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A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
A German Fokker Eindecker flying over the front in the Meuse/Verdun sector.
Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
Imperial Russian field artillery in combat training in the snow at Camp B.K.
An Italian postcard of the Industry of War. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany squeezes gold from France and Belgium, filling sacks of money he provides to his ally Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary who feeds his guns to fire at Tsar Nicholas of Russia who vomits up troops. On the bottom right, Serbia, Montenegro, and Japan join the battle against Germany and Austria-Hungary. To the left, Great Britain flees to its ships. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy surveys it all, serenely neutral until May 1915. Germany taxed Belgium and occupied France heavily during its occupation, in money, in food and other necessities, and in human life and labor. Austria-Hungary borrowed heavily from Germany to support its war effort. The enormous manpower of Russia was a source of consolation for its allies, and of trepidation to its enemies. Some suspected Great Britain would take its small army and return to its ships, home, and empire.
"The losses of the Russian army have been colossal. From 350,000 men a month in May, June and July, the figure has risen to 450,000 in August. Since the first defeat on the Dunajec the Russian army has thus lost approximately 1,500,000 men." ((1), more)
"Britain's only nominal fighter at that time was the Vickers F.B.5 Gunbus, which had begun full-squadron operations at about the same time as the Fokker E.I was making its combat debut. Among the first of No. 11 Squadron's pilots to directly challenge the Eindeckers was an aggressive Welsh warrior named Captain Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees, who with his observer, Flight Sergeant J. M. Hargreaves, was credited with 'driving down' an Eindecker on July 28. On August 31, the duo destroyed an LVG C.II near Achiet le Grand . . ." ((2), more)
"P.S. There are two important items of news. One is that I have just had a birthday — my 25th. The other that we had Zeps here about a fortnight ago. Two bombs were dropped on Chelmsford itself, both on or near the Glosters billetting area. The damage was perhaps 5£ worth. It cured an old lady of muscular rheumatism, indeed it made an athlete, a sprinter of her — she went down the street in her nightgown like a comet or some gravity-defying ghost. One of the bombs was terrifying and must severely have shocked the elm tree which it mostly affected. Our supply guard did a roaring trade in old iron, and if it ever occurs to some wealthy enthusiast to buy up the two bombs in bits for purposes of reconstruction, he will probably get prostrated either by worry or rage; some of the guard may also suffer prostration." ((3), more)
"HeidekampfSonne Halde stampfen keuche BangeSonne Halde glimmet stumpfe WutSonne Halde sprenkeln irre StahleSonne Halde flirret faches BlutBlutUndBlutenBlutUndBluten BlutenDumpfen tropftUndDumpfenSiegt und krustetSonne Halde flackt und fleckt und flackertSonne Halde blumet knosper Tod.— August StrammHeath CombatSunshine hillside stamping panting fearSunshine hillside glimmers stumping rageSunshine hillside sprinkling crazy steelSunshine hillside flitting fanning bloodBloodAndBleedingBloodAndBleeding bleedingDudding dropsAndDuddingWins and CrustersSunshine hillside flares and flakes and flickersSunshine hillside budding bloomy death.— Translated by Jeremy Adler" ((4), more)
". . . he has given much thought and prayer to the matter. At last, after hearing mass a day or two ago, he said to us: Perhaps a scapegoat is needed to save Russia. I mean to be the victim. May the will of God be done. He was very pale as he said this, but on his face was an expression of utter resignation.'These words of the Emperor made me shiver all down my spine. The idea of predestination to sacrifice and complete resignation to the divine will is only too consistent with his passive nature." ((5), more)
(1) Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, writing on August 30, 1915. He had met earlier with General Bielaïev, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army. The German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive — begun on May 2 on a line lying, in part, along the Dunajec River — had broken the Russian line, and the Russian army's retreat extended from the Baltic Sea to Romania. The ambassador also recorded that Russia was producing more shells and rifles, and importing more weapons, and that Moscow lay far from the front, that four armies defended the capital of Petrograd, and that autumn rains would soon slow the German advance. The two cities were likely safe.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 62, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(2) Introduced in early 1915, Dutch aircraft designer Anton Fokker's E.I (Eindecker (monoplane) I) had a single fixed-position machine gun that could fire through the revolving propeller by using an interrupter gear. (An earlier innovation by French pilot Roland Garros had no such gear, and protected the propeller with metal plates that deflected bullets.) The Allies at first struggled to match it, but responded with the French Nieuport, with a machine gun mounted on the upper wing firing over the propeller, and pusher planes, such as the Vickers F.B.5 (Fighting Biplane) Gunbus, with its rear-mounted engine and front-mounted machine gun. The L.V.G. C.II two-seat reconnaissance plane was introduced in late 1915.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, page 34, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
(3) Postscript to an undated letter by Ivor Gurney, composer, poet, and soldier in the 2nd 5th Gloucesters. As Gurney was born on August 28, 1890, and a Zeppelin raid struck Chelmsford on August 17, the letter is likely from about August 31, 1915.
War Letters, Ivor Gurney, a selection edited by R.K.R. Thornton by Ivor Gurney, page 39, copyright © J. R. Haines, the Trustee of the Ivor Gurney Estate 1983, publisher: The Hogarth Press, publication date: 1984
(4) 'Heidekampf' ('Heath Combat') by the German poet and playwright August Stramm, killed in action on the Dnepr-Bug Canal on the Russian front on September 1, 1915. A captain in the reserve, Stramm was called up in 1914, and served in the Vosges Mountains on the Western Front. In January 1915 he was made Commander of 9 Company II Battalion, 272dn Infantry Reserve Regiment, 41st Reserve Corps. The Corps was moved to the Eastern Front in April prior to the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice Tarnow Offensive. Although the offensive broke the Russian line, and the Russian Army retreated, ultimately along the entire front, it was not routed, but regularly entrenched and fought before resuming the retreat. Before the war, Stamm held a high position in the postal service, but began writing in earnest in 1912, and was first published in the avant-garde periodical Der Sturm in 1914. 'Heidekampf' is from his his collection of poems, Tropfblut: Gedichte aus dem Krieg — Blood Drop: Poems from the War.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, page 142, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
(5) Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, writing on September 2, 1915. The first speaker is Madame Vyrubova, an intimate companion of the royal family, sent by Tsar Nicholas of Russia to get the Ambassador's thoughts on the Tsar's decision to take command of the Russian Army in the face of the on-going Russian retreat before the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive begun on May 2, four months earlier. The Russian retreat extended from the Baltic Sea to Romania. Later in the evening Paléologue was asked for his conclusion after all he had heard, and replied, 'I haven't any. . . . When mysticism takes the place of policy it's impossible to prophesy. I'm ready for anything now!'
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, pp. 65, 68, publisher: George H. Doran Company
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