Austro-Hungarian riverboats shelling Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, from the Danube River, part of the border between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, and bombarded Belgrade the next day. Illustration by Fr. Jung (Franz Jung-Ilsenheim).
Image text: Reverse:Ostmark, Bund deutscher ÖsterreicherHauptleitung: Linz a. d. DonauEastern Provinces (Prussian) German-Austrian ConfederationHead Office: Linz an der Donau
Postcard celebrating the fall of Belgrade, Serbia, to German and Austro-Hungarian forces under the command of Generals von Gallwitz & General Kövess v. Kövesshaza on October 9, 1915. Images of the city include the King's Palace, Terazié Square, the University, the National Theater, King Milan Street, and the city from the Save River.
Image text: Belgrad erobert von den Verbündeten am 9. Oktober 1915General Kövess v. Kövesshaza, General von GallwitzKönigs-Palast, Terazié, Universität, National Theater, König Milan Strasse, Belgrad von der SaveBelgrade conquered by the allies on 9 October 1915General Kövess v. Kövesshaza, General von GallwitzKing's Palace, Terazié, University, National Theater, King Milan Street, Belgrade from the Save5361Reverse:Card postmarked Belgrade, June 6, 1918
A Liebig bullion card from the series "Colonies of the European Powers" — The German colonies of Togo, Cameroon, and German East Africa, c1910.
Image text: Colonies des Puissances Européennes — AllemagneVillage au Cameroun.Lomé (Togo).Indegene du Cameroun.Femme de l'Est Africain.Véritable Extrait de Viande Liebig.Voir L’Explication au verso.Colonies of the European powersGermanyVillage in Cameroon.Lome (Togo).Indegene Cameroon.Woman in East Africa.Genuine Liebig Meat Extract.See the explanation on the back.Reverse:Capital 27,000,000 Francs.Établissements à Fray-Bentos (Uruguay) et Colon (Rép. Argentine).Le véritable Extrait de viande Liebig transforme les sauces les plus fades, les rests de viande, en choses succulentes qui flattent délicieusement le palais.Colonies des Puissances EuropéennesAllemagne - Les premiers essais colonisateurs de l'Allemagne datent de l'époque du Grand Electeur. Ils furent infructeux. Ce n'est qu'en 1884 qu'elle entra dans la voie de ses devancières en fait de colonization. Angre Pequena, dans le Sud-ouest africain, fut sa première colonie; suiverent successivement le Togo, le Cameroun, la partie orientale de la Nouvelle-Guinée, l'archipel de Bismarck. En 1885, elle agrandit ses possessions africaines par l'adjonction de territoires dans l'Est du continent noir et annexa les Iles Marshall et Samoa, dans l'Océanie; elle prit à bail pour 99 ans la baie et la ville de Kiao-tchéou, en Chine. Les viguettes du recto de cette carte donnent des vues des principales possessions allemandes en Afrique. La population des colonies allemandes s'élève à plus de 12 millions, répartis sur une surface total de 2 millions et demi de kilomètres carrés.Capital 27 million francs.Institutions Fray Bentos (Uruguay) and Colon (Rep. Argentina).The real meat extract Liebig transforms the most bland sauces, meat leftovers, into deliciously succulent things that flatter the palate.Colonies of the European powersGermany — The first German attempts at colonization date from the time of the Gre
Front cover of La Domenica del Corriere of August 22–29, 1915, an illustrated weekly supplement to Corriere della Sera, published in Milan, Italy. The front and back covers are full-page illustrations by the great Italian illustrator Achille Beltrame. The front cover is an illustration of contemporary trench warfare, with soldiers throwing both ball and stick grenades to turn back an enemy attack. The back cover is an illustration of Italian author, pilot, soldier, and self-promoter Gabriele d'Annunzio dropping streamers in the colors of the Italian flag and bearing patriotic massages over the city of Trieste, Austria-Hungary.
Image text: Guerra modernissima: i nostri lanciano granate a mano nelle trincee nemiche distanti pochi metri.Ultimate modern war: our hand grenades are thrown into enemy trenches a few meters away.(Disegno de A. Beltrame).
'Warmest regards from the Somme . . . ' from Robert Künger, September 21, 1916, presumably pictured with his machine gun crew. Translation couresy of Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
Image text: 'Warmest regards from the Somme . . . ' from Robert Künger, September 21, 1916. Translation couresy of Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
US troops digging in pause to watch a Whippet tank.
