Conrad von Hötzendorf, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, Vienna, 1914. By the end of that year he had lost as many as one million men, much of his country's rolling stock, and the northeastern region of Galicia. His forces had also been defeated by Serbia three times.
Image text: Generalstabschef Conrad von HötzendorfChief of the General Staff Conrad von HötzendorfCh. Skolik jun.Wien, 1914I. Wallfischg. 11Reverse:Postkartenverlad Brüder Kohn Wien I
A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
The Cobbers memorial, Fromelles, France. In the aftermath of the July 19-20, 1916 Battle of Fromelles, hundreds of wounded Australian soldiers lay in No Man's Land. For three days and nights these wounded were carried to their trenches. Among the soldiers bringing in the wounded was Sergeant Simon Fraser of the 57th Battalion, who heard a soldier call, 'Don't forget me, cobber.' With others, Fraser brought back this and another wounded man. © 2013 John M. Shea
Image text: Cobbers
Watercolor self-portrait by Lance Corporal Hugh F. Ward showing himself bathing, washing, and delousing his uniform. Ward served in the 97th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), 30th Division, B.E.F.
Image text: Reverse:An every day occurrenceJust an unfinished study.Done at Braudhoek(?)
The advance of July 19, 1918 in the Aisne-Marne Offensive. From The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas. © 1920
Image text: The advance of July 19, 1918Showing plateau southwest of Soissons which the Germans chose to defend to the last.
"The Presiding Minister [Berchtold] then opened the Council of Ministers and proposed that the note should be presented to the Royal Serbian Government on 23 July at five in the afternoon, so that the term of 48 hours would expire on Saturday, 25 inst. at five in the afternoon and the order for mobilisation could be published, in the night from Saturday to Sunday." ((1), more)
". . . Under the circumstances now prevailing and in the presence of an enemy organization long since established, it seems wise not to base all our hopes upon the possibility of breaking through, or risk all our available reserves in an attempt to effect a victorious and decisive piercing of the line by mere force of numbers. On the contrary, our plan should be directed towards the conquest of certain dominant points of the terrain; each one of our attacks should have a distinct object, and one whose accomplishment would lead to some further result." ((2), more)
"The assault began on the late afternoon of July 19, preceded by a day-long artillery barrage. The first Australian casualties were caused by their own shells falling short, and by some heavy German artillery fire. When the attack began, the German machine guns in the salient opened fire: the artillery had failed to silence them.An hour after the first men had gone over the top, General Elliott reported: 'Every man who rises is being shot down. Reports from the wounded indicate that the attack is failing from want of support.' The wounded were streaming back. A British attack on the other side of the salient was also driven back with heavy British casualties." ((3), more)
". . . Thirst; Gas; Shrapnel; Very H.E.; Our liquid fire; A first sight of an aeroplane map . . . Does it sound interesting? May God forgive me if I ever come to cheat myself into thinking that it was, and lie later to younger men of the Great Days. It was damnable; and what in relation to what might have happened? Nothing at all! We have been lucky, but it is not fit for men to be here — in this tormented dry-fevered marsh, where men die and are left to rot because of snipers and the callousness that War breeds. 'It might be me tomorrow. Who cares? Yet still, hang on for a Blighty.'" ((4), more)
"At 4 o'clock in the morning of July 19, under cover of another rolling barrage, the Allies attacked along the whole front; but during the night the Germans had put in all the reserves in the area, and the resistance that morning was much stiffer than it had been the day before. Especially this was true in the northeast corner of the plateau. It was this corner that the Germans had to hold at all costs, for the loss of it meant to them the loss of Soissons . . ." ((5), more)
(1) Excerpt from the protocol of the July 19, 1914 meeting of the Austro-Hungarian Council of Ministers for Common Affairs, chaired by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Berchtold.The subject under discussion was 'the forthcoming diplomatic action against Serbia.' The Council voted unanimously to present the ultimatum to Serbia on 5:00PM on July 23. The time was based on the scheduled departure of French President Poincaré from Russia so that there would be no time for France and Russia to develop a common plan while in a celebratory mood after sharing champagne.Chief of the General Staff Conrad was in favor of speeding the 'impending action' because he was concerned by reports of Serbian troop movements already under way.The protocol was kept by the Secretary of the legation and Chief of the Cabinet Count Hoyos. Also present were Imperial and Royal Premier Count Stürgkh, the Royal Hungarian Premier Count Tisza, Imperial and Royal Common Minister for Finances Ritter von Biliňski, Imperial and Royal Minister of War F.Z.M. von Krobatin, the Imperial and Royal Chief of the General Staff G. d. I. Baron von Conrad, the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral von Kailer.
July, 1914; the Outbreak of the First World War; Selected Documents by Imanuel Geiss (Editor), 139, 140, copyright © 1967 Imanuel Geiss, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1967
(2) General Ferdinand Foch writing to French Commander in Chief Joseph Joffre in a paper dated July 19, 1915. Both sides had hoped for a breakthrough of the enemy lines as the path to victory — a breakthrough that Germany had achieved in Russia in the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive even as Foch was writing. Foch was concluding that a general offensive on a broad front that aimed—or hoped-for a breakthrough was inadequate. The fighting the First and Second Battles of Artois earlier in 1915 had led to heavy losses for the Allies.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 209, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
(3) Fought on July 19 and 20, 1916, the Battle of Fromelles, French, was a relatively small engagement fought 30 miles north of the ongoing Battle of the Somme, but one in which the Australians suffered heavily.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, pp. 267-268, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(4) Ivor Gurney, English poet and composer, writing to the composer Marion Margaret Scott, former President of the Society of Women Musicians, in June or July, 1917 between the 1917 British offensives of Arras and Ypres. Gurney was a private in the Gloucestershire Regiment. 'H.E.' is high explosive shells; a 'Blighty' a wound that would send him back to Blighty, to England.
War Letters, Ivor Gurney, a selection edited by R.K.R. Thornton by Ivor Gurney, pp. 170–171, copyright © J. R. Haines, the Trustee of the Ivor Gurney Estate 1983, publisher: The Hogarth Press, publication date: 1984
(5) German commander Erich Ludendorff's Friedensturm, Peace Assault, the Champagne-Marne Offensive, left his forces occupying an enormous salient from Soissons and Reims to the Marne River. Commanding the French 10th Army, that included the 1st and 2nd American Divisions and the Moroccan Division, General Charles Mangin struck on the western side of the salient on July 18, advancing as much as 8 km. Soissons was an important communications center.
The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas, page 160, copyright © 1920, by George H. Doran Company, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1920
