Cover of the 1915 sheet music for "When the Lusitania Went Down" by Charles McCarron and Nat. Vincent. The Lusitania was sunk by the German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915.
Image text: When the Lusitania Went Down" by Charles McCarron and Nat. VincentBy courtesy of the Cunard Steamship Co. Ltd.G.T. Inc.Leo. Feist New York
Uniforms of the British Army, 1914, from a series of postcards of uniforms of the combatants in the 1914 European War.
Image text: Guerre Européenne 1914Armée AnglaiseDragon guardsScots greysHussardGendarme de campagneLancierOfficier du génieGénéralLife guardsVolontaireVolontaire AustralienVolontaireGrenadier guardsScots guardsColdstream guardsColstream guards (pet. tenue)Kings Royal RiflesRifles brigradeScottish RiflesCameron highlandersHighlanders (officier)Royal Scots fusiliersCorps ExpéditionnaireInfanterie anglaiseTroupes de l'IndeRégiment de Cippayes West India (officier)Déposé J.C 8-9European War 1914 British Army Dragoon guardsScots GreysHussarMounted PolicemanLancerEngineering OfficerGeneralLife GuardsVolunteerAustralian VolunteerVolunteerGrenadier GuardScots GuardColdstream GuardColstream Guards (service dress)Kings Royal RiflesRifle BrigadeScottish RiflesCameron HighlanderHighlanders (Officer)Royal Scots FusiliersExpeditionary CorpsEnglish InfantryIndian troopSepoy Regiment West India (Officer)Filed J.C 8-9Reverse:J'espere bien que cette carte plâira à sa petite majesté, elle a été achetée à son intention . . .I hope that this card will appeal to his little majesty, it was purchased for him. . .
A branch and flowers on the grounds of the South African Memorial and Museum in Longueval, France, May 2, 2013. © 2013 by John M. Shea
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Metal grave markers at the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France. A plowed field is in the background. © 2013 by John M. Shea
"At 2:15 p.m., when ten to fifteen miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, the weather being then clear and the sea smooth, the Captain, who was on the port side of the lower bridge, heard the call, 'There is a torpedo coming, sir' given by the second officer. He looked to starboard and then saw a streak of foam in the wake of a torpedo traveling towards his ship. Immediately afterwards the Lusitania was struck on the starboard side somewhere between the third and fourth funnels. The blow broke number 5 life-boat to splinters. A second torpedo was fired immediately afterwards, which also struck the ship on the starboard side. The two torpedoes struck the ship almost simultaneously." ((1), more)
"A Highland sergeant-major stood magnificently before us, with the brass brutality called a Hales rifle-grenade in his hand. He explained the piece, fingering the wind-vane with easy assurance; then stooping to the fixed rifle, he prepared to shoot the grenade by way of demonstration. According to my unsoldierlike habit, I had let the other students press near the instructor, and was listlessly standing on the skirts of the meeting, thinking of something else, when the sergeant-major having just said 'I've been down here since 1914, and never had an accident,' there was a strange hideous clang. Several voices cried out; I found myself stretched on the floor, looking upwards in the delusion that the grenade had been fired straight above and was about to fall among us. It had indeed been fired, but by some error had burst at the muzzle of the rifle: the instructor was lying with mangled head, dead, and others lay near him, also blood-masked, dead and alive. So ended that morning's work on the Bull-Ring." ((2), more)
"The first evening [May 7, 1917] was stormy; heavy rain clattered down on the already flooded terrain. Soon, though, a succession of fine warm days reconciled us to our new place. I enjoyed the splendid landscape, untroubled by the white balls of shrapnel and the jumping cones of shells; in fact, barely noticing them. Each spring marked the beginning of a new year's fighting; intimations of a big offensive were as much a part of the season as primroses and pussy-willows." ((3), more)
"5.7. Splendid weather these days cheers me up, as much as this is possible. Under my very eyes, people are plowing all day long, and from my desk I can see the most beautiful scenes of nature. Moreover, all the apple trees are beginning to bloom. Spring again, the second out here! And another? . . . one day it will all have to end, after all, whether they want it or not. The phonograph is plaguing the barracks again. Poisoned sausages are of no avail: it won't eat them." ((4), more)
(1) Excerpt from the British law-court report on the sinking of the Cunard Company passenger liner Lusitania by the German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915. Great Britain declared the entire North Sea a military zone as of November 5, 1914, and imposed a blockade of Germany. Germany accused Britain of both arming merchant ships and sailing them under flags of neutral nations. On February 4, 1915, Germany announced a war zone around the British Isles and a campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare in which all ships of Britain and its allies were subject to sinking without notice.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, pp. 190, 191, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(2) Excerpt from Edmund Blunden's account of a session at the training ground, the Bull Ring, in Etaples, Blunden's first base in France after the crossing from England.
Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden, page 18, copyright © the Estate of Edmund Blunden, 1928, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: November 1928
(3) German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger moved through Joncourt, France to the front on May 6, 1917, midway between the front lines of the battles of the Nivelle Offensive — the Battle of Arras and the Second Battle of the Aisne, both then grinding down. Jünger continues: 'Our sector was a semi-circular bulge in front of the St-Quentin Canal, at our rear we had the famous Siegfried Line. I confess I am at a loss to understand why we had to take our place in these tight, undeveloped limestone trenches, when we had that enormously strong bulwark just behind us.'
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 141, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(4) Paul Klee's diary entry for May 7, 1918. The artist served with the air corps, varnishing the wings and fuselages of airplanes, transporting airplanes to the front, and, from the beginning of 1918, working as assistant paymaster, a position that meant he no longer needed to fear being transferred to the front, and that left him time to read and work. He would complain of the phonograph again on May 28: 'While I am thinking about this, the phonograph grinds tirelessly. Heads grin around it, devilish masks peer in through the window. The beasts are enjoying themselves. There must be some reason for the fact that there is always a piece of hell near me. This one is at least quite mild. Only a reflection of the real one.'
The Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918, Edited, with an Introduction by Felix Klee by Paul Klee, 392 (and 393), copyright © 1964 by the Regents of the University of California, publisher: University of California Press, publication date: 1968
