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1917 original pen and ink drawing of a sentry in the dunes of the Belgian coast viewing a ship on the horizon. Possibly by W Wenber, Leading Seaman.
German postcard map of the Romanian theater of war, with map labels in Bulgarian added in red. From north to south the labels are Russia, the Austro-Hungarian regions of Galicia and Bukovina, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and, along the Black Sea, the Romania region of Dobruja. Romania's primary war aim was the annexation of the Austro-Hungarian region of Transylvania, with its large ethnic Romanian population.
Photograph from overhead of bomber, likely an Italian Caproni Ca.1, a two-engined biplane.
Postcard view of the county of Kent, England, bounded by the River Thames on the north and the English Channel and Dover Strait to the east. The city and White Cliffs of Dover are in Kent. In November 1914, British naval and military authorities feared Germany was preparing to invade England.
French folding postcard map of Verdun and the Meuse River, number 9 from the series Les Cartes du Front. Montfaucon is in the upper left and St. Mihiel at the bottom.
"August 9th.—The camp, flooded by thunder plumps, has been a comical sight. Everything that could float floated. The men turned out barelegged, or more, swearing and mirthful. One party worked for two hours on a drainage scheme for their tent-floor before realizing that water won't flow to a higher level. One of the Drums, in his shirt only, squatted on an island hummock playing, 'The end of a perfect day.'—This evening, with good visibility at last, the Mont des Cats and other heights and the tower of St. Omer Cathedral could be seen from a dune." ((1), more)
"Three assaults were made under a glowing August sun. The Germans answered each with counterattacks of their own. The battle of Doaga ended in a bloody stalemate. French Major Caput, reporting to Berthelot, summed up the fighting of 10 August [1917]: ' The combat has been very severe, 5000 have been killed and wounded, a true battle.' Postwar calculations have established that Romanian casualties alone on 10 August were 4,795, including 1,200 prisoners. Virtually all these losses were suffered by the 5th ID and the 9th ID. The latter's 9th Rifle Regiment was reduced to seven officers and 400 men in the line. For the Romanians, 10 August stands out as one of the bloodiest days of the Battle of Mărăşeşti." ((2), more)
"Throughout July the Austro-Hungarians were aware that the Italians were preparing for another offensive. Towards the end of July and into August increasing numbers of Italian deserters, desperate to escape the coming carnage, brought detailed intelligence of the Italian dispositions. During the same period the bomber squadrons of the Italian air force became much more active and aggressive in attacking rear areas, particularly on the Bainsizza Front. One spectacular raid on 11 August destroyed the main ammunition dump for the plateau front at Grapa. This would weaken the Austrian artillery support to their embattled army in the coming weeks." ((3), more)
"After Haig launched his Flanders offensive at the end of July 1917, Kleine was directed by OHL to bomb British ports. . . .Kleine's first chance came on 12 August, when Georgii's forecast seemed to permit a flight. The surprised crews were not notified until early afternoon. Since it was a Sunday, many of the airmen had already left to spend the day in Ghent. Kleine could put up only thirteen bombers, but he had them in the air in less than an hour with Oberleutnant Richard Walter, the Führer of Staffel 15, flying in the lead. The objective, decided well in advance, was the British naval base at Chatham. Southend and Margate-Westgate were assigned as secondary targets." ((4), more)
"Artillery preparation began on the morning of August 11. Using 3,000 pieces, the French initially fired counterbattery missions and on August 13 began destroying enemy positions. From August 11 to 20 they fired 3,000,000 rounds of artillery, including more than 1,000,000 rounds from heavy guns. Using a technique borrowed from the British, the French also used machine guns to fire indirectly toward passage points, crossroads, supply lines, and enemy artillery batteries. The Germans responded with their own artillery fire and chemicals, but the French maintained control of the air with their fighters and obtained better results." ((5), more)
(1) Entry for August 9, 1917 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 fellow soldiers who served with him. Dunn was in Bray-Dunes, France, on the English Channel coast and the Belgian border, roughly 40 km. from Ypres where the Third Battle of Ypres had started on July 31. 'Thunder plump' is a Scottish and northern Irish expression for a violent rain storm accompanied by lightning and thunder. St. Omer is nearly 50 km. from Bray-Dunes.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 373, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(2) The German Mărăşeşti offensive began on August 6, 1917 in hopes of destroying Romania's army and seizing Moldavia, the only part of the country not occupied by Central Power forces. The village of Doaga, south of Mărăşeşti, was taken the next day. General Henri Berthelot led the French Military Mission to Romania which trained, re-armed, and supplied the Romanian army after its defeat in 1916.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, pp. 218–219, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(3) Italian commander in chief Luigi Cadorna launched four offensives on the Isonzo River along Italy's northeastern border in 1915 and five in 1916. His Tenth Battle of the Isonzo raged from May 12 through June 8, 1917. At the beginning of August he prepared for the next Battle of the Isonzo, the Eleventh.
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915–1918 by John MacDonald with Željko Cimprić, page 137, copyright © John MacDonald, 2011, 2015, publisher: Pen and Sword Books, publication date: 2011
(4) The Gotha bombers that set out to bomb Chatham on August 12, 1917, quickly ran into strong winds that drove them well north of their target. By the time they reached the Thames estuary, the Chatham naval base was still 15 miles away. Fearing British fighter planes, they turned and dropped their bombs on the the resort town of Southend, targeting the railway station where people were going to catch their trains home from a day by the shore. Thirty-two civilians were killed in the raid, another forty-three injured. General Douglas Haig, commander of British forces on the continent, had launched the Third Battle of Ypres on July 31. OHL, Oberste Heeresleitung, was German Supreme Army Command. Captain Rudolf Kleine commanded the German base at Gontrode, Belgium. Lieutenant Walter Georgii was his meteorologist. Ghent, Belgium, is home to van Eyck's Ghent altarpiece, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, page 95, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
(5) French commander in chief Henri Pétain agreed to support British commander Douglas Haig's offensive in Flanders by attacking at Verdun to recapture territory lost in the German siege of 1916. The French army mutinies delayed Pétain's offensive until after Haig had already launched the Third Battle of Ypres. The Verdun offensive complied with the conditions Pétain had promised his army: greater use of artillery and other weapons before an assault by the infantry, all to achieve clear and limited objectives.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, pp. 380–381, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
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