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British soldiers on the Western Front in an official photograph dated March 5, 1917.
Monument to the Polish volunteers who fell in the Third Battle of Artois, May 9, 1915, at La Targette. Across the front of the monument is inscribed "Za Wasza I Nasza Wolnosc", For your freedom; for our freedom. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Watercolor of Royal Navy motor launch ML148, by LHS, 1918. The motor launch was a small vessel designed for harbor defense and anti-submarine work. The Elco company built 580 between 1915 and 1918 in three series of different lengths: 1 to 50 (75 ft.), 51 to 550 (86 ft.), and 551 to 580 (80 ft.). The original armament of a 13 pound cannon was later replaced by three depth charges. Signed: L.H.S. 18
I've killed many Germans, but never women or children. Original French watercolor by John on blank field postcard. In the background are indolent Russian soldiers and Vladimir Lenin, in the foreground stands what may be a Romanian soldier who is telling the Russians, 'You call me savage. I killed a lot of Boches [Germans], but never women or children!'
King Albert of Belgium decorates Willy Coppens, Belgium's Ace of Aces. Coppens describes this June 30, 1918 ceremony, in which he was awarded the Ordre de la Couronne in his memoir Flying in Flanders.
"The equilibrium of opposing forces on the Franco-British and Italian fronts is clearly in favor of the enemy on the first of these fronts and [in favor] of the allies on the Italian front. Thus it appears essential to bring back without delay from Italy part of the allied forces that are there. Since English reserves are actually less numerous than French reserves and the English front appears menaced more immediately, two English divisions should be brought back at once from Italy. French troops will follow." ((1), more)
"While Vienna was beflagged and rejoicing at the signature of the Ukrainian Peace, the Polish press in Warsaw and Lublin appeared with heavy black borders in mourning for the rape of Cholm. A general strike was declared in Warsaw, Cracow, and Lemberg on February 14 [1918]; the Polish Council of Ministers resigned and the three regents, Prince Lubomirski, Archbishop Kakowski, and Count Ostrowski, issues a manifesto in language savouring of the mediaeval: 'Before God and before the World; before men and the tribunal of history; before the German people and the peoples of Austria-Hungary, the Polish Council of Regency now raises its protest against the new partition of Poland, refuses to give its recognition, and brands the step as an act of violation'." ((2), more)
"The British armed boarding steamer Louvain was sunk in the Mediterranean on January 21st [1918] with the loss of 224 lives.On January 27th, the Cunard liner Ardania was attacked and sunk when off the Irish coast. The passengers were saved.German destroyers in the straits of Dover, on February 15th, sank eight British boats." ((3), more)
"On February 16 [1918], at noon, Lenin and Trotsky sat in conference at Smolny with Karelin and another Left Social Revolutionary. A folded paper was brought to Lenin, and, without interrupting his remarks, he glanced at it. It was a telegram from General Samoilo, who had been left behind at Brest:General Hoffmann to-day gave official notice that the armistice concluded with the Russian Republic comes to an end on February 18 at 12 o'clock, and that war will be renewed on that day. He therefore invites me to leave Brest-Litovsk." ((4), more)
"That night I got everything ready: a service cap, in case I should be taken prisoner; a box of fusee-matches given to me by Olieslagers to set fire to my machine with; my automatic pistol; and a little map, measuring 8 inches by 3 inches. . . . And the following morning, February 18, 1918, under a blue cloudless sky—at 8:35, on one of the finest winter's mornings one could wish to have—I left the ground with my petrol tanks filled to the brim; with fuel, in other words, for three hours' flight.My intention was to fly over Brussels." ((5), more)
(1) French General Ferdinand Foch writing to the British government on February 13, 1918. Both Britain and France had sent troops and materiel to Italy when it seemed on the verge of collapse during the Battle of Caporetto. But, after losing its Second Army, the Italians held on the Piave River with a shorter, more defensible line, facing an exhausted Austria-Hungary and a Germany focused on a spring offensive on the Western Front.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, page 419, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
(2) Nearing the end of fruitless negotiations with Russia, the Central Powers signed a peace treaty with the Ukrainian People's Republic at Brest-Litovsk on February 9, 1918. Desperate for food supplies, and expecting them from the new Ukraine, Austria understandably rejoiced, even as Polish nationals, hoping for their own nation, one that included Cholm, protested.
Brest-Litovsk: The Forgotten Peace; March 1918 by John W. Wheeler-Bennett by John W. Wheeler-Bennett, page 234, publisher: The Norton Library, publication date: 1971, first published 193
(3) Although German submarines continued to follow the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and continued to take a toll on shipping and transport of both combatant and neutral nations, Germany had too few submarines, and the convoy system, depth charges, and other protective measures limited Allied losses which peaked in April, 1917.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 510, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(4) On February 10, 1918 Leon Trotsky, head of the Russian delegation to the Brest-Litovsk peace negotiations with the Central Powers, left the conference saying Russia would not sign a peace treaty, but would withdraw from the war, its peasant soldiers returning to their fields, its worker soldiers to their workshops. In the following days Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin debated whether the Germans would accept this situation or resume the war. On the 16th they received their answer from General Hoffmann, military head of the German delegation, to his Russian counterpart General Alexander Samoilo. The Smolny Institute had been the headquarters for the Petrograd Soviet of Soldiers and Workers Deputies from August, 1917, and was made Bolshevik headquarters after the October Revolution.
Brest-Litovsk: The Forgotten Peace; March 1918 by John W. Wheeler-Bennett by John W. Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 238–239, publisher: The Norton Library, publication date: 1971, first published 193
(5) Belgian aviator Willy Coppens' preparations on February 17, 1918 for his flight over Brussels, capital of Belgium and Coppens' home town, occupied by German troops since August 20, 1914. Coppens flew low over the city, above the royal palace and low enough over his house to recognize his parents, low enough to not draw any fire during his flight. The pilot credits the flight with leaving him fearless, helping to explain his 37 victories, 35 of them against heavily defended observation balloons. Lieutenant Jan Olieslagers was a Belgian ace who ended the war with six victories.
Flying in Flanders by Willy Coppens, page 132, publisher: Ace Books, publication date: 1971
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