England's Distress: Postcard map of England and Ireland with the restricted zone Germany proclaimed around the islands, showing the ships destroyed by submarine in the 12 months beginning February 1, 1917.
Image text: Englands Not12 Monate uneingeschränktenU-Bootskrieges auf dem nördlichen See kriegsschauplatzAlle durch Minen und vor dem 1. Februar 1917 vernichteten Schiffe sind in dieser Karte nicht enthalten.SperrgebietsgrenzenBedeutet ein durch die Tätigkeit unserer U-Boote versenktes Schiffe ohne Berücksichtigung seine GrosseDie Eintragungen der Schiffe entsprechen dem Versunkungsort.England's distressUnqualified 12 monthsSubmarine warfare in the North Sea theaterAll ships destroyed by mines of before February 1, 1917 are not included in this map.restricted zone boundaries[Sunken ship symbol] indicates a ship sunk by the actions of our submarines without taking into account the size of the vessel. The records correspond to the ships' place of operations.Reverse:Auf Anregung Sr. Majestät des Kaisersi. Auftr. des Admiralstabes d. Rais. Marine zu Gunsten der Sinterbliebenen der Besatzungen von U-Booten, Minensuch- und Vorpostenbooten herausgegeben vom Verein für das Deutschtum im AuslandFaber'sche Buchdruckerei, Magdeburg.At the suggestion of His Majesty the Emperorhis commission of Naval Staff Rais d. Navy issued in favor of the sintering relatives of the crews of submarines, minesweepers and outpost boats by the Association for Germans abroadFaber'sche book printing, Magdeburg.
Photograph facing a French trench from a German position held by the 83rd Landwehr.
Image text: 83rd Landwehr in front of a French trench [Translation from the German courtesy Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust]
Hand-painted ink and watercolor card of a soldier walking to the A.F.A Canteen sends wishes for a Happy Pentecost from Austro-Hungarian lance-corporal Ernst Gundermann, May, 1917. Pentecost (a moveable feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the the disciples of Jesus after his death) fell on May 27, 1917.
Image text: A.F.A KantineFröhlich PfingstenWunsch der K.U.K. Ernst GundermannMai, 1917Gefr[eite] Gundermann (Lance-corporal)Happy Pentecost wishes from K.u.K. Ernst Gundermann[K.u.K.: Kaiserlich und Königlich, Imperial and Royal. Franz Joseph and his heir Karl were Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary.]Postmarked May 17, 1917
Three headstones at the Necropole Craonelle, a French military cemetery, of British soldiers who died May 27, 1918, most likely killed in the German Aisne offensive that began that day. From left to right the headstones are those of Norman Gibson, East Yorkshire Regiment, age 18; C. G. Sills, Machine Gun Corps; and G. Rees, Yorkshire Regiment. Webmatters.net includes these men and two others noting that, 'These men were caught up the whirlwind of Operation Blücher launched by the Germans on the morning of 27th May 1918. They were part of the 150th Brigade of 50th Division holding the Plateau de Californie and Craonne.' © 2013, John M. Shea
Image text: 41629 Private Norman Gibson, East Yorkshire Regiment, 27th May 1918, Age 18We miss him mostWho loved him best2, Alexandra RoadWindemere. Eng.67830 Private C. G. Sills, Machine Gun Corps (Inf.), 27th May 1918, Age 33Abide with me34962 Private G. Rees, Yorkshire Regiment, 27th May 1918
"On the 25th and 27th of May [1915] the recently arrived German submarines scored two great successes in that Lieutenant Hersing torpedoed the British battleships Triumph and Majestic off the outer coast of the peninsula. The enemy now temporarily withdrew the greater part of his battleships to the protected ports of Imbros and Lemnos and during the next few weeks the artillery support of the landed army came chiefly from the destroyers and torpedo boats. At the same time, however, all the effective means of defense against submarines were put in operation by the enemy who had at his disposal every kind of material he wanted. Thereafter the German submarines were unable, during the next seven months of the campaign, to score any success against the hostile fleet, except that they torpedoed a transport." ((1), more)
