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The Royal Artillery Memorial, London, England and 'Trenches: St. Eloi' by T. E. Hulme who was killed September 28, 1917 while serving with the Royal Marine Artillery. © 2013 by John M. Shea
La Domenica del Corriere (The Sunday Courier) of March 25 to April 1, 1917, an illustrated weekly supplement to Corriere della Sera, published in Milan, Italy. The front and back covers are full-page illustrations by the great Italian illustrator Achille Beltrame. The front cover depicts Russian troops cheering the deputies entering the Duma after what the paper calls, 'the Russian revolt for freedom and the war.' The secondary story was on the fall of Baghdad to British troops.
'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
A large German bomber, capable of bombing England. The plane is powered by two engines, and holds a crew of three with a pilot and front and rear gunners. The plane is likely a Gotha bomber, originally built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik, then built under license by Siemens-Schukert Werke and Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (LVG). Note the ground crew pushing on the lower wing and the men holding the tail up as the plane is moved backwards. Sanke postcard number 1040.
A French soldier wearing the uniform of 1914/1915 stands by the side of a water-filled shell crater.
"Trenches: St EloiOver the flat slope of St EloiA wide wall of sand bags.Night,In the silence desultory menPottering over small fires, cleaning their mess-tins:To and fro, from the lines,Men walk about as on Piccadilly,Making paths in the dark,Through scattered dead horses,Over a dead Belgian's belly.The Germans have rockets. The English have no rockets.Behind the line, cannon, hidden, lying back miles.Before the line, chaos:My mind is a corridor. The minds about me are corridors.Nothing suggests itself. There is nothing to do but keep on." ((1), more)
"At 0615 elements of the 12th Brigade began advancing towards the Aziziya Ridge once more; despite some initial setbacks, by 0700 they were pressing on to the western end of the Shaikh Farajah Ridge beyond, form which they believed they could control the only bridge over the Aziziya Canal. In fact, this was not the case, and it was necessary to fight their way along the canal and take this bridge, which was secured at some cost. By 0930 the Turks had begun to surrender in significant numbers, and by 1100 the capitulation had become complete. In all, 3,456 prisoners were taken, together with ten guns, three 1-pounder pom-poms and twelve machine guns." ((2), more)
"'As to your defence of London by this infernal Barrage I do trust you will stop it, as it is a remedy worse than the disease. We have lived under showers of this odious shrapnel (purely home-made) and it is costly in life and property. A woman close to me was killed in bed thereby.'So had seven other people in the past week. Another sixty-seven had been injured. British fire during one raid alone had damaged nearly 300 houses, 'about half of them seriously.' Nineteen French 75-mm. guns, which fired only shrapnel, were moved from London to Birmingham and other places not as likely to be raided. Unlike explosive shells, the cases of shrapnel projectiles came down intact." ((3), more)
"The attack of 1 October, the sixth in eight nights, brought 'the raids of the Harvest Moon' to a close. Sixty-nine people were killed and 260 wounded, mostly in London. These totals included the barrage casualties. Although losses were far from excessive, the first blitz was a bewildering experience of profound psychological effect." ((4), more)
"October 2nd.—The Division, in tremendous repute is draining the fount of awards. But one becomes more impressed by the all-round economy of the German operations, the few men used to hold us up. Pill-box garrisons are betaking themselves to shell-holes at a little distance. That is an obviously good ruse, for it is the pill-box that magnetizes the attack, but thought and faith are needed to carry it out." ((5), more)
(1) Trenches: St Eloi by T. E. Hulme, killed September 28, 1917 by a German shell. Hulme served with the Royal Marine Artillery at Oost-Duinkerke behind Nieuport on the Belgian channel coast.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, page 51, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
(2) General Stanley Maude, commander of the British forces in Mesopotamia, responded to reports that the Turks then gathering in Aleppo would move down the Euphrates River to recapture Baghdad on the Tigris River. To prevent that, the British set out to take Ramadie, 120 km west of Baghdad and on the Euphrates. Begun on September 28, 1917, the successful operation was completed the following day. The Turks in Aleppo would instead move south against British forces in Palestine.
Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East by Roger Ford, page 97, copyright © Roger Ford 2010, publisher: Pegasus Books, publication date: 2010
(3) From Monday, September 24 to October 1, 1917, ninety-two German Gotha bombers took part in the Autumn Moon Offensive against England. Fifty-five of the two-engine planes reached England with twenty or fewer making it to London. A handful of Staaken Giant bombers also took part in the raids, with one reaching the capital. On six of the eight nights the bombers struck. A total of 69 people were killed and 260 wounded, some by shell casings from the British defensive barrage. Before the raids had ended, over 300,000 people had taken shelter in the London Underground.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, page 147, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
(4) From Monday, September 24 to October 1, 1917, ninety-two German Gotha bombers took part in the Autumn Moon Offensive against England. Fifty-five of the two-engine planes reached England with twenty or fewer making it to London. A handful of Staaken Giant bombers also took part in the raids, with one reaching the capital. On six of the eight nights the bombers struck. A total of 69 people were killed and 260 wounded, some by shell casings from the British defensive barrage. Before the raids had ended, over 300,000 people had taken shelter in the London Underground.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, pp. 147 and 148, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
(5) Entry for October 2, 1917 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, then fighting in the Third Battle of Ypres, started on July 31. The Battle of Polygon Wood was fought on September 26, In his entry for the 28th (pp. 404–405), Dunn wrote, 'The Battalion casualties were one-third of the trench strength with which we went in : more than 60 were dead.' The Germans were then holding their front line lightly, in shell holes rather than trench lines. The pillboxes were more numerous and durable than the British had anticipated.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 405, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
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