Calendar for January to June from the French magazine Le Petit Journal with battle scenes. The calendar includes Roman Catholic holy days, saints days, fête nationale (Bastille Day), and the time of sunrise and sunset.
Image text: January to June, 1915.
Memorial to the French Moroccan Division at Vimy Ridge. The face commemorates the Division's victory at the Second Battle of Artois, in which the Moroccan Division broke the German front for the first time and took Hill 140, their objective.Listed on the sides of the memorial are the sectors and battles where the Division fought:1914The ArdennesAugust 28 — La Fosse a l'EeauAugust 30 — BertoncourtSeptember 1 — AlincourtThe MarneSeptember 6 to 9 — Coizard, MondementDecember 30 — Ferme d'Alger1915BelgiumJanuary 28 — Nieuport, la Grande DuneArtoisMay 9 — la Cote 140June 16 — Ravin de SouchezChampagneSeptember 25 — Butte de Souain, Bois Sabot1916the SommeJuly 4 — Assevillers, Bellov en Santerre, Barleux1917ChampagneApril 17 — Moronvilliers, Mont sans Nom, AuberiveVerdunAugust 20 — Cumieres, Bois des Corbeaux, Forges Regnieville1918LorraineJanuary 8 — Flireythe SommeApril 26 — Villers-Bretonneux, Bois de Hangardthe AisneMay 30 — Vauxbuin, ChazelleJune 12 — AmblenyJuly 18 to 20 — Dommiers ChaudumSeptember 2 to 8 — Terny-Sorny, Moulin de Laffaux, AllemantNovember 11 — VictoryNovember 17 — Entered Chateau-Salins © 2013, John M. Shea
Image text: Aux Morts de la Division MarocaineSans Peur Sans PitiéA la mémoiredu Colonel Pein, Ct. de la 1re Brigade. du Colonel Cros, Ct. de la 2me Brigadedes Officiers, S/Officiers et Soldats de la Don MarocaineTombé ici glorieusement les 9, 10, & 11 Mai 1915Le 9 Mai 1915 les Régiments de la Don Morocaine s'elancant a 10 Hres des tranchées de Berthonval et brisant de haute lutte la résistance des Allemands atteignirent d'un bond la cote 140, leur objectif, rompant pour la premiere fois le front ennemiTo the Dead of the Moroccan DivisionFearless PitilessTo the Memoryof Colonel Pein, Commandant of the 1st Brigade, of Colonel Cros, Commandant of the 2nd Brigade,of the Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Soldiers of the Moroccan DivisionGloriously fell here May 9, 10, & 11 1915On May 9 1915 the Regiments of the Moroccan Division, darting at 10:00 hours from the Berthonval trenches, and breaking the resistance of the Germans in a hard-fought struggle, reached Hill 140, their object, breaking the enemy's front for the first time.
Wall panel by Jo Roos, the second of two portraying South Africa's participation in World War I, primarily covering events of 1917 and 1918. Sections include the Campaign in East Africa, the sinking of the Mendi, and scenes from South Africa's participation in the war on the Western Front. © 2015 John M. Shea
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Map of the the Balkan Front — Germany's Southeast Front — with the mountain passes between Austria-Hungary and Romania. From the Reichsarchiv history of the wars in Serbia and Romania, Herbstschlacht in Macedonien; Cernabogen 1916.The capitals of Belgrade (Serbia), Bucharest (Romania), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Constantinople (Turkey) are prominent, as is Salonica, Greece, the Allied entry port into the country.
Image text: Übersichtskarte der Süd-Ost-FrontSkizze I.Erklärungen:Oesterreich UngarnLandesgrenzenOverview map of the south-east front Sketch I. Explanations: Austria-HungaryBorders
The disparity in the number of nations arrayed against the Central Powers was a common motif, and was updated as the numbers on each side increased. Italy's entry into the war on May 23, 1915 changed the numbers again.Central Powers (top) Sultan Mohammed V of Turkey, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Kaiser Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. Allies (center and bottom rows) Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, King George V of the United Kingdom, President Raymond Poincaré of France, King Nikola of Montenegro, King Peter of Serbia, King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, King Albert I of Belgium, Emperor Taishō of Japan.In the center, a poem: Drei gegen Acht, Three against Eight.
