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'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' — the Tower of London poppies — each of the 888,246 ceramic poppies representing one serviceman of the British Empire killed in World War I. The installation was a collaboration of artist Paul Cummins and stage designer Tom Piper. Since November, 2014 the poppies have been installed in other sites in the United Kingdom. Photographed October 3, 2014. © 2014 by John M. Shea
An advertising card of the Romanian Army from the series Armées des États Balcaniques, published in 1910.Shown, from left to right, a non-commissioned officer and artillery gunners, a staff officer, a rosiori (a red hussar), a mounted policeman (dismounted), a kalarachi (territorial reserve cavalry), a chasseur (venatori or rifleman), and an infantryman.
Map of Romania and the Allied and Central Power campaign plans for 1917. 'Romanian Territories under Foreign Rule' include Transylvania, Austria-Hungary, northwest of the Carpathian Mountains, and Bessarabia, Russia, to the east between the Prut and Nistru Rivers, regions with large ethnic Romanian populations. From Romania in World War I, a Synopsis of Military History by Colonel Dr. Vasile Alexandrescu.
Postcard view of the county of Kent, England, bounded by the River Thames on the north and the English Channel and Dover Strait to the east. The city and White Cliffs of Dover are in Kent. In November 1914, British naval and military authorities feared Germany was preparing to invade England.
Reproduction Sopwith Camel from Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Rhinebeck, New York. © 2015 John M. Shea
"During my leave, I remember principally observing the large decay of lively bright love of country, the crystallization of dull civilian hatred on the basis of 'the last drop of blood'; the fact that the German air raids had almost persuaded my London friends that London was the sole battle front; the illusion that the British Army beyond Ypres was going from success to success; the ration system. Perhaps the ration system weighed most upon us. This was not the ancient reward of the warrior! He had never had a sugar-card in Marlborough's wars, or even 1916. Meanwhile Hampton Court, and even the Palladium, seemed to be standing where they did." ((1), more)
"Grigorescu's counteroffensive began on 1 September [1917]. The VIII Corps did hold its positions, but things did not go well for the Romanian attack group commanded by General Popescu. Artillery preparation was insufficient, and coordination with the infantry during the battle was poor. The Alpine Corps was entrenched in rough, wooded terrain, well supported by artillery, machine guns, and mortars. Its infantry resisted the Romanian assault step by step. From the perspective of the Alpine Corps, it was a repetition of the slaughter of the Russians two day before, only now it was Romanian soldiers who were being mowed down. The attack was suspended at noon but resumed in the evening. Only a quarter of the lost ground was reconquered. Continuation of the Romanian advance was postponed until 3 September in order to rest and reorganize the troops." ((2), more)
"The human cost of the Battle of Mărăşeşti was high. The 9th German Army lost 16,000 dead and wounded. One of these was General Wenninger, killed by an enemy bullet on 8 September. The best available casualty figures for the Romanians place their dead and wounded at over 17,000, with almost 10,000 missing or prisoners. This is comparable to the German losses, with the exception that fewer than 1,000 Germans were taken prisoner. Russian losses were similar to the Romanian losses . . ." ((3), more)
"'We had no warning of any kind,' grieved one sailor. 'Before we knew what was happening, the roof was lifted off the shop, blown into the air, and fell in a thousand pieces among the men. It was flying glass, which was thick and heavy, that did the damage. We were dashed out of our hammocks to the floor, all mixed under broken glass. The men on either side of me were killed.'" ((4), more)
"Instrument-lighting equipment was installed in the Camels the very next morning. 'Two-gallon petrol tins with the tops cut off, half filled with cotton waste and soaked with paraffin,' were set out to illuminate the aerodrome. And the pilots were told to practise night landings immediately. One of them judged that 'in twenty-four hours the Home Defence squadrons ceased to be looked upon as anything but night fighters.'" ((5), more)
(1) Edmund Blunden, English writer, recipient of the Military Cross, second lieutenant and adjutant in the Royal Sussex Regiment, left the front of the Third Battle of Ypres to go on leave in London which had suffered bombing attacks from both Zeppelins and Gotha bombers. Hampton Court Palace is on the river Thames, about 12 miles southwest of London. The London Palladium is a theater in central London, opened in 1910, that seats over 2,200.
Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden, pp. 206–207, copyright © the Estate of Edmund Blunden, 1928, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: November 1928
(2) On August 28, 1917, the German Alpine Corps attacked two Russian divisions holding the Romanian-Russian front at the village of Muncelu, driving the Russians back as much as four kilometers. Allied troops counterattacked on August 29 with the Russians suffering heavily in repeated and determined attacks. On September 1, the Romanians took the lead, with similar results.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, page 233, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(3) The German Mărăşeşti offensive began on August 6, 1917 in hopes of destroying Romania's army and seizing Moldavia, the only part of the country not occupied by Central Power forces. After three weeks of fighting, German commander Erich Ludendorff ordered an end to the campaign in order to transfer the German Alpine Corps and the Austro-Hungarian 13th Infantry Division to the Italian Front to support the Austro-Hungarians then fighting the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo. Before suspending operations, on August 28, 1917, the Alpine Corps attacked two Russian divisions holding the Romanian-Russian front at the village of Muncelu, driving the Russians back as much as four kilometers. Allied troops counterattacked on August 29, September 1, and September 3, suffering heavy losses, while retaking only a quarter of the lost ground. With the Romanians and Russians exhausted and the Central Power forces diminished, the battle came to an end.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, page 234, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(4) Of the ten Gotha bombers that reached England on August 22, 1917, three were shot down near Margate and Dover. That attack was the last daylight raid of the war by the Gotha bombers. The bomb that struck the drill hall at Chatham Naval Barracks at 11:12 PM on September 3, 1917 was the most deadly of the first night raid by the bombers, killing 131 recruits, and wounding 90 more. Of five bombers that set out, four reached England and all returned safely. Five attacked London the following night, killing 19 and injuring 71. The sailor's quotation, originally from the New York Times of September 6, 1917, is from Raymond Fredette's excellent history of the 1917–1918 air assault on England by fixed aircraft The Sky on Fire.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, page 121, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
(5) Ten Gotha bombers reached England on August 22, 1917 in a midday raid. Three were shot down near Margate and Dover demonstrating the improvement in Britain's defenses and leading Germany to end daylight raids on the country. On September 3, in the first night raid by the bombers, a single bomb struck the glass-roofed drill hall at the Chatham Naval Barracks at 11:12 PM, killing 131 recruits and wounding 90 more, much of the mayhem from the flying glass. Of five bombers that had set out, four reached England and safely returned. The rushed British attempt on September 4 to establish night defenses did not stop five Gotha's that followed the Thames River that night, until reaching London where, in Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) Richard Walter's account, 'Tens of thousands of lights suddenly emerged out of the darkness, and looking straight down, every street is clearly discernible.' The attack killed 19 and injured 71. Britain's Sopwith Camel was one of the war's best fighter planes, though one that was tricky to handle.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, page 123, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
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