A German soldier relaxes with his pipe as old Russian generals flounder in the Masurian Lakes. By JB (?)
Image text: Freibad masurische Seen.Masurian Lakes swimming pool.Reverse:Krieges-KarteNr. 54Verlag: Neufeld & Henius, Berlin SW, Großbeerenstr. 94
Postcard from a painting by W. Partke of a village in the Pripet Marshes in Russia dated February 14, 1916. An Hungarian officer wrote of the Marshes, 'almost half of the territory is covered by wet, impassable, and uncultivated forest, wooded territory, most of it useless, bushy, and impenetrable. The ground itself is divided into different kinds of marshy lands, impassable muddy districts, immense weedy and grassy territories, also regions covered by some kind of more solid grassy substance, and other thousands and thousands of acres of land perpetually under water.' The card is field postmarked on April 9, 1917 by Minenwerfer (trench mortar) Company 282.
Image text: Dorf in den PripetsümpfenW. Partke14.II.1916.Village in the Pripet MarshesW. PartkeFebruary 14, 1916
The spirit of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeals to heaven, as Italian soldiers fire from the rocky elevation they hold.
Image text: Sacra e la lotta per la santita del diritto, per la redenzione degli oppressi. Gloria e Vittoria ai prodi intrepidi con l'Italia nel cuore.Holy is the struggle for the sanctity of law, and for the redemption of the oppressed. Glory and victory to the fearless warriors who hold Italy in their hearts.Reverse:Message dated May 21, 1917
Alexander Kerensky, leader of Russia's Cadet party and a member of the Provisional government in 1917 as Minister of Justice, War, and Prime Minister. From 'The War of the Nations Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings Compiled from the Mid-Week Pictorial Published by the New York Times Co. New York City N.Y.' © Copyrighted 1919 by the New York Times Company 1914 - 1919
Image text: Alexander Kerensky, who was head of the Russian Government when the Russian front collapsed.
Map of the patrol for the United States 94th Squadron for September 3 to 26, 1918. The period covered the St. Mihiel Offensive and the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. From Fighting the Flying Circus by Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker who took command of the Squadron — the Hat in Ring Squadron — on September 24.
Image text: 94 Squadron's patrol from Watronville to St. Mihiel, September 3 to 26, 1918
"By 13th September [1914], the Russian I Army had once more crossed the border, to safety. . . . [German General] François could have done little more: he suffered from supply-problems, fatigue, increasing Russian resistance as reserves came in, all problems that tactically successful troops often encountered. These problems came up still more after 13th September, as the Germans moved into Russian territory." ((1), more)
"Every tree is a little islet standing out of the gloomy marshland, and shallow lakes which extend for mile after mile. The roads are inundated by the water, which has risen high owing to the floods of rain, and from the miserable cottages, which at intervals are to be seen partly submerged along the highways, strange looking men with long beards and thick, matted hair, mostly woodcutters and others earning a precarious living from the products of the surrounding wilderness, creep out and stare with amazement at the Austrian and German cavalrymen.According to the figures almost half of the territory is covered by wet, impassable, and uncultivated forest, wooded territory, most of it useless, bushy, and impenetrable. The ground itself is divided into different kinds of marshy lands, impassable muddy districts, immense weedy and grassy territories, also regions covered by some kind of more solid grassy substance, and other thousands and thousands of acres of land perpetually under water.. . . How an army of many hundred thousands of men could undertake an advance movement on this marshy ground covered with thick forest, mud, and water is almost unimaginable . . ." ((2), more)
". . . On 13 September [1916], the skies cleared; that afternoon, with the sun at their backs, the Italians sighted their targets. With the help of aerial observers, the heavy batteries reduced much of the Austrian front line to rubble, blowing broad holes in the wire, shattering their communications. Cadorna took heart; he believed the Austrians were packed into their front-line bunkers. In fact they had left only a token force in the front lines, so their losses were relatively slight; their men were nearby, and ready. So were their skilfully disguised batteries." ((3), more)
