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Happy or Blessed New Year, a trench art pencil drawing by Heinz. Field postmarked December 30, 1915.
A Russian Cossack riding among refugees fleeing before a Central Power advance. The Russians adopted a scorched-earth policy in the months-long retreat before the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive of the spring, summer, and fall 1915, with Cossacks accused of burning homes and crops to deny them to the advancing enemy, and to prevent civilians from remaining behind and providing intelligence to the invader.
British submarine E.2, a submarine of the E class. The submarine had two voyages in the Sea of Marmora during the Gallipoli campaign, the first from August 12 to September 14, 1915, the second from December 9, 1915 to January 3, 1916.
Conrad von Hötzendorf, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, Vienna, 1914. By the end of that year he had lost as many as one million men, much of his country's rolling stock, and the northeastern region of Galicia. His forces had also been defeated by Serbia three times.
Vote Yes pin for Australian conscription, October 28, 1916, with the flags of Australia and Great Britain. A tin badge or tie-back pin in support of the Australian referendum on conscription, October 28, 1916. Australia voted no on this occasion and again, by a wider margin, in December, 1917.
"December 31st.—At 11 p.m.—midnight in Germany—for five minutes, and again at midnight for two minutes, the German artillery fired a New Year Greeting: we had one man wounded. On our left the second shoot was preceded by a shout from a German, 'Keep down, you bastards, we're going to strafe you.' We retaliated on their front line with rifles and Lewis guns, and the artillery fired twenty-four rounds of high explosive." ((1), more)
"Here I will wish you a happy new Year, full of keen experiences, and quietly joyful times of fallowness.May the War end soon, and let us dream again, but nobly and to active ends. May England grow dearer, sweeter in herself (for we deserve better weather and more amiable smiles) and in our memories. And may the President of the Women Musicians be preserved to sanity." ((2), more)
"Just north of the La Bassée road, while a relief was taking place, the Germans had blown what was then their largest mine. One man was blown onto the top of a near-by brickstack. The total casualties were put at three-score or more. A few civilian casualties included the Mayor of Cambrin, who was visiting his Commune: he lost a leg. He and his wife had opened a wine parlour in Beuvry, which was frequented by many of us because of its homely, sociable atmosphere. Madame was a motherly soul who delighted to bake a cake for someone's birthday, or do any kindly service for a customer." ((3), more)
"At 6 a.m. the next morning she set course for the Dardanelles, charging her batteries as she went. She dived at 8.45 a.m., and by 10 a.m. was passing the town of Gallipoli. At 1.30 p.m., when off Ak Bashi Liman, E2 dived to 80 feet and found that the nets had apparently been removed; then she hit bottom at 70 feet off Maidos. Stocks turned E2 to a heading of 165 degrees and went ahead but hit bottom again, running up to a dangerous depth of 20 feet, fortunately without being sighted. Taking bearings, Stocks fixed his position, turned E2 to a heading of 125 degrees, and moved out of the straits, passing Chanak at 3.25 p.m. and surfacing at Cape Helles at 6.05 p.m. E2 had travelled a distance of 1,480 miles, sunk nineteen dhows and one steamer, and caused damage to another steamer and a railway station; but, perhaps even more importantly, there were now no Allied submarines in the Sea of Marmara for the first time in ten months." ((4), more)
"The ascendancy of the Central Powers on the battlefield at the beginning of 1916 was reflected in the treatment of the national minorities inside Austria-Hungary. That January the German language was declared to be the only official language in Bohemia. In the streets of Prague the police used truncheons against people they heard speaking Czech. But in the policy-making centre, Vienna, the Austrian leaders recognized the enormous problems that the war was creating, especially as the Russian army, for all its setbacks, continued to fight with tenacity. 'There can be no question of destroying the Russian war machine,' General Conrad warned Count Tisza on January 4, and he added: 'England cannot be defeated; peace must be made in not too short a space, or we shall be fatally weakened, if not destroyed.'" ((5), more)
(1) Entry for December 31, 1915 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.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, pp. 174, 175, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(2) Ivor Gurney, English poet and composer, writing to the composer Marion Margaret Scott, President of the Society of Women Musicians from 1915 to 1916, on January 1, 1916. Gurney was a private in the Gloucestershire Regiment. His letters to Scott in previous months wish her improved health, and refer to overwork and 'weak nerves.'
War Letters, Ivor Gurney, a selection edited by R.K.R. Thornton by Ivor Gurney, page 54, copyright © J. R. Haines, the Trustee of the Ivor Gurney Estate 1983, publisher: The Hogarth Press, publication date: 1984
(3) Excerpt from the entry for January 2, 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.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 175, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(4) The Allied Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns had failed. The invaders had evacuated positions at Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove in December, and were in the process of abandoning Cape Helles, their last position on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The French and Royal Navies had failed to force the Dardanelles in February and March, 1915. During the long invasion the fleet had served as transport, supply, and hospital ships and as offshore batteries. Throughout the campaign, French and British submarines had passed through the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmora, reaching as far as Constantinople, the goal of the campaign.
Gallipoli — Attack from the Sea by Victor Rudenno, page 255, copyright © 2008 Victor Rudenno, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2008
(5) By the beginning of 1916 there were demands for peace in many of the combatant nations. Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff had already lost 2.1 million men, many against Russia which, even as Conrad wrote, was waging an offensive in Galicia, Austria-Hungary's northeastern province. Russia had given up most of Polish Russia in its Great Retreat of 1915, but, in doing so, had shortened and stabilized its front. Its production of war material had begun to justify the reference to a 'war machine,' and it had consistently fought well against Austria-Hungary, forcing Conrad to rush to Berlin to plead for German assistance. Count Etienne Tisza was the Royal Hungarian Premier of the Dual Monarchy.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 224, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
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