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The salute of General Black Jack Pershing, Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Force, landing in France, June, 1917. Pershing landed in Boulogne on June 13.
Queen Elizabeth of Belgium presents a gift to Cpt. (?) Desmet, possibly prior to or after a flight, as she is wearing flight gear. Behind them flyers and ground crew are in, on, and around an SE5A.
A poem beneath a United States flag calls on American boys to show the Kaiser.
The United States Department of Justice Registration Card of Alien Female Anna Geiselmann of New York City. Issued July 8, 1918.[page]Photograph of Anna Geiselmann signed on the left side by her, and on the right by Sgt. Peter J. Pfeifferleft thumb print of registered personNOTE. — The issuance of this registration card does not relieve the registrant from full compliance with any and all laws and regulations now existing or hereafter made concerning the conduct of such alien females.[Note: following pages blank other than as noted below.][Page]Indorsements[Page]Indorsements Continued[Inside and outside back cover]Blank
The green harp flag of Ireland, evidently both with and without the bust of a woman, was the flag of the short-lived Confederation of Kilkenny (1642-1649), and an unofficial flag of Ireland thereafter.
"You are about to enter this great battle of the greatest war in history, and in that battle you will represent the mightiest nation engaged. That thought itself must be to you a very appealing thought and one that should call forth the best and the noblest that is in you. Centuries of military tradition and of military and civil history are now looking toward this first contingent of the American Army as it enters this great battle. You have behind you your own national traditions that should make you the finest soldiers in Europe to-day. We come from a young and aggressive nation. We come from a nation that for one hundred and fifty years has stood before the world as the champion of the sacred principles of human liberty. We now return to Europe, the home of our ancestors, to help defend those same principles upon European soil. Could there be a more stimulating sentiment as you go from here to your commands, and from there to the battlefield?" ((1), more)
"[King Albert] agreed to extend our right as far as the outskirts of Ypres. He did not intend to deprive himself of reserves at the moment when the battle was about to break on us.In actual fact, on the 17th, it was launched from Lake Blankaert to Langemarck, following the expected rhythm. Our outposts were lost and our front line was submerged. The preparatory bombardment, however, fell on empty trenches and abandoned gun emplacements. Our artillery, still intact, replied from its withdrawn positions and smashed the assaulting troops. Supported by our fire, our reserves advanced and, with a magnificent burst, recaptured in its entirety the lost terrain, taking 900 prisoners.However brilliant this result, we only learned much later that the Belgian Army had outwitted a pincer movement designed to encircle all the British troops in the Ypres salient." ((2), more)
"During the middle of April, at a time when the crisis in both French and British effectives was particularly acute, the American Army in France comprised only five fighting divisions. One of these, the 1st was about to join the French First Army, three others (2d, 26th, and 42d) were holding quiet sectors of the front, and the remaining one (32d) had temporarily distributed its infantry among French divisions to complete its training.This infantry constituted, therefore, the sole direct help which the American Army was furnishing to fill the gaps in the French Army. Counting the black troops which were serving with our divisions, the total amounted to 23,000 infantrymen, which, as can be seen, was far from meeting such pressing needs as ours." ((3), more)
"United States of America Department of JusticeRegistration Card of Alien Female(Under Proclamation of the President, dated April 19, 1918.)The Registration Card Must Be Carried on the Person(Penalty)Anyone required to register shall not, after the date fixed for her registration and the issuance to her of a registration card, be found within the limits of the United States, its territories or possessions, without having her registration card on her person, under liability, among other penalties, to arrest and detention for the period of the war." ((4), more)
". . . the largest and most representative meeting ever held in Tralee and the most united in its determination to fulfil the object for which it was called, was the assembly in the square last night. The outstanding feature of the meeting was the attendance and cooperation of people who were hitherto diametrically opposed to each other in national principles, Sinn Fiéners, Redmondites, pro-British etc." ((5), more)
(1) Excerpt from 'Remarks to the Officers of the 1st Division,' delivered on April 16, 1918 by General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Force. The Division arrived in France in June, 1917, and had spent the intervening months in training or holding a quiet sector of the front in Lorraine. When Pershing spoke, the second of German General Erich Ludendorff's 1918 Spring Offensives, Operation Georgette, the Lys Offensive, was in progress. It had followed immediately after the Somme Offensive Operation Michael. Both were directed at the British front, and both captured substantial ground.
World War I and America by A. Scott Berg, page 462, copyright © 2017 by Literary Classics of the United States, publisher: The Library of America, publication date: 2017
(2) The War Diaries of Albert, King of the Belgians were assembled by General R. Van Overstraeten from the monarch's diary and other sources. This selection is from what Van Overstraeten refers to as his 'general succinct framework' and describes an action in Operation Georgette, the April 17, 1918 attack on Belgian forces, north of the British forces holding Ypres. In the 1914 Battle of the Yser, the Belgians had inundated part of the flat coastal land to stop the German offensive. They maintained the tidal flooding for the remainder of the war.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, pp. 203–204, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(3) French General and Allied Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch on the state of the American Expeditionary Force in mid-April, 1918, after Operation Michael and during Operation Georgette, the first and second of five German offensives in 1918, both of which had driven British forces back from ground they had taken at great cost in 1916 and 1917. British commander Douglas Haig looked to newly appointed Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch for reinforcements. Foch had for months pressed for a unified command and a reserve force that could seize the offensive when the opportunity presented itself, and was sparing in providing troops from his reserve.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 306, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
(4) A proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson on April 19, 1918 followed an Act of Congress of three days earlier to extend existing law to cover women aged 14 and over as well as men. The law applied to 'all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of Germany or Austria Hungary of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized.' [brocku.ca/MeadProject/USA/EnemyAlien4_1918.html, April 15, 2018]
The United States Department of Justice Registration Card of Alien Female Anna Geiselmann of New York City by United States Department of Justice, Cover and inside front cover, publisher: United States Department of Justice, publication date: 1918
(5) Excerpt from The Kerryman for April 20, 1918. The execution of many of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland had united Irish opposition to British rule as the Rising itself did not. The passage two years later of a Conscription Bill that extended to all of Ireland and not only the northern province of Ulster, introduced in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Lloyd George on April 9, 1918, brought together Irish across the political spectrum. The bill followed Operation Michael, which had driven the British from over 700 square miles of territory, and was introduced the same day that Operation Georgette began. Tralee is the county town of the county of Kerry in southwest Ireland.
A Nation and Not a Rabble: The Irish Revolution 1913–1923 by Diarmaid Ferriter, page 174, copyright © Diarmaid Ferriter, 2015, publisher: The Overlook Press
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