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A French Nieuport that came down behind German lines on January 25, 1916 near Benney, France due to engine failure. On the reverse is a message dated January 18, 1917, field postmarked two days later. Benney is on the Moselle River, south of Nancy and west of Lunéville.
German Ace Max Immelmann In Memoriam! Postcard from a drawing by Gehrig, 1916. Immelmann was shot down on June 18, 1916.
Advertising postcard map of European Russia, with inset images of a mounted Cossack lancer, a troika, and St. Petersburg.
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his wife Tsaritsa Alexandra, a detail from a portrait of the Russian imperial family in 'An Ambassador's Memoirs' by Maurice Paléologue, the last French Ambassador to the Russian Court.
A French artillery crew moving a 75mm. field gun into position in Bougainville, France, behind the lines, west of Amiens. Bougainville is a commune in the Somme Département in Picardie. The Adrian helmet the soldiers wear was introduced in mid-1915.
". . . At 0600 that morning [Jean] Navarre, in concert with Sous-Lieutenant Pelletier d'Oisy of N.69, had shot down a two-seater, but soon afterward Navarre came down in French lines near Samogneux, severely wounded.At that time Navarre was the leading Allied fighter pilot with 12 victories, a record outdone by only two Germans, Boelcke and Immelmann. A succession of events would prevent his adding any further to his tally. Navarre had always been a mercurial individual whose relentless combat activity had undoubtedly taken a psychological toll that nobody, including himself, could fully understand at the time. While he was convalescing, however, his mind was pushed over the edge by news that his twin brother Pierre, recovered from his own wounds and eager to return to action, had fatally crashed during a training flight . . ." ((1), more)
"On 18 June 1916 [German pilot Max Immelmann] was engaged in a fight with FE2bs of 25 Squadron in his Fokker (246/16). Twisting and turning around in the packed skies, he suddenly came under fire from an FE2b flown by Captain G R McGubbin together with his gunner, Corporal J H Waller. Their report states that they shot the Fokker's propeller away causing the engine to tear loose from its mountings, sending the aircraft plunging to the ground. . . .Max Immelmann's skill as a pilot was greatly respected by the British and on the day of his funeral they flew a special sortie over the spot where he was killed and dropped a wreath. The black funeral sash around it read:In memory of Oberleutnant Immelmann, our brave and knightly opponent, from the British Royal Flying Corps." ((2), more)
"'. . . there is one question which is more urgent and important than all the others: the question of heavy artillery. General Alexeïev is begging me for some every day, and I haven't another gun or round to send him.''But you've had seventy heavy guns just landed at Archangel!''I know; but we haven't got the railway wagons. You know what a terrible shortage we're suffering from in this respect. The whole result of the offensive which has begun so brilliantly is in danger of being paralysed by it.'" ((3), more)
"I told Alexeiev how interested you were in military affairs and of those details you asked for in your last letter,' Nicholas wrote on June 7, 1916 (O.S.). 'He [Alexeiev] smiled and listened silently.' Alexeiev's silence concealed his worry over the possible leakage of his plans. After the abdication he explained, 'When the Empress's papers were examined, she was found to be in possession of a map indicating in detail the disposition of the troops along the entire front. Only two copies were prepared of this map, one for the Emperor and one for myself. I was very painfully impressed. God knows who may have had use of this map.'" ((4), more)
"I've already told you that I'll remember 1 June 1916 for a long time to come. On that day there was a terrible bombardment one could not go out of the shelter shells were falling everywhere I ate my soup cold in the shelter a mate brought it to me, running all the way. I stepped back to make room for him at that very moment a shell fell in the corner of the shelter and shattered his jaw four splinters in the leg, three in the arm . . . If it were not for him I would have been the one to catch it and because he was a bit taller than I am and the splinter hit him in the jaw it would have hit me in the temple and you wouldn't have had your little guy any more . . . The guys of the Eleventh Battery who replaced us saw a shell explode in their very midst . . . Another one fell in the middle of them and killed four guys, one of whom was cut in two . . . and that happened pretty close to my head. I tell you this because I came out of it alive." ((5), more)
(1) After his recovery and his twin brother's death, French fighter pilot twins Jean Navarre rejoined his squadron in January, 1917, but was soon arrested for fighting, and was subsequently committed to an institution to recover from a breakdown. He died in a flying accident on July 10, 1919. German pilot Oswald Bölcke formed the first Jadgstaffel, or hunter squadron, composed entirely of fighter planes, a specialization that was an improvement on the combining of planes with different functions in the same unit. German ace Max Immelmann was credited with inventing the Immelmann turn, reversing direction by turning the plane 180 degrees while climbing, beginning and ending the maneuver with the plane level. French squadrons were designated by the plane type flown by the squadron. N.69 was a fighter squadron of Nieuport planes.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, page 58, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
(2) After Oswald Bölcke, Max Immelmann was Germany's leading ace, with 15 victories, when he was killed on June 18, 1916, flying the Fokker E.I, Germany's first fighter plane. He was credited with inventing the Immelmann turn, reversing direction by executing a half roll while climbing in a half loop, beginning and ending the maneuver with the plane level. There is some question whether the E.I was capable of such a maneuver. Like Bölcke, Immelmann was awarded the Pour le Mérite, the Blue Max, one of Prussia's highest honors, the two men receiving their medals the same day.
German Knights of the Air 1914-1918; The Holders of the Orden Pour Le Mérite by Terry C. Treadwell & Alan C. Wood, page 99, copyright © 1997 by Terry C. Treadwell & Alan C. Wood, publisher: Barnes and Noble Books, publication date: 1997
(3) Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, in conversation with General Bielaïev, Chief of Staff of the Russian army, who was about to leave for France, discussing the Brusilov Offensive, begun June 4, 1916 against Austro-Hungarian armies. It had indeed begun brilliantly, although Bielaïev cautions that the Russians are not yet fighting the Germans. Paléologue's concern is that French ships have landed not only the heavy guns, but 50,000 rifles, 1.5 million rounds of ammunition, and 6 million grenades, all sitting in Archangel waiting for transport to the front. Much of still be there when the Russian Civil War began. General Mikhail Vasiliyevich Alekseyev was Chief of Staff of Stavka, the Russian High Command, from 1915 to 1917.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 277, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(4) Excerpt from Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra that begins with part of a June 20, 1916 (June 7 Old Style) letter from Tsar Nicholas II to his wife Tsaritsa Alexandra. General Mikhail Vasiliyevich Alekseyev was Chief of Staff of Stavka, the Russian High Command, from 1915 to 1917, from the time when Nicholas designated himself Commander in Chief of the Russian armed forces. Nicholas requested that his wife not share military information with anyone, but she did so with the monk Rasputin so that he might give his advice and blessing to the Tsar's plans. Nicholas abdicated on March 15, 1917 after the February Revolution. His wife, the Empress, though raised for much of her life in England, was German-born, and was widely believed to be sympathetic to Germany if not actively working in its interest.
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie by Robert K. Massie, page 357, copyright © 1967, renewed 1995 by Robert K. Massie, publisher: Random House, publication date: 2011
(5) Extracts from letters by French artilleryman Paul Pireaud to his wife Marie on on June 9 and 21, 1916. Pireaud's unit, the 112th Heavy Artillery Regiment, moved into the Verdun sector in early April. Although French commander Pétain rotated infantry units after seven to ten days, it was much more difficult to do so with the artillery, which stayed significantly longer. The last great German attack in the Battle of Verdun was launched the next day, June 22.
Your Death Would Be Mine; Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War by Martha Hanna, page 113, copyright © 2006 by Martha Hanna, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2006
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