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German volunteer motorboat in a reconnaissance skirmish. After a painting by C. W. Kiesslich.
'December snow.' Hand-painted watercolor calendar for December 1917 by Schima Martos. Particulates from a smoking kerosene lamp overspread the days of December, and are labeled 'December höra,' 'December snow.' The first five days or nights of the month show a couple at, sitting down to, or rising from a lamp-lit table. The rest of the month the nights are dark, other than four in which the quarter of the moon shows through a window, or Christmas, when the couple stands in the light of a Christmas tree.
Embossed postcard of the flag and coins of Finnland, a region of Russia with substantial autonomy, with fixed exchange rates for major currencies including the German Mark, Austro-Hungarian Krone, British Shilling, the Latin Monetary Union Franc, Dutch Guilder, Russia Ruble, Scandinavian Monetary Union Krone/Krona, and United States Dollar. Includes images for 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 Penniä coins, and 1, 2, 10, and 20 Markaa coins. The flag is that of Russia.
Railroad and occupied territory map of western and central Europe, northern Africa, and Turkey. A German postcard map postdating the taking of Riga on the Baltic Sea on September 3, 1917 but before the German advance in February, 1918. The inset shows the Western Front and French-occupied territory in Alsace, then German Elsass.
A Liebig advertising card of the Bulgarian Army from the series Armées des États Balcaniques, published in 1910.The card shows, from left to right, a general, a soldier in summer dress, an aide-de-camp, a staff officer, a horse guard, a detachment of cavalry, and a regular infantry company.
"On 29 July [1916] the Germans, Austrians, and Bulgarians reached an agreement, later adhered to by the Turks, on the conduct of the campaign. Field Marshal Mackensen was given command of the southern frontier, that is, the region of the Dobrudja and Danube. AOK decided to retain the majority of the Danube Flotilla in the lower Danube rather than ordering it to make the long trip upstream from Rustschuk. After hostilities began, the flotilla, including the monitors at Rustschuk and the armed steamers spread along the Danube, proceeded to Balene; only the armed steamer Almos and patrol boats Lachs and Stör were upstream at Kladovo, and there were a few German motorboats at Orsova. The Austrians also sent special bridging equipment down to Belene in a few echelons in preparation for a future crossing of the Danube. On 13 August the Danube Flotilla was placed under the orders of Army Group Mackensen." ((1), more)
"It is Monday, but the atmosphere is that of Sunday. German weekdays now are all like Sunday. A little group of people is pressed against a big glass window. Here the latest war bulletins are posted. People always assemble at two spots — war bulletins and food shops. It is uncanny to see tragic eyes gazing into pastry shops and fruit stores. Meat is not displayed. I wondered why the butter and cheese stores are ignored. I tried gazing in one. They put up such a good appearance with their shining tinfoil packages. Then I discovered the reason. The packages are fake. Each holds a block of wood. There is no butter or cheese in window or shop. Twice a week a tiny supply arrives to be distributed to the bearers of cards, that is all." ((2), more)
"We are to remain at Khutanova for the time being. The enemy has called a halt and is resisting the Russian pressure. After dark, some 140 men were gathered in and around our first aid hut; by midnight, we had despatched the majority of them and found ourselves free to rest for an hour or so. But soon after 3 a.m. we were called to the Emergency Shed to another contingent of wounded, and our work continued until well into the morning. The news-sheet informed us that the 3rd Sharpshooters' Regiment of the Turkestanski Division, together with the Finlandski, would be obliged to advance before our Division would be called upon to move. So, for a week or so, we should be stationary." ((3), more)
"August 16th.—Moody is back: another asset. A German airman he met in hospital at Rouen said their game is up, Austria has let them down, but they will fight to the end: he was quite ignorant of our side of things, thought our Navy was scuppered at Jutland." ((4), more)
"At two in the morning on August 17 [1916] a column of Bulgarian infantry, with light artillery trundling behind, set out along half-forgotten hill tracks on the western fringe of the Kenali valley, which led from Monastir to Florina. Shortly afterward a second infantry regiment began a parallel advance on the opposite side of the valley. By dawn they had overpowered the Serbian outposts, and by the time that news of the attack had reached Sarrail eighty miles away in Salonika, the Bulgarians had captured the station of Florina and were in a position to cut off the town, which lay three miles west of the railway. By the following morning the Bulgarians had rushed 18,000 men through the gap and outnumbered the Serbs who opposed them by two to one." ((5), more)
(1) As Romania negotiated its entry into the war, its soon-to-be adversaries prepared. Protected by mountains to the north, only the barrier of the Danube River stood between it and Bulgaria to the south. In the country's east, where the Danube turned north before flowing east into the Black Sea, was the Dobruja, a region with no natural barrier against an offensive from the south. August von Mackensen was one of Germany's most effective generals during the war.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 275, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(2) American Madeleine Doty writing of street life — 'thin streams of people' — in Berlin on Monday, August 14, 1916. In her luxury hotel she can still get coffee, a little milk, and rolls, but no butter. Her 'delicious jam' is 'last year's jam. This year's has little sugar.' Her words presage the musical Cabaret: 'War and poverty exist outside, but here all is comfort.'
Short Rations: an American Woman in Germany 1915-1916 by Madeleine Z. Doty, pp. 118-119, copyright © 1917, by The Century Co., publisher: A. L. Burt Company, publication date: 1917
(3) Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, advancing through Austria-Hungary in the Brusilov Offensive, and writing on August 15 (August 2 Old Style), 1916. The previous day, a non-commissioned officer with a broken arm had rejoiced about the Austro-Hungarian retreat, but reported that 'the Germans had taken their place.' He assured the medical team that this was no cause for alarm because, the Russian troops being in high spirits, nothing could 'halt their advance.' He was mistaken, and the Russians would suffer heavy losses trying to break the German line and resume their advance.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, pp. 224-225, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(4) Extract from the entry for August 16, 1916 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. Captain P. Moody, one of the contributors to Dunn's book, had attempted to complete the capture of High Wood in late July and had been hit in the food. Part of the Battle of the Somme, the English attack on High Wood began July 14, but was not completed until mid-September. In June and July, the Austro-Hungarians had crumbled before Russia's Brusilov Offensive until Germany came, once again, to its ally's aid. The German military would soon assume command of the Austro-Hungarian army.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 250, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(5) German and Bulgarian commands anticipated an offensive against Bulgaria by the Allies forces in Greece and were aware Romania was about to join the Allies in the war against Austria-Hungary. German forces had helped, and continued to help, Austria stop Russia's attempts to reinvigorate their success in the Busilov Offensive, leaving the Bulgarians to take the lead in preempting the Allied attack. Under the command of French General Maurice Sarrail, the Allied line included French, British, Russian, and Serbian troops. It was the Serbian sector on the Greek frontier the Bulgarians struck.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 77, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
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