Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"Half an hour before dawn the trench garrison stood to arms and there was still complete quiet. Then at 3.15 A.M., with dramatic suddenness came the carefully planned German stroke. The site of the stables of the chateau was blown up, whilst a sudden hissing sound was heard by the two companies of the 8/Rifle Brigade on either side of the crater, and a bright crimson glare over the crater turned the whole scene red. Jets of flame as if from a line of powerful fire-hoses, spraying fire instead of water, shot across the front trenches of the Rifle Brigade and a thick black cloud formed. It was the first attack on the British with liquid fire."
In July 1915, British and German forces fought three engagements in Hooge, a village near Ypres, with a destroyed chateau held by the Germans, and its stables held by the British. On July 19, the British initiated an attack by setting off a mine that opened a crater 120 feet across, gaining a small amount of ground. A second attack on the 22nd had no mine, no element of surprise, and failed. On the morning of July 30, the Germans attacked with 'liquid-fire', a weapon the French had already faced.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos by J. E. Edmonds, page 104, copyright © asserted, publisher: Macmillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1928
1915-07-30, 1915, July, flamethrower, flame thrower, Hooge
