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Two Germany infantrymen keep a watchful eye on a biplane overhead. A pen and ink drawing by G. Welk, 1915.
The entrance to the collieries, the coal mine and its associated structures, at Loos. It made an excellent observation post for German soldiers. British soldiers referred to this one as "Tower Bridge" for its resemblance to that bridge in London.
A French husband and father sends his love with his original watercolor souvenir of Alsace, July 18, 1915.
Two Zouaves man an anti-aircraft gun, scanning the sky, in a 1915 advertising card for the aperitif Dubonnet. Title, Pigeon Shoot.
Serbian and Montenegrin uniforms, from a 1910 advertising card. From left to right: a soldier of the guard, an infantryman, a cavalryman, an artilleryman, and a general, all of the Serbian army, and three Montenegrin soldiers.
"In September 1915, I travelled back to my regiment. . . . Ahead of us, the French autumn offensive was in full swing. The front manifested itself as a long, billowing cloud over open country. Overhead the machine-guns of the air squadron pattered away. Sometimes, when one of the French planes came down very low — their colourful rosettes seeming to scan the ground like big butterflies' eyes — my little troop and I took cover under the poplars that lined the road. The anti-aircraft guns threaded long fleecy lines through the air, and whistling splinters pinged into the tilth." ((1), more)
"1st October 1915 We have had a sore time of it within the last few days – just imagine – two charges in three days. I don't know how there are any of us left; as it is, there are very few." ((2), more)
"The troops were bombed all day, and although there were officers and men in this maze of trenches they were completely disorganized, and mixed, mainly owing to the heavy loss in officers and senior non-commissioned officers. It was beyond the power of human endeavor to collect and sort out the men for an organized attack. However, all through the 2nd, in the most gallant way our men, Northumberland Fusiliers and Welsh delivered individual bayonet and bomb attacks in their efforts to dislodge the Germans and to comply with orders." ((3), more)
"Our exit from Minsk was made to the deep, reverberating booming of our guns. An enemy plane was encircling Minsk and the anti-aircraft guns were giving it a warm reception. The aeroplanes had been troublesome of late, dropping incendiary bombs on many of the towns; Molodechno was said to have come off badly on more than one occasion. . . . When our guns started a vigorous attack on the winged intruder, [our neighbors] took leave of our party and retired in haste to their homes. The tiny speck in the sky still wheeled above the town, but the persistent challenge of the guns forced it to remain too high to gain any useful information about the town below. . . .We were all in rollicking mood; off to work and off to our beloved Division again and — most important of all — away from the irritating influence of Minsk. We felt like new beings! The Retreat was ended!" ((4), more)
"We are in camp on the vast endless plain. Military and horses all around. Lead gray clouds hang low on the horizon. The Danube marshes start here; the rich Hungarian plain melts into the immense stretch of reed. German infantry is marching southward with resounding steps. Under the wind the sedge bows weakly, as if everything must tremble at the roar of the heavy guns over the Danube." ((5), more)
(1) Wounded in April, 1915 in the fighting in Les Eparges, southeast of Verdun, France, Ernst Jünger recovered, went on leave, and received training in 'various ways of moving across terrain in small groups.' Promoted to ensign, he returned to his regiment as the allied Champagne-Artios-Loos Offensive was in progress.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 34, 35, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(2) Excerpt from a 'letter and account by J. Chassar Moir' who lost his brother on September 26, 1915, the second day of the Battle of Loos, the British effort in the Allies Western Front offensive of autumn 1915. The account seems to have been from a companion of the late brother who had written to Moir's parents after the battle. Moir, a student at Glasgow Technical College, had signed up for Kitchener's Army in 1914. Loos was their first time in combat.
The Battle of Loos by Philip Warner, page 53, copyright © Philip Warner 1976, publisher: Wordsworth Editions Limited, publication date: 2000 (originally 1976)
(3) 'Extract from the Loos Battle, 25th September, 1915' Taken from The History of the Cheshire Regiment in the Great War by Arthur Crookenden, Colonel of the Regiment', quoted in Phillip Warner's The Battle of Loos. With some artillery support and their first use of poison gas, the attacking British made some advances on the first day of the Battle, suffering heavy casualties. They continued the attack in the following days with little artillery support, no element of surprise, against a strengthening foe. 'The 2nd' is October 2.
The Battle of Loos by Philip Warner, page 154, copyright © Philip Warner 1976, publisher: Wordsworth Editions Limited, publication date: 2000 (originally 1976)
(4) Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, writing on October 3, 1915 (September 20 Old Style) at the end of the great Russian Retreat begun in May in the face of the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive. The 'irritating influence of Minsk' included prostitutes dressed as Red Cross nurses, and the assumption that many of the nurses went to the front for that purpose.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, pp. 152, 153, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(5) October 4, 1915 journal entry by Hungarian cavalryman Pál Kelemen, positioned on the Serbian border in preparation for the German and Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia.
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund, page 169, copyright © 2009 by Peter England, publisher: Vintage Books, publication date: 2012
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