Happy New Year 1915! Bonne année! The New Year shoots down the Old over Paris. 1914 is represented by a German Taube, the New Year is loosely based on a French Blériot.
Image text: Bonne annéeHappy New Year1915 1914Logo: JM (?)406Reverse:Fabrication françaisMade in France
An Italian soldier lying in the snow waving a handkerchief to a plane overhead. The logo is for Societa Italiana Aviazione, founded in 1916, which became part of Fiat Aviation in 1918.
Image text: Logo: SIAReverse:S.I.A. Societa Italiana Aviazione Lingotto - TorinoAlfibri E. Lacroix Milano Inc. St Imp.
British soldiers on the Western Front in an official photograph dated March 5, 1917.
Image text: British soldiers in full winter equipment discuss the war. British official photograph taken on the Western front showing two fully equipped British Tommies discussing the war and the trend of events at a spot behind the lines. They are carrying considerable equipment for one man. One could almost start at the left and go around in a circle naming the various articles that constitute his outfit. Helmet, pack, bags, bundles, canteen, rifle, not forgetting the long bristle brush. Despite their cumbersome packs, the men are cheerfully happy. 3/5/17
"Brussels, December 21, 1914. — Yesterday Brussels awoke from the calm in which it had been plunged for some time, when a couple of French aviators came sailing overhead and dropped six bombs on the road yards at Etterbeck. . . . The German forces did their level best to bring the bird men down with shrapnel, but they were flying high enough for safety. They seem to have hit their mark and torn up the switches, etc., in a very satisfactory way." ((1), more)
"Another incident occurred on 20 December [1915] at Kammo, on the middle Isonzo, directly below Krn, when a regiment of the Salerno Brigade was ordered back to the first line. Apparently fuelled by drink, someone fired a shot at the officers' mess. The divisional command surrounded the regiment with four battalions, complete with machine guns and artillery. The following morning, an extraordinary court martial considered the charge of 'revolt in the presence of the enemy' — a dubious charge, as the rebels were not in the line. Eight were sentenced to death, others to hard labour for 20 years. The condemned men wept as they were led away. After witnessing the executions, the regiment was escorted back up the line by carabinieri (military police)." ((2), more)
"Bonne Annee = Happy New YearFrance Dec. 21st 16Dearest Rose,This is the P.C. I mentioned in letter of above date.Alf Cornish tells me he will be going to England on about the 28th inst. Good luck to him. Wish I could go but of course I hope the war ends long before my turn for leave comes round. 'England's old in story' etc but Aussy for me. Best love from yours as ever Walter" ((3), more)
"I began to be careless about whether I was in the line or out of it; nothing seemed to signify except the day's meals, and those were still substantial despite the lean supplies of the people at home. The price of all luxuries in the shops was rising fast, but still one could manage it; why trouble about getting back to the battalion? This was the general spirit, and we did not lament when the course was lengthened and the year ended with us waving flags in unison in the snow, or attempting the heliograph, or rapping out ludicrous messages to the instructors' satisfaction, or listening to muddled addresses on alternating current." ((4), more)
(1) Excerpt from the December 21, 1914 entry from the journal of Hugh Gibson, Secretary to the American Legation in Brussels, Belgium. Gibson spent several hours on the 21st meeting with Brand Whitlock, American Minister to Belgium, and Herbert Hoover, chairman of the Committee for Relief in Belgium, to address the serious shortages of food, clothing, shelter, and other necessities in occupied Belgium.
A Journal from our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson, page 341, copyright © Copyright, 1917, by Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Doubleday, Page & Company, publication date: 1917
(2) From Mark Thompson's account of mutinous incidents in the Italian Army in December, 1915. The first was by men of the 48th Regiment of which, from 3,000 men, 700 survived after four months in the trenches. When 200 were granted rest and the other 500 were sent back to the front line, shots were fired. A court martial condemned two men to death, both shot the day after the incident. Krn was one of the peaks of the Dolomites the Italians and Austro-Hungarians had fought and died over in the four Battles of the Isonzo River in 1915.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 153, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(3) New's Year's postcard from Walter to Rose, written December 21, 1916. We know nothing of Walter, Rose, or Alf Cornish, but it seems Walter only recently arrived in France, and looks forward to returning to Australia. The war would not be over before his leave, but would continue for nearly two more years.
Happy New Year by E.M, back, publisher: Etablissements photographique de Boulogne-sur-Seine., publication date: 1916
(4) Edmund Blunden, English writer, recipient of the Military Cross, second lieutenant and adjutant in the Royal Sussex Regiment, fought in the Third Battle of Ypres, one of the most murderous battles of the war. He was sent to a signalling course within sight of the city of Ypres, and was at first unhappy to be separated from his battalion. The heliograph messages using the sun and a mirror — the sun's rays interrupted by moving the mirror or by an intervening shutter mechanism.
Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden, page 233, copyright © the Estate of Edmund Blunden, 1928, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: November 1928
