The rulers of the Central Powers — Kaisers Wilhelm and Franz Joseph, Tsar Ferdinand, and Mohammed V — surrounded by the Allies: Belgium, Britain, France, Italy to the west, the Balkan states of Montenegro, Serbia, and Greece, where Britain and France ensure Greek participation in the war, and Russia its strength bolstered by Japan's munitions supplies. Out to sea, the British, French, and Italian navies stand guard, with that of Russia in the distance. Portugal likely stands at the lower left. By 1916, Serbia was already occupied by the Central Powers.
Image text: L'Actualite par la carte postale (1916)Troisième Année de GuerreL'Offensive Générale Enserre les Empires CentrauxThe News in Postcards (1916)Third Year of the WarThe General Offensive Encircles the Central Powers
Map of the Trentino, part of "Italia Irredenta," unredeemed Italy: Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)
Image text: Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)Confine del Regno d'ItaliaConf.[ine] Geografico d'ItaliaConfine fra Trentino e Alto AdigeFerrovieTramvieIst. Geogr. De Agostini-Novara - Riproduzione InterdettaVenezia Tridentina (Trentino and South Tyrol)Border of the Kingdom of ItalyGeographic boundary of ItalyBorder between Trentino and Alto AdigeRailwaysTramwaysGeographic Institute of Agostini-Novara - Reproduction prohibitedReverse:Message dated December 14, 1917
Painting of a view from an airplane of an attack by the Austro-Hungarian fleet on the Italian coast. The message on the reverse is dated November 2, 1918.
Image text: Weltkrieg 1914/16.Angriff auf die Italien Küste.World War 1914/16.Attack on the coast of Italy.Reverse:Ostmark, Bund deutscher ÖsterreicherHauptleitung: Linz a. d. DonauKarte Nr. 153Eastern Province, Federation of German AustriansHeadquarters: Linz a. d. DanubeCard No. 153Message dated November 2, 1918
Stamps of occupied Belgium: German stamps overprinted in black with 'Belgien' and denominations in centimes: 3, 5, 8, 10, 15, 25, and 75.
Image text: 'Belgien' and denominations in centimes: 3, 5, 8, 10, 15, 25, and 75.
"Colonel FitzGerald and Captain Guest reported that on May 12 and 14 [1915] they had carried out my instructions and laid the facts before Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Balfour, and Mr. Bonar Law. On May 15, Colonel Repington's article appeared in the 'Times.' The world knows what then happened. The Coalition Government was formed, with Mr. Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions; and, though delays afterwards occurred, the problem was at last faced with the intelligence and energy that its gravity demanded . . ." ((1), more)
"No less than 400,000 Austrians were thrown into the narrow sector of 25 miles between the Adige and the Val Sugana. More than 2,000 guns suddenly rained projectiles of all calibers upon the Italian position. A bombardment of incredible violence ensued. Aeroplanes regulated the fire of a 15-inch naval gun [that] showered projectiles on the town of Asiago.Following the hurricane of artillery fire, the Austrian troops attacked in mass formation. Four onslaughts were made on Zugna Torta. The Italian machine guns cut down the grey-blue masses of men; the wire entanglements were heaped with dead. The Austrians then hurled themselves against the advance posts of the Val Terragnolo, but the Alpini defended every foot of the ground, fighting always in the snow." ((2), more)
"The most damaging attack on the drifters took place on 15 May 1917 and led to the largest action of the war in the Adriatic. . . . The three Austrian cruisers when they passed through the line of drifters between Cape Santa Maria di Leuca and Fano were at first assumed in some places to be friendly and no alarm was given. The attack on the drifters began at approximately 3:30 A.M. and continued until after sunrise. The cruisers were armed with 3.9-inch guns and were able to overwhelm the little drifters, armed with six pounders or 57-mm guns. The Austrians at times behaved with considerable chivalry, blowing their sirens and giving the drifter crews time to abandon ship before they opened fire. Some of the drifter men chose to put up a fight, and Skipper J. Watt of the Gowan Lee, which survived in battered condition, was later awarded the Victoria Cross. There had been 47 drifters on the line that night, 14 were sunk and 4 damaged, 3 badly. Seventy-two of the drifter crews were picked up by the Austrians as prisoners." ((3), more)
"In German-occupied Belgium, it was three years since the first printing and circulation of an illegal patriotic newspaper Libre Belgique. Its network had been wide, its operations vexing for the Germans. At the end of January 1918 most of the paper's distributors, sixty-one in all, had been arrested, the Kaiser sending a telegram of congratulations to the Military Governor, General von Falkenhausen, whom the paper had described as 'a bird of prey sent to live on the palpitating flesh of Belgium'. The Kaiser himself was 'His Satanic Majesty' in the paper's parlance.On May 15 the sixty-one were brought to trial in Brussels. They were sentenced to imprisonment, some for ten to twelve years. After a short interval, the paper appeared once more . . ." ((4), more)
(1) Commanding British forces on the continent, General Sir John French had recognized the overwhelming superiority of German artillery in the sheer number of shells it could use against the allies as early as September 1914. Guns were allocated one half, one quarter, of the shells they were firing, and the high command imposed restrictions on the number of shells allowed per gun per day. The War Office did not respond with anything approaching the requirements, and British soldiers paid heavily for this shortfall in the Battles of Ypres and Neuve Chapelle. According to his memoir, it was the events of May 9, 1915, and the beginning of the Battle of Festubert, that convinced French to approach politicians and the press about the shell shortage. The scandal led to a coalition government, and brought the future Prime Minister David Lloyd George in as Minister of Munitions.
1914 by John French, page 368, copyright © 1919, by Houghton Mifflin Company, publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, publication date: 1919
(2) After a year of war in which Italy had launched five Battles of the Isonzo River in the country's northeast, Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf struck back with his Asiago Offensive on May 15, 1916, attacking in Trentino and Alto Adige on Italy's northern border. Conrad hoped to drive across Italy's north to reach the Adriatic Sea, enveloping the Italian Army. Although he had ample warning of the impending offensive, Italian Commander in Chief Luigi Cadorna made few preparations, but quickly created a new Italian Fifth Army of 180,000 men drawn from the Isonzo Front to halt the Austro-Hungarian advance.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 231, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(3) In his Naval History of World War I, Paul Halpern describes the three Austro-Hungarian ships involved in the action of May 15 — Novara, Helgoland, and Saida — as 'the three best Austrian light cruisers that bore the brunt of the war in the Adriatic.' A drifter was a navy version of a trawler, used in mine-sweeping and anti-submarine operations and typically armed with a cannon and depth charges.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, pp. 162–163, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(4) The Belgians of Libre Belgique were imprisoned. Many other Belgians under the occupation were executed for far less. Occupation always and everywhere corrupts the occupier. The occupied always and everywhere have the right to fight for freedom.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 423, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
