Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, from the magazine The Great War, Part 1.
Image text: The Right Hon. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty.When war was declared, our Navy was ready for anything.
Postwar postcard map of the Balkans including Albania, newly-created Yugoslavia, expanded Romania, and diminished former Central Powers Bulgaria and Turkey. The first acquisitions of Greece in its war against Turkey are seen in Europe where it advanced almost to Constantinople, in the Aegean Islands from Samos to Rhodes, and on the Turkish mainland from its base in Smyrna. The Greco-Turkish war was fought from May 1919 to 1922. The positions shown held from the war's beginning to the summer of 1920 when Greece advanced eastward. Newly independent Hungary and Ukraine appear in the northwest and northeast.
Image text: Péninsule des BalkansÉchelle 1:12.000.000Petit Atlas de Poche Universel25 Édition Jeheber GenèveReverse:No. 20 Édition Jeheber, Genève (Suisse)BalkansRoumanie(Royaume.)Superficie . . . 290 000 sq. km.Population . . . 16 000 000 hab. (50 par sq. km.Capitale: Bucarest . . . 338 000 hab.Bulgarie(Royaume.)Superficie . . . 100 000 sq. km.Population . . . 4 000 000 hab. (40 par sq. km.)Capitale: Sofia . . . 103 000 hab.Grèce(Royaume. Capitale: Athènes.)En Europe (y compris la Crète et les iles) 200 000 sq. km. 6 000 000 hab. 30 p. sq. km.En Asie mineure . . . 30 000 sq. km 1 300 000 hab. 43 p. sq. km.Total 230 000 sq. km. 7 300 000 hab. 32 p. sq. km.Ville de plus de 50 000 habitants:Smyrne (Asie) . . . 350 000 hab.Athènes . . . 175 000 hab.Salonique . . . 150 000Andrinople . . . 70 000 hab.Pirée . . . 70 000 hab.Turquie d'Europe(Empire Ottoman.)Superficie . . . 2 000 sq. km.Population . . . 1 100 000 550 par sq. km.Capitale: Constantinople 1 000 000 hab.AlbanieSuperficie . . . 30 000 sq. km.Population . . . 800 000 hab. (27 par sq. km.)Villes: Scutari . . . 30 000 hab.Durazzo . . . 5 000 hab.YougoslavieVoir le tableau des statisques de ce pays, ainsi que la carte de la partie occidentale de la Yougoslavie, sur la carte d'Italie.Inst. Géog. Kummerly & Frey, Berne.Balkan PeninsulaScale 1: 12,000,000Little Univeral Pocket AtlasRoyaume - KingdomSuperficie - AreaEn Europe (y compris la Crète et les iles) - In Europe (including Crete and the islands)En Asie mineure - In Asia MinorYugoslaviaSee the table of statistics of this country, as well as the map of the western part of Yugoslavia, on the map of Italy.
Beneath high clouds, a crane suspends a capstone advising Italians to direct their savings to the war effort over the Italian peninsula. The crane stands on the Adriatic Sea's northeast coast, site of Trieste, an Austro-Hungarian Mediterranean port with a large ethnic Italian population, and one of Italy's principle objectives in the war.
