Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
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Map of the plan for the Allied Offensive in France showing the situation on September 24, the eve of the infantry assault. An Anglo-French would attack eastward in Artois (with the British at Loos) as the French attacked northwards in Champagne. From 'Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos' by Brigadier-General J.E. Edmonds.
Image text: Situation, 24th September 1915Showing direction of the Allied offensive
Postwar postcard map of the Balkans including Albania, newly-created Yugoslavia, expanded Romania, and diminished former Central Powers Bulgaria and Turkey. The first acquisitions of Greece in its war against Turkey are seen in Europe where it advanced almost to Constantinople, in the Aegean Islands from Samos to Rhodes, and on the Turkish mainland from its base in Smyrna. The Greco-Turkish war was fought from May 1919 to 1922. The positions shown held from the war's beginning to the summer of 1920 when Greece advanced eastward. Newly independent Hungary and Ukraine appear in the northwest and northeast.
Image text: Péninsule des BalkansÉchelle 1:12.000.000Petit Atlas de Poche Universel25 Édition Jeheber GenèveReverse:No. 20 Édition Jeheber, Genève (Suisse)BalkansRoumanie(Royaume.)Superficie . . . 290 000 sq. km.Population . . . 16 000 000 hab. (50 par sq. km.Capitale: Bucarest . . . 338 000 hab.Bulgarie(Royaume.)Superficie . . . 100 000 sq. km.Population . . . 4 000 000 hab. (40 par sq. km.)Capitale: Sofia . . . 103 000 hab.Grèce(Royaume. Capitale: Athènes.)En Europe (y compris la Crète et les iles) 200 000 sq. km. 6 000 000 hab. 30 p. sq. km.En Asie mineure . . . 30 000 sq. km 1 300 000 hab. 43 p. sq. km.Total 230 000 sq. km. 7 300 000 hab. 32 p. sq. km.Ville de plus de 50 000 habitants:Smyrne (Asie) . . . 350 000 hab.Athènes . . . 175 000 hab.Salonique . . . 150 000Andrinople . . . 70 000 hab.Pirée . . . 70 000 hab.Turquie d'Europe(Empire Ottoman.)Superficie . . . 2 000 sq. km.Population . . . 1 100 000 550 par sq. km.Capitale: Constantinople 1 000 000 hab.AlbanieSuperficie . . . 30 000 sq. km.Population . . . 800 000 hab. (27 par sq. km.)Villes: Scutari . . . 30 000 hab.Durazzo . . . 5 000 hab.YougoslavieVoir le tableau des statisques de ce pays, ainsi que la carte de la partie occidentale de la Yougoslavie, sur la carte d'Italie.Inst. Géog. Kummerly & Frey, Berne.Balkan PeninsulaScale 1: 12,000,000Little Univeral Pocket AtlasRoyaume - KingdomSuperficie - AreaEn Europe (y compris la Crète et les iles) - In Europe (including Crete and the islands)En Asie mineure - In Asia MinorYugoslaviaSee the table of statistics of this country, as well as the map of the western part of Yugoslavia, on the map of Italy.
Wooden cigarette box carved by Г. САВИНСКИ (?; G. Savinskiy), a Russian POW. The Grim Reaper strides across a field of skulls on the cover. The base includes an intricate carving of the years of war years, '1914' and, turning it 90 degrees, '1918.'
Image text: ПДМЯТЬ ВОИНЬ 1914-18To the memory of the soldiers 1914-18Reverse:19141918Г. САВИНСКИ (?)G. Savinskaya
Postcard of Veles, Serbia, showing a view of the town and its marketplace with some German officers among the residents. An inset shows four German officers on the heights above the city and the Vardar River.
Image text: Balkan Kriegsschauplatz: 22. Oktober 1915: Veles (Köprülü) von den Bulgaren besetzt. Der Marktplatz.Serie 39/3[Inset:] Serb. Höhenstellung bei Veles.Balkan theater of war: October 22, 1915: Veles (Koprulu) occupied by the Bulgarians. The marketplace.Series 39/3[Inset:] Serbia: heights above Veles.Reverse:Kriegshilfe München 11, N.-W. 11.Zum Gloria-Viktoria AlbumSammel. u. Nachschlagewerk des VölkerkriegesFor Gloria Viktoria AlbumCollection. and reference work of international warWar Fund Munich 11, N. W. 11
"The Germans crossed the East Prussian border, in the hope of great victories, and were simply stopped before they got very far — supply-problems, exhaustion, inferior numbers, unfamiliar terrain all counting. By 25th September, the Russian X Army was able to stage a counter-offensive that pushed the Germans back to their borders." ((1), more)
"25th September [1915]The first day of the great offensive. Anyhow, despite everything, we are optimistic; the surprise, our numbers, panic among the Germans, poison gas, I don't know—the Allies talk of so many infallible methods.The weather which has been threatening for two or three days has definitely grown worse; it is pouring with rain. The bombardment began at 4 o'clock this morning. They are the Engish guns we can hear in the direction of Ypres.. . . At midday we received some news. The English have taken Looz; the French are advancing in Champagne. At 5 o'clock this afternoon it was announced that the English have taken Hill 70 and Hulluch. In Champagne a breach has been made, through which the French cavalry has been launched.At 9 o'clock this evening it was put out that Souchez has been taken. Elsewhere the advance has been stopped by bad weather. The English have lost Hulluch after heavy counter-attacks. In Champagne we have captured twenty-five kilometres of front line. This is not yet the real victorious break-through." ((2), more)
"The revolt now spread to most of the Greek islands, and the kingdom was soon divided between two governments: the Royalist, which maintained authority over most of old Greece, and the Nationalist, which controlled the territory acquired in the Balkan wars. The latter region was the one in which the influence of Venizelos was strongest, and on September 20th [1916] he issued a statement in which he said he 'would wait a brief time yet to see what the government purposes to do before deciding on the course it will be best to adopt in the event that Greece does not enter the war.' As the government apparently purposed to do nothing, on September 25th Venizelos, Admiral Condouritis, commander of the Greek navy, and a considerable number of army and navy officers and civilians of influence left Athens, and after making a tour of the islands, landed at Salonika, where Venizelos became the real head of the 'Provisional Government of Macedonia.'" ((3), more)
