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Russian troops fleeing a solitary German soldier. The Russian First Army invaded Germany in August 1914, and defeated the Germans in the Battle of Gumbinnen on the 20th. In September the Germans drove them out of Russia in the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes. In September and October, a joint German, Austro-Hungarian offensive drove the Russians back almost to Warsaw. Illustration by E. H. Nunes.
Cover of the 1915 sheet music for "When the Lusitania Went Down" by Charles McCarron and Nat. Vincent. The Lusitania was sunk by the German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915.
Australians at Anzac Cove, December 17, 1915, from 'Gallipoli' by John Masefield. The Allied completed evacuating their positions at Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove on December 19.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
Memorial to the French Moroccan Division at Vimy Ridge. The face commemorates the Division's victory at the Second Battle of Artois, in which the Moroccan Division broke the German front for the first time and took Hill 140, their objective.Listed on the sides of the memorial are the sectors and battles where the Division fought:1914The ArdennesAugust 28 — La Fosse a l'EeauAugust 30 — BertoncourtSeptember 1 — AlincourtThe MarneSeptember 6 to 9 — Coizard, MondementDecember 30 — Ferme d'Alger1915BelgiumJanuary 28 — Nieuport, la Grande DuneArtoisMay 9 — la Cote 140June 16 — Ravin de SouchezChampagneSeptember 25 — Butte de Souain, Bois Sabot1916the SommeJuly 4 — Assevillers, Bellov en Santerre, Barleux1917ChampagneApril 17 — Moronvilliers, Mont sans Nom, AuberiveVerdunAugust 20 — Cumieres, Bois des Corbeaux, Forges Regnieville1918LorraineJanuary 8 — Flireythe SommeApril 26 — Villers-Bretonneux, Bois de Hangardthe AisneMay 30 — Vauxbuin, ChazelleJune 12 — AmblenyJuly 18 to 20 — Dommiers ChaudumSeptember 2 to 8 — Terny-Sorny, Moulin de Laffaux, AllemantNovember 11 — VictoryNovember 17 — Entered Chateau-Salins © 2013, John M. Shea
"Thursday, May 6, 1915.Between the Carpathians and the Vistula the Russian situation is becoming critical. After very severe fighting at Tarnov, Gorlice, and Jaslo they are hastily retiring behind the Dunajec and Wisloka. The losses are enormous: the number of prisoners is said to be 40,000." ((1), more)
"At 2:15 p.m., when ten to fifteen miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, the weather being then clear and the sea smooth, the Captain, who was on the port side of the lower bridge, heard the call, 'There is a torpedo coming, sir' given by the second officer. He looked to starboard and then saw a streak of foam in the wake of a torpedo traveling towards his ship. Immediately afterwards the Lusitania was struck on the starboard side somewhere between the third and fourth funnels. The blow broke number 5 life-boat to splinters. A second torpedo was fired immediately afterwards, which also struck the ship on the starboard side. The two torpedoes struck the ship almost simultaneously." ((2), more)
"The British thought they had killed everyone but they hadn't. The shells fell too far behind the Turkish lines. The Turks were intact and ready for us. As soon as the bombardment finished we were ordered over the top. When we ran across the Daisy Patch toward the Turk line there was thousands of rifles and machine-guns trained on us. They were across open country 400 yards away. We were getting shot from all directions. It was just a mass of bullets. The ground was hopping with bullets like it was hailing. The Turks was all in trenches. All you could see was their heads. They weren't in the open at all. . . . There was a machine-gun trained across where I was. There were five chaps killed in front of me. One, two, three, four, five, as quick as that." ((3), more)
"It has become siege warfare again as in France." ((4), more)
". . . the new chief of the [French] Tenth Army, Gerneral d'Urbal, on May 9th [1915] at 10 A.M., launched [the Artois offensive] against the Vimy Ridge.In the centre the success was immediate. In less than an hour on a front of four miles and for a depth of two or three, the enemy's positions were captured; more than 6,000 prisoners, 20 guns, 100 machine guns, remained in our hands; the crest at its culminating point, hill 140, was reached and even passed. The German artillery ceased firing and we had the impression we had broken through. Unfortunately, this satisfaction was of short duration.Our reserves were too far in rear to follow up our success or widen the breach while there was yet time. . . . On the Lorette plateau and farther along, towards Pont-à-Vendin, we had gained little or no ground, while to the north of La Bassée the British had very nearly completely failed." ((5), more)
(1) Entry for Thursday, May 6, 1915, from the memoirs of the French Ambassador in Russia, Maurice Paléologue. Commanding a joint German-Austro-Hungarian army, German commander August von Mackensen began his Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive on May 2, 1915 with a bombardment of an estimated 700,000 shells along a 30-mile front. By May 4, the Russian line had broken, and Erich von Falkenhayn, Commander in Chief of the German Army, observed that by then it was obvious the Russians would not be able to halt the offensive 'within an appreciable time.' They would not do so for months.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. I by Maurice Paléologue, page 336, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1925
(2) Excerpt from the British law-court report on the sinking of the Cunard Company passenger liner Lusitania by the German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915. Great Britain declared the entire North Sea a military zone as of November 5, 1914, and imposed a blockade of Germany. Germany accused Britain of both arming merchant ships and sailing them under flags of neutral nations. On February 4, 1915, Germany announced a war zone around the British Isles and a campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare in which all ships of Britain and its allies were subject to sinking without notice.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, pp. 190, 191, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(3) New Zealander Hartly Palmer on his attempt to cross the 'Daisy Patch' against entrenched Turkish Infantry on May 8, 1915. Within days of the Allied invasion of Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, neither the Turks nor the Allies could advance, and struggled to reinforce their troops. Allied commander General Sir Ian Hamilton brought troops from Egypt and redeployed men of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps who had landed at Gaba Tepe — Anzac Cove — south to the Anglo-French position at Cape Helles on the end of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Achi Baba, the objective, was a 709-foot high hill from which the Turks dominated the Allied position. The attempt to cross the open 'Daisy Patch' was a disaster for the men who tried. Joe Gasparich, another New Zealand survivor, referred to the Turkish troops as 'Jacko,', and observed that he was 'safe as houses' in his entrenchments.
Voices of Gallipoli by Maurice Shadbolt, page 31, copyright © 1988 Maurice Shadbolt, publisher: Hodder and Stoughton, publication date: 1988
(4) Jack Churchill writing to his brother Winston from Gallipoli. Quoted in Martin Gilbert's The First World War, a Complete History, page 161.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(5) Excerpt from French General Ferdinand Foch's account of the first day of the Second Battle of Artois. The British launched a simultaneous attack at Aubers Ridge. In 1914's Race to the Sea, German troops were very effective at seizing and holding high ground in the battles that shaped the Western Front. From October 4, 1914, German forces held high ground in Artois including Vimy Ridge and the plateau of Notre Dame de Lorette. The First, Second, and Third Battles of Artois were failed French attempt to regain these heights. The Allies did not capture Vimy Ridge for two more years, finally succeeding in April 1917.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 208, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
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