Image text: Whippet Tank in actionTroops digging in - FranceLogo: The Chicago Daily News War PostalsReverse:The Chicago Daily NewsG. J. KavanaughWar Postal Card Department
""We may now picture this great Fleet . . . as darkness fell, eighteen miles of warships running at high speed and in absolute blackness through the narrow Straits, bearing with them into the broad waters of the North the safeguard of considerable affairs."" ((1), more)
"The German Ambassador to-day informed me of the decision of his Government to mobilize, if Russia did not stop her military preparations. Now, in point of fact, we only began these preparations in consequence of the mobilization already undertaken by Austria, and owing to her evident unwillingness to accept any means of arriving at a peaceful settlement of her dispute with Servia.As we cannot comply with the wishes of Germany, we have no alternative but to hasten on our own military preparations and to assume that war is probably inevitable. Please inform the French Government of this, and add that we are sincerely grateful to them for the declaration which the French Ambassador made to me on their behalf, to the effect that we could count fully upon the assistance of our ally, France. In the existing circumstances, that declaration is especially valuable to us." ((2), more)
"The Germans and rebel Boers were still holding out in various sections of the Kameruns during 1915, and it was the business of the French, Belgian, and British forces to subdue them. Many small engagements took place, but with the capture of the forts at Garna on June 11th, and that of Ngaundere on July 29th, the Germans were practically dispossessed of their colony, although in the fall of 1915, a considerable force still occupied Yaunds and did not surrender until New Year's Day, 1916." ((3), more)
"In quick time, we had crept up to the enemy barrier. Just before it, we came across a pretty stout and well-insulated wire in some long grass. I was of the opinion that information was important here, and instructed Wohlgemut to cut off a piece and take it with him. While he was sawing away at it with — for want of more appropriate tools — a cigar clipper, we heard something jingling the wire; a few British soldiers appeared and started working without noticing us, pressed as we were in the long grass." ((4), more)
"High-explosive shells of quite exceptional ferocity were coming down all the time, one of which just missed killing me that evening.Towards morning, the machine-gun suddenly started rattling away, as some dark figures were approaching. It was a patrol from the 76th Regiment come to get in touch with us, and one of them was left dead. Mistakes like that happened quite frequently at that time, and one didn't spend too much time anguishing over them." ((5), more)
"The Central Workshops set to work in early June [1918] to prepare sledges for supply haulage, bridges upon which the Whippets could cross wide obstacles, and 'Cribs' for the heavy Tanks. These 'Cribs' were big hexagonal oaken crates, reinforced with steel, which were an improved and lighter version of the fascines which were improvised for the Battle of Cambrai. Training grounds and workshops hummed with the preparations, and when, in the last days of July, the call came, it was, as we shall see, found possible to launch 400 Tanks at little over a week's notice." ((6), more)
(1) Winston Churchill, former First Lord of the Admiralty, describing the movement of the British Fleet to its War Station, taking the most direct route from Portsmouth through the Straits of Dover to Scapa Flow on the Scottish North Sea coast and the ocean beyond. From his history of the war. The movement put the Fleet on the high seas, less subject to German submarines and mines, and in a position to control the North Sea.
The World Crisis 1911-1918 by Winston Churchill, copyright © by Charles Scribner's Sons 1931, renewed by Winston S. Churchill 1959, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1931, 2007
(2) Telegram from Sazonov, Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, addressed to the Russian Ambassador to France and communicated to those in Great Britain, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany on July 29, 1914. Austria-Hungary had already begun mobilizing against Serbia, and, to minimize the possibility of an international peace conference being convened and imposing a settlement on Austria-Hungary, bombarded Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, on July 29. Russia mobilized in its southern districts, against Austria-Hungary. Germany, whose Foreign Minister Jagow had said on July 27 that it would not mobilize if Russia mobilized against Austria-Hungary only, will now mobilize under precisely that condition.
Collected Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War, page 287, publisher: His Majesty's Stationery Office by Harrison and Sons, publication date: 1915
(3) Germany lost most of its colonies in 1914, but war continued in Africa even after the armistice in 1918. Rebel Boers from the Union of South Africa had also alongside the Germans in German Southwest Africa. In German Kamerun (Cameroons), they faced French and British armies that did not always coordinate their activities.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 167, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(4) Sebastian Jünger writing of a patrol that started about midnight the night of July 28–29, 1916. Jünger orders one of him men to throw a grenade among the British. In the following moments Jünger tries to seize prisoners, comes face to face with a British soldier pressed against the wire, loses the magazine of his pistol, and flees with his men as a machine gun begins firing. Seeking safety, his lands on barbed wire stretched across a water-filled mine crater, and hangs there for half an hour till the frenzy of firing dies away. Although he is shaken by the encounter, he concludes that, 'These short expeditions, where a man takes his life in his hands, were a good means of testing our mettle and interrupting the monotony of trench life. There's nothing worse for a soldier than boredom.'
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 87 (and 88–89), copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(5) German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger left Cambrai, France on June 25, 1917, ordered to Flanders, where the British artillery bombardment in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was in progress.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 165, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(6) The British Tank Corps first saw action on September 15, 1916 in the Battle of the Somme advancing in too-small numbers on wet, shell-torn ground. They were first effectively used — well-coordinated with infantry, fighting on dry ground, against an un-prepared enemy — in the Battle of Cambrai in November, 1917. The Mark IV and Mark V tanks were slow, but could move in pace with the foot-soldier. The Whippet was a lighter, faster tank. In the paragraph preceding today's excerpt our author wrote, 'All through May, Mark V. machines were arriving in France at the rate of about sixty a week. . . . All Tank Units were to be ready for action—re-armed, re-equipped and re-trained—by August 1.' The fascines used at Cambrai were great wire-bound bundles of logs that could be dumped into a trench to allow tanks to cross.
The Tank Corps by Clough Williams-Ellis & A. Williams-Ellis, page 177, publisher: The Offices of "Country Life," Ltd. and George Newnes, Ltd., publication date: 1919
