ammunition, after a siege of one hundred and forty-eight days; the garrison was reduced to 9,000 men.Simultaneously, a grave insurrection, fomented by German agents, has broken out in Ireland. A regular battle between the rebels and English troops has made Dublin a scene of blood and fire. Order appears to have been restored now." ((2), more)
"Clemenceau also paid a visit [to the front lines]. When they tried to prevent his going into the trenches, he retorted: 'What of it! How long have I got to live! Perhaps four or five years! And in failing health. . . . Beside, such a lot of people would be glad if anything happened to me!'Clemenceau came upon an advanced outpost who enjoined him: 'Keep quiet!' The soldier was informed: 'This is Clemenceau.' His reply was: 'Ho, ho! So it's Clemenceau, is it? Very well, let him keep quiet all the same!; This same outpost related that he was only five yards away from his opposite number in the German lines: 'For the last few days he's had a cold. He's been coughing all the time. But now he's getting better!'" ((3), more)
"O wise men, riddle me this: what if the dream come true?What if the dream come true? and if millions unborn shall dwellIn the house that I shaped in my heart, the noble house of my thought?Lord, I have staked my soul, I have staked the lives of my kinOn the truth of Thy dreadful word. Do not remember my failures,But remember this my faith." ((4), more)
"[The German Crown Prince] bombarded and attacked almost without intermission the observation posts on the Mort-Homme and on Hill 304, so that both heights were wreathed in smoke like volcanoes. On May 3rd our aviators flew over them and said, when they returned, that to a height of eight hundred meters above the ground the atmosphere was thick with dense columns of smoke rising from the explosions of the shells. On May 4th the Germans gained a foothold on the northern slope of Hill 304, thus endangering the security of the 'position of resistance' that I had defined in my orders of February 27th." ((5), more)
(1) Undated entry from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government from the end of April, 1916. In Dublin, Ireland, the first blow for independence from the British Empire during the war, the Easter Rising, was being crushed by British forces. At Kut-el-Amara in Mesopotamia, a British-Indian army surrendered to Turkish forces on April 29, and was going into harsh, ofter deadly, internment as prisoners-of-war.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 160, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(2) Attempting to seize Baghdad in Mesopotamia, the British had been defeated at Ctesiphon on November 21, 1915, 22 miles short of their goal, and forced back to Kut-al-Amara where they were surrounded by increasingly strong Turkish forces. All attempts by the relieving force to break the siege failed, and the British had surrendered on April 29, 1916. The Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, begun on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, a quiet bank holiday, was suppressed by British forces with destruction to Dublin that observers compared to cities on the Western Front. Although anticipating German arms that had been intercepted by the British, the Rising was the work of Irish men and Irish women, and Irish groups seeking independence: the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and the Irish Citizens Army.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 243, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(3) Entry from May 2, 1916 from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government. Georges Clemenceau was a member of Radical Party, and served in the French Senate. He was appointed Prime Minister in November 1917, holding the position through the end of the war.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 161, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(4) Stanza from 'The Fool', a poem by Patrick H. Pearse, executed May 3, 1916 for his role in the Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland. Pearse served as Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Irish Republic and President of the Provisional Government in the short-lived insurrection. Along with him on May 3 were executed Thomas Clarke and Thomas Macdonagh. Pearse's younger brother Willie was executed May 4.
The 1916 Poets by Edited with an Introduction by Desmond Ryan, page 21, copyright © Introduction and Selection, estate of the late Desmon Ryan 1963, publisher: Gill and Macmillan, publication date: 1995
(5) The German assault on Verdun began on February 21, 1916 with a bombardment by over 1,000 guns northeast and east of the city. On March 6 they struck at Mort-Homme, high ground northwest of Verdun on the left bank of the Meuse, with a preliminary bombardment as intense as that of February. On April 9, 1916, the attack resumed at Mort-Homme and Cote 304 (Hill 304), with their heaviest bombardment since beginning the assault.
Verdun by Henri Philippe Pétain, pp. 149, 150, copyright © 1930, publisher: The Dial Press, publication date: 1930
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