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German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
God punish England & destroy Italy! A sailor drowns. The hand and sword of God blaze from the heavens as a ship begins to sinks, either struck by a torpedo or having struck a mine. In the distance a Zeppelin approaches the coast. A submarine may lurk.
Postcard of a building on Rue Laffitte destroyed in the Gotha bomber raid on Paris the night of March 8, 1918. Rue Laffitte is in the 9th arrondissement, north of the Seine, and close to the city center.
Syria and Palestine Front: Judea and Samaria with Jerusalem to the south, Nablus to the north, the Mediterranean to the west and Dead Sea to the south. From Palestine and Syria with Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and with the Island of Cyprus, by Karl Baedeker.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
"The floods of the Yser, prolonged to the west by those of Bergues, Watten and Calais, formed a natural entrenchment covering forty miles of coast, the possession of which was of great importance to Belgium, since it included our bastion of national territory, and also to Great Britain, since it covered the Pas de Calais. With the garrisons of Dunkirk and Calais, as well as the reinforcements which England could not fail to send us, the Belgian Army was capable of defending itself; furthermore, its lines of communication were assured. The naval mastery of the British Fleet guaranteed our supplies and in the last extremity our retreat by sea. From this point on the Sovereign's resolution began to take final form: the Army would defend its positions to the end, with no thought of retirement except to fold back its right wing along the upper Yser to conform with the floods of Bergues and Wattan.Thus prepared, he waited eagerly for the launching of operations. On the 6th March [1918] assault troops of the [German] 214th Division captured the outpost of Reigersvliet; our mounted infantry recaptured it and took 120 prisoners." ((1), more)
"Warrington Crescent, Paddington, where Bentigegni's big bomb had struck was the scene of all the horrors any blitz could bring to London. The street, one of fading Victorian elegance with its four-storey brick homes, was devastated. Possibly intended for Paddington Station, the huge bomb fell squarely on No. 67, and crashed through two floors before detonating. The house was pulverized; several others in the 'explosion funnel' collapsed. The top-floor occupant of one of these homes was playing the piano at the time. He was killed when the walls were blown in and the floor gave way, plunging him down into the cellar. The sections of some houses were strangely left intact, as if struck by a freakish tornado. Picture frames could be seen hanging undisturbed in some of the exposed interior rooms. The street itself was heaped with masonry and broken furniture." ((2), more)
"— Aeroplane raid on the evening of the 8th, from 8.45 p.m. to twenty minutes past midnight. It lasted longer than any previous raid. The next morning we learnt that Montmartre and Batignolles, the northern and north-eastern suburbs, had been badly damaged. But the three bombs which fell near the Folies-Bergère (in the Rue Geoffroy-Marie) and in the Rue Drouot specially attracted the crowd of sightseers, and general attention, because they reached the heart of Paris. Thirteen deaths have been reported." ((3), more)
"The next — the main — objective was Tel Asur, the highest point of the Judaean hills north of Jerusalem, at an elevation of just over 1,000 metres. It fell to the 5th Royal Welch Fusiliers at around 0930, and the 1st Herefords then went on to capture Chipp Hill to the north, but were soon driven back off it. The Turks briefly retook the main summit, too, but were driven back almost immediately by the 6th RWF which had advanced through its sister-battalion. During the course of the day the Turks tried four more times to retake the vantage point — from which one could see Mount Hermon, 150km away, in the north, eastward to Gilead and Moab and across most of the Dead Sea, southward to Hebron and westward to the Mediterranean — but with no success and at considerable cost." ((4), more)
"On March 9th [1918] the British began the heavy attack on the Nablus road which had been expected ever since March 1st. The Turks call it the battle of Turmus Aya.From March 9th to 11th there was heavy fighting for three days in which both sides lost heavily. The height of the Tell Azur was taken and retaken five times and finally remained in the hands of the British. The village of Turmus Aya, another contested point on the second and third day, remained in the hands of the Turks. The Turkish front was slightly pushed back on both sides of the Nablus road, but remained intact. . . .From orders found on the persons of British dead it was learned that the British intended to take Nablus. They did not get there until six and one-half months later." ((5), more)
(1) The War Diaries of Albert, King of the Belgians were assembled by General R. Van Overstraeten from the monarch's diary and other sources. This selection is from what Van Overstraeten refers to as his 'general succinct framework' and describes Belgian preparations for the great German offensive the Allies expected in early 1918. In the 1914 Battle of the Yser, the Belgians had inundated the flat coastal land to stop the German offensive. They maintained the tidal flooding for the remainder of the war.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, pp. 201–202, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(2) On the night of March 7, 1918, three Staaken Giant bombers struck London in the first moonless air raid by airplanes to strike the capital. German aviators saw the glow of the Aurora Borealis as they crossed the English Channel. Struggling to establish their position, they eventually spotted searchlights through heavy clouds, then found and followed the Thames River to the city. A single 1,000 kg. bomb caused the devastation near Paddington Station, killing, among others, Lena Ford, American author of the lyrics to the song 'Keep the Home Fires Burning.' Captain Richard von Bentigegni commanded the squadron of Giants, six of which set out on March 7, with three reaching London. The raiders killed 23 and injured 39.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, pp. 192–193, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
(3) Entry from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government, about the Gotha bomber raid on Paris the night of March 8, 1918. The Folies-Bergère music hall was founded in 1869.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 323, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(4) British under the command of General Edmund Allenby entered Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, and continued advancing along the Mediterranean coast in Palestine and Syria. Their goal in launching an attack the night of March 8, 1918 was Nablus.
Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East by Roger Ford, page 366, copyright © Roger Ford 2010, publisher: Pegasus Books, publication date: 2010
(5) Excerpt from German General Otto Liman von Sanders' account of the defense of Nablus, Palestine, March 9 to 11, 1918. Under the command of General Edmund Allenby, the British entered Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, and continued advancing along the Mediterranean coast in Palestine and Syria. Their goal in launching an attack the night of March 8, 1918 was Nablus. Starting in December 1913, six months before the war began and ten months before Turkey entered it, General Otto Liman von Sanders led a German mission to Turkey to reorganize and train its army.
Five Years in Turkey by Liman von Sanders, pp. 204–205, publisher: The Battery Press with War and Peace Books, publication date: 1928 (originally)
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