"There are many instances of men who, on the eve of going into action, had an unshakable idea, a premonition, that they would not come out alive. Morgan Jones tells of one of his fellow-signallers, an intelligent well-read man. 'He asked me to go for a walk with him in the evening after tea. When we had gone a little way he turned to me and said, 'Look here, '95, I know something is going to happen to me to-morrow. I am not going to get through this business alive. I want you to take charge of my letters to-morrow; I'm expecting some money.' . . . My arguments failed to persuade him not to give room to such gloomy thoughts. When H.Q. Company led the way into the line next day one of the first to be killed was '91 Davies.'" ((4), more)
"On September 15th, in the forenoon, two French divisions and one Serbian division, making an attack on the formidable mountain barrier formed by the Vetrenik, the Dobropolje, and the so-called Sokol, made a breach in the enemy front which was to bring about the falling-in of the front. . . .On September 18th the British-Greek divisions, after stubborn fighting, captured the enemy positions of Doiran, retaining in this region very important forces. From September 21st the Italian, Greek, and French troops of the allied army of Monastir moved up. On September 22nd the general pursuit commenced, and was carried out with splendid ardor and energy.On September 23rd the Serbians crossed the Vardar towards Krivelak. On the 24th the French cavalry entered Prilep. On the 25th Ishtip was captured, as well as the formidable barrier of the Beles. The British opened up the road to Strumiza, which they entered on the 26th. On the same day the Serbians reached Kotchana and Veles, and the Italian, French and Greek troops were marching on Kicovo.By the evening of the 26th the Bulgarians asked for a suspension of hostilities, and announced the dispatch of plenipotentiaries." ((5), more)
(1) While creating a new German Ninth Army to aid the Austro-Hungarians after their disastrous defeat in the Galician battles, German Generals von Hindenburg and Ludendorff attempted to continue an advance from East Prussia into Russia. German troops were needed further south, and the offensive was halted.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, page 96, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
(2) Most of the entry for September 25, 1915 from the diary of Albert, King of the Belgians, the day French Commander Joffre launched his great offensive of autumn 1915, the Anglo-French attacks in Artois and Champagne. The over-estimated the element of surprise in the offensive, in part because of the sheer numbers involved, 1.5 million on the Allied side, and nearly as many on the German. The English first used poison gas in their part of the offensive, Battle of Loos, but poorly. It was released from cylinders, in winds that, in some cases, blew the gas back to the English lines.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, pp. 64, 65, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(3) Conclusion from an account of the events leading to the declaration of the Provisional Government of Macedonia by Stephen Duggan. Constantine became king of Greece on the assassination of his father in 1913. He had been educated in Germany, was married to a sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and was pro-German. Eleftherios Venizelos had been Prime Minister of Greece until March 1915 when he resigned over the King's refusal to support the Allied invasion of Gallipoli. He was re-elected and returned to office in August. As Bulgaria prepared for war against Serbia, Venizelos had invited the Allied landing at Salonica. Constantine dismissed his Prime Minister when the Allies landed 13,000 troops on October 5, 1915. Greece had significantly expanded its territory north and northeast in the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, against the Ottoman Empire (First Balkan War) and Bulgaria (Second).
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. IV, 1916, pp. 337–338, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(4) Excerpt from the entry for September 25, 1917 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, and fellow soldiers who served with him. Dunn was writing the night before the Battle of Polygon Wood. On September 28, he would write that his battalion had lost one-third of its men in the action, with more than 60 dead. Overall, the British suffered 15,375 casualties in the Polygon Wood battle, an engagement within the Third Battle of Ypres, then two months old.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 393, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(5) Extracts from French General Franchet d'Esperey's Official Report of September 30, 1918 on the defeat of Bulgaria and the Central Powers on the Balkan Front. In the two weeks between the opening of the offensive into Serbia on September 15 and the end of the month, the primarily Bulgarian line that had kept the Allied forces bottled up in the Salonika Front for two years collapsed, the Bulgarian home front rose up, and a new Bulgarian government signed an armistice. The liberation of Serbia would position Allied armies across the Danube River from the plains of Hungary. The British and Greeks held the eastern end of the battle front which meant they would swiftly be turned against Turkish forces in Europe in a drive to take Constantinople.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, pp. 313–314, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
