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A crazed Great Britain urges a broken Russia, a nose-picking, dozing Italy, and a sullen France to continued offensives in a German postcard imagining the November 6, 1917 Entente Ally Conference of Rapallo after the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo. The Battle, also known as the Battle of Caporetto, was a disastrous defeat for Italy and the first Austro-Hungarian offensive on the Isonzo Front. The Austrians had significant German support.
Panorama of Jerusalem from Palestine and Syria with Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and with the Island of Cyprus by Karl Baedeker, a 1912 guide book.
Two Venetian fishing ships meet, brilliant sails spread. On one, beneath Venice's Lion of St. Mark, the words "Adriaticus mare nostrum — the Adriatic, our sea." On the further blue sail, the cross and words "Pax tibi Marce [Evangelista meus] — Peace to you, Mark, my Evangelist."Postcard promoting Italy's VI National Loan for the war, with a quotation from Gabriele D'Annunzio's "La canzone di Mario Bianco":"E' questo, Italia,é questo il tuo fermento e il tuo cemento"And this, Italy,This is your ferment and your foundation.G. d'Annunzio
Food supplies in the French trenches. A Susini tobacco / cigarette card.
Photograph of a French heavy mortar in action.
"General Pétain is not satisfied with the general situation; it has never been worse.He believes the Italians will not hold if strong pressure is brought to bear on their left flank.He declares that the British Army is very tired; that the British Command will not agree to relieving the Third French Army; that the French armies drawn out on a 360-mile front run the risk of being broken if they are suddenly subjected to a large-scale attack. The depots are bare—except for the new class and a few men who are reported fit again. The morale of the troops is good, but they are incapable of large and sustained effort....The General deplores the inefficiency of the British Command. The troops are excellent but they have been clumsily used.The Americans lack discipline and experience. Their baptism of fire will probably cost them dear.In conclusion, the General considers that the moment is not ripe for making peace, but if the enemy in a few months' time makes any proposals he thinks that they should be carefully examined." ((1), more)
"I entered [Jerusalem] officially at noon, December 11th [1917], with a few of my staff, the commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the political missions, and the Military Attachés of France, Italy, and America.The procession was all afoot, and at Jaffa gate I was received by the guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, France, and Italy. The population received me well.Guards have been placed over the holy places. My Military Governor is in contact with the acting custodians and the Latin and Greek representatives. The Governor has detailed an officer to supervise the holy places. The Mosque of Omar and the area around it have been placed under Moslem control, and a military cordon of Mohammedan officers and soldiers has been established around the mosque. Orders have been issued that no non-Moslem is to pass within the cordon without permission of the Military Governor and the Moslem in charge." ((2), more)
"The Austro-Hungarians were not aware of the dramatic change in Italian morale. Their front-line soldiers wanted the opportunity to break through before winter snows brought the offensive to a halt. Yet the very success of their rapid advance had put a tremendous strain on their logistical support. Thus it was 12 December [1917] before the offensive could be relaunched by General Conrad. He sent a message to his troops saying they would attend Christmas Mass in Venice. The battle opened with some success for the Austro-Hungarians, but they sustained severe losses against a resolute defence, and then the heavy snow began. Both sides realised that the campaign was over until the spring, and it was the Italians who would be celebrating Christmas Mass in Venice. The armies settled down to prepare for the following year's campaigns." ((3), more)
"Our main job was to bring rations up to the men on the front lines. The field kitchens were nearby, at the bottom of a ravine, or you could call it a precipice, next to which we were posted.You reached the bottom by a staircase which counted 500 steps, not one less. And they were 'poilu steps'—50 to 80 centimeters, each one. You couldn't be asthmatic and climb this gigantic staircase. It wasn't too hard in dry weather, but when the snow and ice and slick mud covered the steps, watch out for slippery spots! You had to grab onto roots and rocky outcroppings so as not to tumble all the way to the bottom.And the Boche lines weren't even a hundred meters from the last step of this staircase. Our outposts were only a few steps away from them." ((4), more)
"Discouraged by international developments and by the 'questionable friendship' of their Italian allies, French troops found their first months in Italy demoralizing. As one postal censor concluded in mid-December 1917, many were battling depression 'caused perhaps by homesickness, by a desire to see the end of the war, by a certain disgust with the need to support allies who weren't able to defend themselves.' More than anything else though, 'the desire for leave and the irregularity of the mails also [gave] rise to discouragement.'" ((5), more)
(1) Excerpt from the entry for December 10, 1917 from the diary of Albert, King of the Belgians, recording the thoughts of French Commander-in-chief Henri Pétain. The Nivelle Offensive, the Third Battle of Ypres, and the Battle of Caparetto had nearly broken the morale of the Entente Allies, leading to mutinies in the French Army and revolution in Russia. The United States was building an army in France, but had not yet seen its 'baptism of fire.'
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, pp. 182–183, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(2) Excerpt from the account by British General Edmund Allenby of his entry into Jerusalem on December 11, 1917. Turkish forces had evacuated the city during the night of December 8–9.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. V, 1917, pp. 408–409, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(3) German and Austro-Hungarian forces destroyed the Italian Second Army in the Battle of Caporetto launched on October 21, 1917, and drove the Italians back 70 miles along the Isonzo Front before suspending their attack on November 11. The offensive threatened not only Venice, but the collapse of Italy as a combatant in the war. Austro-Hungarian General Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf had been Austro-Hungarian Commander in Chief until replaced by Kaiser Karl on March 1, 1917.
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915–1918 by John MacDonald with Željko Cimprić, pp. 175–176, copyright © John MacDonald, 2011, 2015, publisher: Pen and Sword Books, publication date: 2011
(4) Excerpt from the notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas, formerly of the 296th Regiment. Barthas was writing in mid-December, 1917, after his regiment had been dissolved and its men assigned to other units, Barthas going to a regiment from Breton.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 346–347, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(5) Martha Hanna's Your Death Would Be Mine is based on the correspondence between Paul Pireaud and his wife Marie. In the summer of 1917, Paul served with the 112th Heavy Artillery Regiment in the Moronvilliers sector northeast of Reims in Champagne. French and British units were sent to support the Italians after the disaster of Caporetto. The Italian retreat finally stopped on the Piave River. Paul's unit was ordered to Italy on November 12, and left on the 17th. He reached Italy on December 1.
Your Death Would Be Mine; Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War by Martha Hanna, page 236, copyright © 2006 by Martha Hanna, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2006
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