"What's really annoying is that when you have to go you really don't know where to go everywhere is dangerous and so you hold it as long as you can but at some point you just have to go. I am telling you this because this morning at one thirty I wanted to go and I got myself into a shell hole that was two meters deep. I just got there and right away there was a shell whistling by me I lay flat out and right away three more followed one of which exploded in a hole just 30 meters in front of me I grabbed my pants in both hands and ran for the dugout I laughed about it when I got to the shelter but if you could see the poor guys here running like that you would feel sorry for them." ((2), more)
"Occasionally there were rampages against stores or rowdy scenes at rest camps, on troop trains, and at railway stations, where trains were derailed and carriages smashed. Such actions might last a few hours only, or extend to a week. Some regiments mounted protests two or three times. Only on a few occasions were officers molested, as at Tardenois on the Aisne on 22 and 27 May. Soldiers were evidently very clear in their minds about officers, formation or unit commanders, whom they respected and whom they did not." ((3), more)
"It was difficult to get a clear picture of the attack. This had been so violent and our trenches so thinly held that all organised resistance on our divisional front had been at once overwhelmed. But the chief danger had come apparently from the flanking movements, helped as those were by the pronounced salient we were holding. The enemy had carried the strong French positions on the Chemin des Dames after a fierce but short assault, and at the same time under cover of the very heavy mist—the sure shield of the German offensives—and helped by the sparse nature of the trench garrison, had worked his way up the Miette stream on the right. Indeed, the advance on this flank was so rapid that small groups of Germans were across the Aisne near the Bois de Gernicourt before the remnants of the 23rd Brigade had been collected at Pontavert . . . it was evident that any attempt to hold the line of the river with the few survivors was quite unthinkable." ((4), more)
(1) Excerpt from the memoir of German General Liman von Sanders, commander of Turkish forces on the Gallipoli peninsula during the 1915 Anglo-French campaign. With little artillery on-shore, the Allied invaders relied on the naval batteries off-shore, and lost significant firepower with the withdrawal of the heavy battleships. Triumph was lost with 78 men, Majestic with 49.
Five Years in Turkey by Liman von Sanders, page 77, publisher: The Battery Press with War and Peace Books, publication date: 1928 (originally)
(2) Extract from a letter of French Artilleryman Paul Pireaud to his wife Marie on May 27, 1916. Pireaud's unit, the 112th Heavy Artillery Regiment, moved into the Verdun sector in early April. Although French commander Pétain rotated infantry units after seven or eight days, but it was much more difficult to do so with the artillery.
Your Death Would Be Mine; Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War by Martha Hanna, page 108, copyright © 2006 by Martha Hanna, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2006
(3) After the failure of French commander in chief Robert Nivelle's 1917 spring offensive — the Second Battle of the Aisne, begun on April 16 — an offensive that Nivelle had asserted would provide the breakthrough of the German line that would lead to victory, mutinous incidents broke out in the French army, particularly among the troops that had suffered the highest rates of casualties in the offensive. The mutinies were of greater or lesser severity, beginning in April, with the most serious incidents in May and June.
Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-18 by Anthony Clayton, page 144, copyright © Anthony Clayton 2003, publisher: Cassell, publication date: 2005
(4) Excerpt from Sidney Rogerson's The Last of the Ebb, an account of his experiences on May 27, 1918, the first day of the German Aisne Offensive. Four British divisions that had been devastated in Operations Michael and Georgette in March and April had been moved to the eastern end of the Chemin des Dames, in what was expected to be a quiet sector, one held by the French. French General Denis Auguste Duchêne ignored General Henri Philippe Pétain's order to strengthen and restructure his line and dismissed reports of German preparations for an offensive.
The Last of the Ebb: the Battle of the Aisne, 1918 by Sidney Rogerson, pp. 39–40, copyright © Sidney Rogerson, 1937, publisher: Frontline Books, publication date: 2011