Image text: Drei gegen Acht.Gebt Acht, Ihr “Acht”, es blitzt und krachtund schlägt manch’ schwere Lücke.Jung-Siegfrieds Schwert schlug unversehrtDen Ambosz einst in Stücke.Und Treue, Mut und EinigkeitGeb’ uns zum Siege das Geleit.- Richard OttThree against eightTake heed, your "night" flashes and crashesAnd suggests some serious gap.Young Siegfried's sword split the anvilYet stayed intact.And loyalty, courage and unityWill lead us to victory.Reverse:Postmarked Frankfurt, July 21, 1915
"It has become siege warfare again as in France." ((1), more)
". . . the new chief of the [French] Tenth Army, Gerneral d'Urbal, on May 9th [1915] at 10 A.M., launched [the Artois offensive] against the Vimy Ridge.In the centre the success was immediate. In less than an hour on a front of four miles and for a depth of two or three, the enemy's positions were captured; more than 6,000 prisoners, 20 guns, 100 machine guns, remained in our hands; the crest at its culminating point, hill 140, was reached and even passed. The German artillery ceased firing and we had the impression we had broken through. Unfortunately, this satisfaction was of short duration.Our reserves were too far in rear to follow up our success or widen the breach while there was yet time. . . . On the Lorette plateau and farther along, towards Pont-à-Vendin, we had gained little or no ground, while to the north of La Bassée the British had very nearly completely failed." ((2), more)
"I was just bursting for a bayonet charge. An enemy machine gun crept up to within thirty yards of us and opened from behind some rocks. We could not dislodge it, so we led out a platoon and smothered it, bayoneting all its personnel. I ended up by using my rifle as a club — with disastrous results — for my stock broke, but it was great. The South Africans behaved splendidly: quite steady, quiet and collected." ((3), more)
"Meanwhile, sixty miles west of Doiran, the weather had improved sufficiently for Grossetti to launch Sarrail's long-heralded spring offensive. At dawn on Wednesday, May 9 [1917], just eight and a half hours after the resumed British attack, the French 16th Colonial Division moved forward in the center of the Crna loop, supported by the Russian Second Brigade on the right and the Italian 35th Division to the left. At the same time, farther east, in the Moglena Mountains the Serb Second Army, under General Stepanović, assaulted hill positions south of the Dobropolje mountain, a limestone wall only half as high as the Kajmakcalan but far steeper." ((4), more)
"On the afternoon of May 9th [1918]—which was the first possible day of the next period, Keyes and Lynes were both at La Panne as luncheon guests of the King of the Belgians. After a happy and informal meal they all went for a walk among the sand dunes. They had not gone very far when the King drew Keyes to one side and rather shyly offered him the Star of a Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold. It was while thanking His Majesty for this charming gesture that Keyes first became aware of the fact that the wind was shifting offshore.Within a quarter of an hour the wind was steady from the northeast. With brief apologies Keyes cut short the royal luncheon party, and he and Lynes tore back to Dunkirk—bearing with them the fervent good wishes of their hosts, to whom Keyes had permitted himself to drop a broad hint on the reason for their precipitate withdrawal." ((5), more)
(1) Jack Churchill writing to his brother Winston from Gallipoli. Quoted in Martin Gilbert's The First World War, a Complete History, page 161.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(2) Excerpt from French General Ferdinand Foch's account of the first day of the Second Battle of Artois. The British launched a simultaneous attack at Aubers Ridge. In 1914's Race to the Sea, German troops were very effective at seizing and holding high ground in the battles that shaped the Western Front. From October 4, 1914, German forces held high ground in Artois including Vimy Ridge and the plateau of Notre Dame de Lorette. The First, Second, and Third Battles of Artois were failed French attempt to regain these heights. The Allies did not capture Vimy Ridge for two more years, finally succeeding in April 1917.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 208, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
(3) Excerpt from the May 9, 1916 diary entry of Richard Meinertzhagen, a British officer of German and Danish extraction pursuing the forces of German Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in East Africa. Since the turn of the year, the British campaign had been led by General Jan Smuts, who had fought in the Boer War. The action Meinertzhagen describes was part of the Battle of Kondoa Irangi, fought between May 7 and 10, 1916 in German East Africa. Soon after killing the men manning the machine gun, Meinertzhagen killed a German officer Kornatsky in hand-to-hand combat.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 176, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
(4) Along the Salonica Front extending across northern Greece and into Serbia, an Allied French, British, Serbian, Russian, and Italian army under the command of French General Maurice Sarrail faced a Bulgarian army supported by German troops. On May 8, 1917, British troops attacked at Lake Doiran on the eastern end of the Allied line in the first action of Sarrail's 1917 spring offensive. The other national forces attacked on the 9th. A Russian brigade advanced, but was then cut off and nearly wiped out. Neither the French nor Italians made significant progress.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 126, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
(5) Under the command of Roger Keyes, the Royal Navy attempted to block the canals leading to the German submarine base at Bruges, Belgium the night of April 22–23, 1918, raiding the North Sea ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge in hopes of sinking aging warships across the canals. The operation had some success at Zeebrugge, but at Ostend it was unsuccessful, in part because the Germans had moved a buoy on which the raiders were relying. As Keyes met with Albert King of the Belgians on May 9, he had a plan awaiting favorable weather conditions to try again at Ostend.
Zeebrugge by Barrie Pitt by Barrie Pitt, page 164, copyright © Barrie Pitt 1958, 1959, publisher: Ballantine Books, publication date: 1958