"The events of the next few days can be related very quickly. On September 12 [1917] General Krymov, the commander of the Third Cavalry Corps, was arrested by his soldiers and handed over to the government in Petrograd. He committed suicide almost at once. Kerensky, meanwhile, elevated himself to the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the army, and ordered Alexeiev to arrest the rebel Kornilov. On the 12th Alexeiev reluctantly and politely carried out these instructions, and Kornilov, in a state of high fever, was taken off to imprisonment in a monastery near Bikhov. Kerensky now formed a five-man 'directory,' with himself at the head. . . . As a further sop to the socialists Russia was proclaimed a republic. By the 18th Alexeiev had resigned and many of the other Kornilovist generals had been dismissed or imprisoned, and with this, the Kornilov affair can be said to be finally ended." ((4), more)
"On our trip up this same road the following day Reed Chambers and I saw the retreat of the Huns and the advance of our doughboys in full swing. The Huns were falling back northward with an unusually strong rearguard protecting their retreat. Already they were out of reach of our guns' accurate aim, for the day was again cloudy, with occasional rains and no airplanes were able to regulate the gun fire.But closely pressing them from behind came our eager doughboys fighting along like Indians. They scurried from cover to cover, always crouching low as they ran. Throwing themselves flat they would get their rifles into action and spray the Boches with more bullets until they withdrew from sight. Then another running advance and another furious pumping of lead from the Yanks. . . .Coasting along some eight or ten miles farther I saw the whole country was swarming with the retreating Huns. I noted the progress of our own troops below and marked down their positions on my map. . . ." ((5), more)
(1) After the German victory in the Battle of Tannenberg and the destruction of the Russian Second Army, German commanders von Hindenburg and Ludendorff hoped to destroy the Russian First Army under von Rennenkampf. In the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the Russians managed to save themselves, and make their way back to Russia, although with heavy losses, as many as 125,000 men.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, page 68, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
(2) Excerpt from a 1915 letter by an Hungarian officer on the Russian Front. The great German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive had achieved the aims of German Commander-in-Chief Erich von Falkenhayn who had called for a halt in early August. On the northern end of the front, German commanders Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff pushed on, claiming to misunderstand Falkenhayn. To the south, Austro-Hungarian Commander-in-Chief Conrad von Hötzendorf, chaffing under German command, but helpless without German aid, carried on his own 'Black and Gold' (the colors of the Hapsburg flag) offensive. The September advances into Russia brought the invaders well into the Pripet Marshes our Hungarian officer describes.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, pp. 318, 319, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(3) In an attempt to build on the success of his Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, Italian Commander in Chief Luigi Cadorna launched his Seventh on September 13, 1916. General Svetozar Boroević's Austro-Hungarian troops mimicked the defensive tactics of German troops, lightly defending a front line supported by machine gun nests, so that casualties would be relatively light during the bombardment that typically preceded an infantry assault. Cadorna thought the Austro-Hungarians had two defensive lines; they had four.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, pp. 219–220, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(4) Russian General Lavr Kornilov had been made Supreme Commander of the Russian Army on July 31, 1917. Although claiming to support the Russian Revolution, he opposed many of its reforms, and wanted to bring back the death penalty for deserters from the army, many of whom had simply left the front. He had begun planning a coup with conservative officers, financiers, and industrialists in the first days of the revolution. Russian Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky had already held the titles of Justice Minister and War Minister when he asked the government to hand him power to deal with Kornilov. Petrograd was the seat of the Russian government and center of revolutionary activity. In preparing to defend the city from an attack by Kornilov, the government freed and armed the Bolsheviks who would overthrow it in October.
The Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead, pp. 224–225, copyright © 1958 by Time, Inc., publisher: Carroll and Graf, publication date: 1989
(5) Eddie Rickenbacker, America's leading ace of World War I, writing of his flight over the battlefield on September 13, 1918, the second day of the St. Mihiel Offensive. He and Reed Chambers were part of the 94th Aero Squadron.
Fighting the Flying Circus by Eddie Rickenbacker, page 186, copyright © 1965 by Doubleday & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday & Company, Inc., publication date: 1965 (1919)
