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Postcard map of East Prussia and Polish Russia with a message and postmark, Vienna, August 20, 1915. From a series that asks, 'Do you know the high times?'
Map of the Allied offensives of 1918, from July 18 and the Second Battle of the Marne to the Armistice on November 11. From The Memoirs of Marshall Foch by Marshall Foch.
Detail showing the plaque for 1918 from the monument to the Tank Corps, Pozières, France. The base bears plaques commemorating the Tank Corps and the years 1916, when tanks were first used in battle, 1917, when they were proven to be a weapon that could change the war, and 1918, when tanks were decisive in the Allied victory. The plaques for each year list the engagements in which the Corps fought. © 2013 by John M. Shea
The battlefield near Verdun, the Meuse River (Maas), and the Argonne Forest, viewed from the German line looking southwest. During the 1916 Seige of Verdun, the road and a light rail line from Bar-le-Duc were the sole source of supply for the besieged city.
Metal grave markers at the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France. A plowed field and village is in the background. © 2013 by John M. Shea
"Early in October, 1918, Polish deputies in the Vienna parliament joined their counterparts in Berlin in demanding a united and fully independent Poland, and on October 7, the Regency in Warsaw called for a Polish national ministry and a representative assembly, chosen on broad democratic principles, to write a constitution. Polish politicians in Galicia journeyed to Warsaw to participate in setting up a provisional government and Polish soldiers disarmed loyalist Hapsburg troops in the province. Bit by bit, Poles acquired control of former Russian Poland expelling the administrators and soldiers of the Austrian and German occupation." ((1), more)
"On October 8th, Cambrai was taken, the Germans opposite forced back behind the river Selle, and the front cleared from the Sensée in the north to a point east of St. Quentin in the south. Since September 26th, the British had taken nearly fifty thousand prisoners and captured a thousand guns.Prisoners were being captured further south, too, as the Americans gradually sorted out the chaos behind their front and began inexorably to press forward through the Argonne towards Mézières and Sedan." ((2), more)
"'A penetration of over six miles has been made towards Le Cateau, and in the area gained, twenty-six villages have been occupied.Tanks again cooperated. . . .The whole of Cambrai was occupied this morning. . . .Air reports state that there is great confusion on road N.E. and S.E. of Le Cateau, and that our low-flying scouts have been shooting at record targets. . . .The number of prisoners taken in yesterday's attack by the British Armies amounted to 6300, and by the French in the St. Quentin area 1200. No detail yet received of captures today.'" ((3), more)
"The second phase of the Argonne battle was begun on October 4th, when the First American Army, reinforced by its reserved divisions, advanced to attack the Kriemhilde line. The First Corps, on the 7th, took Chatel-Chehery, pressing forward toward Cornay. At the same time, the Third Corps, tilting to the left and fighting against great odds, marked its way through Brieulles and Cunel. The Fifth Corps, meantime, in quick succession, had taken Gesnes and Fleville. On the 10th, the great Argonne Forest was completely cleared of the Germans." ((4), more)
"Frenchman, from Brest, Bordeaux, Garonne;Ukrainian, Cossack from the Urals, from Dnjestr and Don;Austrians, Bulgarians, Turks and Serbs,All of you in the raging whirlpool of action and dying —Britisher, from London, York, Manchester,Soldier, comrade-in-arms, truly fellow human being and best of men —American, from the populous states of freedom:Throw away partisanship, national pride and antagonism!If you were an honourable enemy, become an honourable friend.Here is my hand, so that hand in hand may now be linked togetherAnd our new day find us sincere and humane." ((5), more)
(1) What would become Poland at the end of the war was, in 1914, parts of three empires: Polish western Russia, part of northern Austria-Hungary, and part of East Prussia in Germany. In October, 1918, Poles demanded an independent nation unifying ethnic Poles, based on Russian Poland, but incorporating Poles in the lands of the swiftly-disintegrating Austro-Hungarian Empire. Warsaw, Russia's third largest city, would be the capital. Ignoring the struggling and seemingly failing Bolshevik regime in Russia, the Poles would need to contend with Ukraine for its boundaries. Galicia was northeastern Austria-Hungary. On the Russian side of the Carpathian Mountains, it had been the site of much of the fighting between Russia and the Central Powers. In the beginning of October, the governments in Vienna and Berlin were making peace overtures as they realized the war could no longer be won.
The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918 2 Volumes by Arthur James May, page 782, copyright © 1966 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, publication date: 1966
(2) The British, French, and Americans all advanced on October 8, 1918, the French at the southern end of the British line near St. Quentin. The same day, the Americans and French began an attack on German artillery positions on the heights of the Meuse River that threatened the American advance in the Argonne. On October 8, taking part in that Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Corporal Alvin York of Tennessee earned his Medal of Honor by knocking out German machine gun positions, in the process taking 35 of the guns, killing 25 or more soldiers, and capturing another 132.
1918, the Last Act by Barrie Pitt, pp. 258–259, copyright © 1962 by Barrie Pitt, publisher: Ballantine Books, Inc., publication date: 1963
(3) Excerpt from the Tank Corps Intelligence Summary for October 9, 1918 quoted in The Tank Corps by Clough Williams-Ellis and A. Williams-Ellis. The authors continue: 'The Battle of Cambrai-St. Quentin was at an end, and the Hindenburg Line had now to all intents and purposes ceased to exist, broken as it was on a front of nearly thirty miles.Before the whole British forces in France, from north of Menin to Bohain, seven miles north-west of Guise, open country stretched, uncut by trench, unhung by wire. The time for exploitation had arrived.'
The Tank Corps by Clough Williams-Ellis & A. Williams-Ellis, pp. 260–261, publisher: The Offices of "Country Life," Ltd. and George Newnes, Ltd., publication date: 1919
(4) The first phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive had begun on September 26, 1918, and had fallen well short of its unrealistic goals for a rapid advance in the densely forested, well-fortified Argonne. The Kriemhilde line was, to quote our author, 'a system of concrete trenches nearly three miles deep, occupying the heights and protected with several zones of thick barbed wire hundreds of feet wide.'
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 470, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(5) Stanza from 'An die Soldaten des Grossen Krieges' ('To the Soldiers of the Great War', translated by Patrick Bridgwater) by Gerrit Engelke, German writer and soldier, wounded on October 11, 1918, dying on the 13th. Engelke served at Langemarck, Verdun, the Somme, Champagne, and St. Mihiel and was a recipient of the Iron Cross.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, pp. 89–90, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
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