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The destruction of the Italian airship, City of Ferrara by an Austro-Hungarian seaplane on June 8, 1915.
Postcard from a series on the Armies of the European War of 1914. The French Army included units from its African colonies including Morocco and Senegal, and the Départment of Algeria.
Embossed postcard of the flag and coins of Russia, with fixed exchange rates for major currencies including Germany, Austria-Hungary, England, the Latin Monetary Union, Netherlands, and the United States of America. The Russian Ruble equaled 100 Kopeks. Tsar Nicholas II is on the obverse of most of the gold and silver coins; Tsar Alexander III is on the 7 1/2 ruble gold piece.
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.
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.
"Italy struck first, along a five-hundred-mile front. Her armies quickly spread over the Trentino and, on the [east], crossed the Isonzo River, and reached Montfalcone within four days of the declaration of war. It seemed for the time as though there were to be no effective resistance by the Austrians, who had indeed been forced by a Russian menace to send to their eastern front an army of 700,000 men . . ." ((1), more)
"There was very considerable activity on the French front [from June to September 1915], with a number of encounters in which the French, like the British, were handicapped, though in a less degree, by lack of munitions and heavy guns.On the 7th June parts of the French XI. Corps attacked and captured the German salient of Touvent farm between Hébuterne and Serre on a front of a mile, and in fighting which continued up to the 13th June held it against counter-attacks. Further east, 6th–16th June, the salient south of Quennevières, between the Oise and the Aisne, was the scene of an attack on a front of four brigades, which brought a small gain of ground." ((2), more)
"On June 7, 1915, at the end of my convalescent leave, I rejoined the depot of the 72nd and 272nd infantry regiments at Morlaix. I stayed only a few days. I was not at all comfortable there. At the time I wrote a friend, 'I am leaving the depot for fear of losing my morale, which I value above all.' In these depots, one meets a group of soldiers and even officers who cling desperately to the dreary but safe existence characteristic of a small garrison town in the rear. In order to remain there as long as possible, they are capable, if not of evil actions, at least of a host of mean little maneuvers." ((3), more)
"Friday, June 11, 1915There has been unrest in Moscow for several days. Rumours of treason were circulating among the crowd and accusations have been made openly against the Emperor and Empress, Rasputin and all the influential persons at Court.Yesterday grave disorder broke out and it is continuing today. A large number of shops belonging to Germans, or with signs with German terminations, have been looted." ((4), more)
"Our artillery has begun such a bombardment of the Russian positions on Hill 137 that it feels as if we are in hell. After a short time the Russians respond with fire so heavy that fragments are as big as a child's head. Every moment is filled with an extraordinary amount of dust and noise. Suddenly our infantry breaks out of their positions and storms the hill with incredible speed, taking one position at a time. I see it all in shades of grey, not because it is dusk but because of the sand and dust. Above many of the trenches bayonets appear with white handkerchiefs waving to and fro. The infantry jump straight in and bring the Russians out. Now there's a long train of Russians coming back with their hands held high and their weapons discarded. They are taken in to our old trenches. The infantry cleans up thoroughly. One of the Russian divisional leaders tells me that our artillery had two platoons under heavy fire. When the third came under fire he surrendered." ((5), more)
(1) Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on May 23, 1915, while the Austro-Hungarian Army was advancing against Russia in its northeast province of Galicia in the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive. Despite the strain of opening a new battle front, Austria-Hungary benefited from natural defenses against Italy, holding the high ground along their shared border, and having the Isonzo River as a barrier in Italy's northeast.
The Nations at War, a Current History by Willis John Abbot, page 250, copyright © 1917, Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Leslie-Judge Co., publication date: 1917
(2) French Commander Joseph Joffre maintained an offensive posture through 1915, a strategy he called 'nibbling' at the enemy, and one that resulted time and again in heavy casualties. Although the French shell shortage was not as critical as that of Great Britain or Russia, it still left the French with inadequate ammunition and guns to counteract the artillery of the Germans and their defensive posture. Joffre conducted major offensives in the first half of 1915 in Artois and Champagne, but also smaller attacks along the entire front. In the attack at Quennevières, French losses were 134 officers and 7,771 men.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos by J. E. Edmonds, page 109, copyright © asserted, publisher: Macmillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1928
(3) Excerpt from the memoirs of French historian Marc Bloch, a sergeant, later adjutant, with the 272nd and 72nd infantry regiment in the Argonne. He was on convalescent leave from January 5 to July 13, 1915, during which he wrote the first, and most substantial part, of his Great War memoir. He began writing again while in Algeria after having fought on the Somme.
Memoirs of War 1914-15 by Marc Bloch, pp. 167, 168, copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988, publisher: Cambridge University Press, publication date: 1988
(4) Entry from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, for Friday, June 11, 1915. The Tsaritsa, Empress Alexandra, wife of Tsar Nicholas, was German by birth. On October 14, 1914, Paléologue had recorded that, 'the Empress and those about her are suspected of carrying on a secret correspondence with Germany . . . The Emperor's weakness with the Empress, Vyrubova, and Rasputin comes in for severe criticism.' Nicholas and his family were isolated from the public and from the court. Among the few people they saw regularly were the monk Rasputin and the Tsaritsa's companion Madame Vyrubova.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. I by Maurice Paléologue, page 12, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1925
(5) Excerpt from the writings of German officer Ernst Nopper describing a German attack on June 12, 1915, a day on which German commander August von Mackensen resumed his Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, a joint German-Austro-Hungarian campaign. Nopper was at the southern end of the German line, along the border of Galicia, Austria-Hungary and Russian Poland. The previous day Nopper had noted that the Russian artillery 'is much weaker than ours.'
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 104, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
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