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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.
Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
"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." ((1), 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!'" ((2), 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." ((3), 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." ((4), more)
"Morale was higher [among the Allied troops in Greece]—partly because the hardship of winter was over, but also because the proximity of the Germans suggested a purpose for being in this odd corner of Europe. The destruction of a Zeppelin by naval gunners on May 5 in full view of the people of Salonika also raised the spirits of the troops, especially among the British contingent, for their families at home had already been subject to raids of this type and it was to be another four months before the first Zeppelin was shot down on English soil. Throughout the Salonika base, there was an air of expectancy." ((5), more)
(1) 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
(2) 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
(3) 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
(4) 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
(5) From their base in the port of Salonica, Allied forces had expanded their footprint in Greece to the frontier, where they skirmished with Bulgarian and German troops. In spring, 1916, the Allied camp contained French and British troops originally transported from the failed Gallipoli front, the remains of Serbia's army, now recovered from its defeat and forced retreat to the Adriatic coast, and Russian troops that had sailed from Archangel on the White Sea.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 62, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
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