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Headstones from the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France of territorial guard Alfred Schirmer and Corporal Albert Levy. Schirmer died on August 8, 1918, Levy on August 10, both likely in the Battle of Amiens. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Artiplast Ansaldo SVA-5 model box and kit. The cover illustration is of two Ansaldo S.V.A.s from the Venetian La Serenissima squadron flown in the August 9, 1918 Flight over Vienna led by Gabriele D'Annunzio.
Fingers of Fate: tightening grip on Kaiser Wilhelm by King George V of Great Britain, Wilson of the United States, King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, President Poincare of France, King Albert of Belgium, Emperor Taishō of Japan. Russia is conspicuously absent dating the postcard after the Bolshevik seizure of power and cease fire on the eastern front.
Mark V tanks: One with a smokescreen and semaphore, the second moving up in the Battle of Amiens. In the latter, note the German prisoners on the left carrying a casualty to the rear on a stretcher. From The Tank Corps by Major Clough Williams-Ellis & A. Williams-Ellis.
Map of the Northwestern Front from March 21 to August 21, 1918. Despite the caption, the map shows primarily the German offensives against the British sector, Operations Michael and Georgette. From The War of the Nations Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings. © Copyrighted 1919 by the New York Times Company
"The Picardy offensive, better known as the Third Battle of the Somme, opened just before daybreak on August 8th [1918]. A heavy mist prevailed, obscuring the preparations of the British and French armies and assisting in the surprise attack that had been planned.Hundreds of small whippet tanks, capable of great speed, were aligned on the battle front to blaze a path for the infantry. Close by were the cavalry and motorcycle brigades, prepared to make the dash down the divergent Roman roads and clean up the intervening terrain.Planned as a surprise assault, the customary long bombardment of the enemy's position was omitted. Instead, the Allied guns swept the German lines for exactly four minutes, wiping out their defences as though with a sponge. Then away sped the British and French tanks, the infantry following on the double quick.Everywhere along that 40-mile front the Germans were taken by surprise." ((1), more)
"In the meanwhile, the picturesque, impulsive Major Gabriele D'Annunzio had directed an aeroplane raid upon Vienna on August 9, 1918 . . . In this beau geste, which blossomed into something of a legend, eight Italian planes—one machine dropped out because of engine trouble—scattered thousands of pamphlets reading, in D'Annunzio's gaudy prose, 'People of Vienna . . . the whole world has turned against you. . . . To continue the war is suicide for you. . . . A decisive victory is like bread from the Ukraine; one dies while waiting for it.' The Viennese were reminded that annihilating bombs, instead of leaflets, might have been unloosed. Under pain of drastic penalties if they neglected to do so, citizens were ordered to turn over the pamphlets to public authorities; the aerial visitation aggravated the unbearable war weariness along the 'blue' Danube." ((2), more)
"I see that we must strike a balance. We are at the end of our reserves. The war must be ended." ((3), more)
"Staff officers sent from G.H.Q. report that the reasons for the defeat of the Second Army are as follows:1. The fact that the troops were surprised by the massed attack of Tanks, and lost their heads when the Tanks suddenly appeared behind them, having broken under cover of natural and artificial fog.2. Lack of organised defences.3. The fact that the artillery allotted to reserve infantry units at the disposal of the Higher Command was wholly insufficient to establish fresh resistance with artillery support against the enemy who had broken through and against his Tanks.Ludendorff, 11.8.18" ((4), more)
"Within the space of five days the town of Amiens and the railway centering upon it had been disengaged. Twenty German Divisions had been heavily defeated by thirteen British Infantry Divisions and three Cavalry Divisions, assisted by a regiment of the 33rd American Division and supported by some 400 Tanks. Nearly 22,000 prisoners and over 400 guns had been taken by us, and our line had been pushed forward to a depth of some twelve miles in a vital sector. Further, our deep advance, combined with the attacks of the French Armies on our right, had compelled the enemy to evacuate hurriedly a wide extent of territory to the south of us." ((5), more)
(1) German commander Erich Ludendorff would later refer to August 8, 1918, the first day of the Battle of Amiens, as the 'black day for the German Army.' The British Fourth Army and the French First Army on its right advanced as much as eight miles on the first day, inflicting as many as 48,000 casualties, 13,000 of them taken prisoner or missing in action. Over 400 tanks participated in the battle, including the new faster Whippet Tanks and 300 heavy Mark V Tanks.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 451, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(2) Gabriele D'Annunzio was a major Italian writer who had strongly advocated for Italy's entry into the war. He had previously dropped streamers in the colors of the Italian flag and bearing patriotic massages over Trieste, Austria-Hungary, a city with a large ethnic Italian population. He commanded the Ansaldo SVA-5s of the Venetian La Serenissima Squadron in the Flight over Vienna, a round trip of over 1,200 km. In his Letters, Anglo-American writer Henry James refers to D'Annunzio as 'that particular rotten little skunk' while admiring one of his recent poems. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between Russia and the Central Powers in March, 1918 was expected to free up grain from Ukraine. The initial phrase, 'in the meanwhile', is a reference to the devastation visited upon the German army on the previous day in the Battle of Amiens.
The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918 2 Volumes by Arthur James May, page 720, copyright © 1966 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, publication date: 1966
(3) German Kaiser Wilhelm II on August 10, 1918, two days after the devastating Allied advance in the Battle of Amiens. His Commander, Erich Ludendorff, who was thought be some of his staff to be on the verge of nervous collapse, would refer to the 8th as 'the black day of the German Army.'
World War I in Outline by B.H. Liddell Hart, page 255, publisher: Westholme Publishing (originally Faber and Faber), publication date: 2012 (originally 1936)
(4) German commander Erich Ludendorff writing on August 11, 1918 of the defeat of the German Second Army in the Battle of Amiens, launched on the 8th, a day Ludendorff referred to as 'the black day for the German Army.' The British fielded over 300 heavy Mark V tanks, nearly 100 lighter Whippet tanks, and over 100 supply tanks in the battle's first day.
The Tank Corps by Clough Williams-Ellis & A. Williams-Ellis, page 217, publisher: The Offices of "Country Life," Ltd. and George Newnes, Ltd., publication date: 1919
(5) British Commander-in-Chief Douglas Haig writing on August 12 of the Battle of Amiens, begun on the 8th. One of Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch's key aims was to free France's primary rail and communication hubs from German control and put them beyond the reach of German guns. Amiens was a critical center from Paris to the north. Over 300 heavy Mark V tanks and nearly 100 faster and lighter Whippet tanks were critical to the British success on the Battle's first day. Until the formation of the First American Army later in the month, American troops fought under French and British command.
The Tank Corps by Clough Williams-Ellis & A. Williams-Ellis, page 212, publisher: The Offices of "Country Life," Ltd. and George Newnes, Ltd., publication date: 1919
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