Image text: Tutto Il Nostro Risparmio Alla PatriaAll our savings to the MotherlandReverse: "VI° Prestito Nazionale 5% NettoIn rendita consolidata emessa a 87.50 per 100 lire nominaliEsente da imposte presenti e future.Reddito netto 5.71%"(VIth National Loan 5% equityIn a consolidated annuity issued at 87.50 per nominal 100 lira.Current and future tax-free.Net Income 5.71%
Colonel T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, from With Lawrence in Arabia by Lowell Thomas
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The soldier's life in the Hindenburg Trenches, postcard from a drawing by Kurzweg
Image text: Hindenburg-Grabenzum FriseurSpeise FettBitte klingelnSoldiers' Life in the Hindenburg trenchto the barbercooking fatplease ring the bell
"By the morning of the 5th October, Churchill had been away from his post for two days. He had already totally disregarded the limits of his original brief, which was to examine the situation and report back to the cabinet, by becoming deeply involved in the defense of Antwerp not merely as an observer but as an adviser and even as an executive officer. . . . he telegraphed to Asquith offering to resign as as First Lord and take over the defence of Antwerp, . . . ." ((1), more)
"On the 26th September, General Sir Ian Hamilton, commanding at the Dardanelles, was ordered to prepare two divisions for despatch to Salonika; but as the French were sending one from his command, he did not consider he could spare so many, and eventually only one, the 10th Division, was taken from him. It arrived at Salonika on the 5th October, at the same time as the French 156th Division, a formation made up of the best elements of the French Corps at the Dardanelles." ((2), more)
"— The second Loan, opened on the 5th October, has been supported by much more forcible and insidious methods than the first. A stronger campaign is directed against the masses. The newspapers harp on the theme that to invest gold is to shorten the war. For the first time they are mentioning the losses of life, assuring the public that they will diminish them by subscribing to the Loan. I notice the bold argument: 'Nearly six per cent! Just think what a high rate of interest that would be in normal times!'" ((3), more)
"When, early on 5 October [1917], a water train arrived from the north and passed over the mine, there was no explosion. At midday, when he hoped the Turkish guards were taking a siesta, Lawrence crept forward again and laid an electric mine beside the pressure mine. . . .At eight o'clock the following morning a train arrived from the north. From off to one side, Lawrence signaled to the men with the detonator when the locomotive was over the bridge. The explosion was devastating. It 'shattered the fire-box of the locomotive (No. 153, Hijaz), burst many of the tubes, threw the l.c. [locomotive cylinder] into the air, cleaned out the cab, warped the frame, bent the two near driving wheels and broke their axles. I consider it past repair.'" ((4), more)
"There was nothing left to capture in this region but the last strongholds of the Hindenburg Line. On October 5th, these were assaulted. The British Fourth Army, crossing the Scheldt between Crévecœur and Le Catelet, captured the plateau of Beaurevoir-Montbrèhain, and thereby completed for its sector of attack the conquest of the renowned German position. In contrast to this success, the French First Army, closely held to its mission of 'supporting at all costs the right of the British Army,' encountered the strongest sort of resistance east and northeast of Saint-Quentin." ((5), more)
(1) First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill had gone to the continent for a tour of the front, and became deeply involved in not only assessing but directing the defense of besieged Antwerp, Belgium. He offered to resign his position if given a military rank adequate for him to command the defense of the city.
Churchill 1914-1918 by David Mason, pp. 63, 64, copyright © David Mason, publisher: Ballantine Books, Inc., publication date: 1973
(2) When Bulgaria announced the mobilization of its military on September 22, 1915, Serbia asked its allies Great Britain and France for 150,000 troops. Greek Prime Minister Venizelos, a supporter of the Entente Allies requested the same. With the invasion of Gallipoli at a stalemate, the Allies freed troops to assist Serbia, landing at Salonica, Greece on September 5, believing Greece would join the Allies. Although the Prime Minister supported the Allies, Greek King Constantine, brother-in-law to German Kaiser Wilhelm, supported the Central Powers, and forced his Prime Minister to resign even as British and French troops from the Dardanelles came ashore.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, page 405, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(3) Entry from October, 1916 from the diary of Michel Corday, French senior civil servant.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 204, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(4) T. E. Lawrence — Lawrence of Arabia — and his Arab forces, raided Turkish infrastructure and outposts in Syria, in particular the rail system in the Hijaz, along the west coast of the Arabian peninsula. Rail lines could be easily repaired, but not the engines that were the targets of the sabotage. British General Edmond Allenby, who had recently been transferred to Egypt after what was seen as his failure in the Battle of Arras, was preparing for an assault on Gaza. Both the First Battle of Gaza (March 26 to 28, 1917) and the Second (April 20) were British defeats. The quotation in the second paragraph of our quotation is from Lawrence's report on the action.
Setting the Desert on Fire by James Barr, page 186, copyright © 2008, 2006 by James Barr, publisher: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., publication date: 2009
(5) Excerpt from the Memoirs of Allied Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch on the continued breaking of Germany's Hindenburg Line, its last and strongest line of defense. Crèvecœur-sur-l'Escaut and Le Catelet are south of Cambrai and north of St. Quentin. The British Fourth Army was at the southern end, the right, of the British line.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 416, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
