A child soldier guarding the Dardanelles, points to a sinking folded paper boat. He stands on the northern, European side; a Turkish flag flies on the southern, Asian side. He wears a Turkish fez and what may be a German naval blouse. German officers, sailors, and artillery crews supplemented the Turkish defenders of the Dardanelles. On March 18, 1915, the Turks sank or badly damaged some of the French and British warships trying to break through to Constantinople, leading the Allies to end their attempt to force the Dardanelles.
Image text: DardanellenwachtKriwubDardanelles WatchReverse:Verlag Novitas, G.m.B.H., Berlin SW 68Logo; No. 256Message postmarked August 21, 1916
The Western Front, 1914 and 15. The Imperial German eagle is a crow feeding on carrion, perched on a cross bearing scenes of the destruction of its advance and retreat through France and Belgium: the shelled and burned cathedral of Reims, the ruination of the city of Arras, a destroyed town, deaths both military and civilian in Belgium. France held its territory along the border with Germany, and turned back the German advance in the Battle of the Marne, but Belgium and northern France remained occupied through the war.Accused of war crimes, Germany, labeled on the map by "Kulturland?", defended itself by speaking of its superior culture.Spain, Holland, and Switzerland remained neutral during the war, and are show in green. Italy joined the Allies in May, 1915, possibly shortly before the card was printed, which may explain the use of red for its name and border.
Image text: [On the cross:] Reims, Après le Passage des Allemands, Arras!, Belgique[On the map, the countries of] Angleterre, Hollande, Espagne, Suisse, Italie, Belgique, France, Kulturland? [Germany, and the cities of] Douvres, Calais, Paris, Arras, Reims, Maubeuge, Verdun, Nancy, Epinal, and BelfortReverse:M. Mantel édit., Lyon, 3, Rue Mulet
Allied soldiers fortifying shell craters after an advance. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot, 1918 Edition.
Image text: A startling new situation confronted the Allies in their recent advance against the Germans. They are fortifying in a concealed way chains of shell craters due to intensive artillery firing of months.
Greetings from Russia! A hand-painted postcard of a village scene with a message dated July 9, 1917, and field postmarked two days later.
Image text: Gruss aus RusslandGreetings from Russia
"At nine minutes to ten on the morning of February 19 [1915] the British and French fleets concentrated at the Dardanelles began the bombardment of the outer forts. . . .The attack was to be divided into two parts: first, a long-range bombardment, and second, overwhelming the forts at short range and sweeping the channel towards the entrance of the Straits." ((1), more)
"February 18th. [1916]—. . . A party from the Fleet went in with us as guests. The weather was dirty all the time of their stay. The sailors entered boisterously into the life and activity of the trenches, bar the fatigues, but they went away saying they would much rather have the North Sea in spite of its submerged mines and submarines.February 19th.—Bright moonlight: five bombs were dropped in the back area ; there is much dispute if signal lights were thrown out by the bombers or thrown up for them.February 20th.—One of our Air-observers was brought down behind the support line : fired on and shelled, he escaped unhurt." ((2), more)
"This morning, every face is racked with exhaustion. As for me, I was seized by a strong urge to vomit while walking through the Caurettes forest. I survived thanks to a few drops of mint liqueur. I fell into a shell crater full of water and I got drenched up to my belt. I fell asleep at three in the hot humidity of this wretched sap. These night reliefs are the worst thing about this war." ((3), more)
"The war resumed, with fifty-two German divisions crossing the November ceasefire line, occupying Dvinsk in the north and Lutsk in the south, and moving eastward along the Russian main-line railways. Lenin realised that the Bolsheviks must give in to whatever was asked of them. 'It's not a question of Dvinsk,' he told Trotsky, 'but of revolution. Delay is impossible. We must sign at once. This beast springs quickly.' On January 19, Hoffman received a telegram, signed by Lenin and Trotsky, accepting the conditions of peace that had been offered at Brest-Litovsk. But Hoffmann was in no hurry now to accept it." ((4), more)
(1) Stalemated on the Western Front at the beginning of 1915, some in Britain and France looked to strike Germany's allies, Austria-Hungary and Turkey, to drive them from the war. Weakest of the Central Powers, Turkey seemed the more susceptible. Seizing the Turkish capital of Constantinople and replacing its government might bring the country to the Allied side or leave it neutral, reopening access to Russia through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits. Within the British and French governments there was support for an invasion of Turkey, but also for a purely naval attempt to 'force the strait', to send a naval force to disable the forts along the Dardanelles then continue to Constantinople to seize the capital. The first naval attack was launched on February 19, 1915.
The World Crisis 1911-1918 by Winston Churchill, page 373, copyright © by Charles Scribner's Sons 1931, renewed by Winston S. Churchill 1959, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1931, 2007
(2) Entries from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, The Royal Welch Fusiliers and dozens of his comrades. The Fusiliers were in the line at Cambrin, France, west of La Bassée. Around February 13, the troops had 'returned to Cambrin Left in a downpour,' to find 'the Germans had narrowed Nomansland by connecting-up their saps,' their trenches running toward the British line.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 181, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(3) French Captain Paul Tuffrau writing on February 19, 1917. Tuffrau had fought since the Battle of the Marne in 1914, and had been wounded twice. He was deployed to Verdun in September, 1916, and was in the sector in February, 1917. The bitter cold of which he wrote on February 4 had broken in the middle of the month.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 208, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
(4) Leon Trotsky, head of the Russian delegation to the Brest-Litovsk peace conference with the Central Powers, left the negotiations on February 10, 1918 saying Russia would not sign a peace treaty, but would withdraw from the war. In the following days Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin debated whether the Germans would accept this situation or resume hostilities. On the 16th General Hoffmann, military head of the German delegation, delivered his response: the armistice was ended. Two days later the Germans resumed the war, violating the terms of the armistice which called for a seven-day notice of termination, and advancing against little to no resistance.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 398, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922