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A Zeppelin in a searchlight's beam over London the night of August 17-18, 1915. In the foreground, Tower Bridge. Behind it, the Tower of London is illuminated by a bursting bomb. The dome of St. Paul's Cathedral rises in the distance.Naval First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant-zur-See) Friedrich Wenke commanding LZ.10 reached London the night of August 17, and reported he bombed the city between Blackfriars and London Bridges, resulting in great fires and the collapse of large buildings. He overestimated his damage, but hit a railroad station, a tramcar roundhouse, and some small houses, killing 10 and wounding 48.
The problem children of a housewife, 1914-1916: token money, banknotes and ration cards from 1916 including cards for potatoes, flour, cooking fat, dried vegetables, potatoes, and whole milk. The items that can be identified are from Dresden, Germany, where the card was printed, and are dated February and March, 1916.
Map of northeastern Italy, the border with Austria-Hungary, and the northern Adriatic. Red lines mark railroads and red dots forts.
Postwar postcard map of the Balkans including Albania, newly-created Yugoslavia, expanded Romania, and diminished former Central Powers Bulgaria and Turkey. The first acquisitions of Greece in its war against Turkey are seen in Europe where it advanced almost to Constantinople, in the Aegean Islands from Samos to Rhodes, and on the Turkish mainland from its base in Smyrna. The Greco-Turkish war was fought from May 1919 to 1922. The positions shown held from the war's beginning to the summer of 1920 when Greece advanced eastward. Newly independent Hungary and Ukraine appear in the northwest and northeast.
Map of the Trentino, part of "Italia Irredenta," unredeemed Italy: Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)
"On August 17 [1915] four more Zeppelins were sent out with definite orders to bomb the City of London. Two of these ships had serious mechanical trouble and had to turn back before they reached England. Von Buttlar in LZ.11 produced another dramatic, but totally fictitious, account of how he bombed London, but he was never at any time within forty miles of the British capital. . . .Wenke, aboard LZ.10 was more successful as far as navigation was concerned, for he actually did reach London, the first Naval Airship commander to do so. . . . He thought he bombed the metropolis between Blackfriars and London bridges and reported that great buildings collapsed and big fires were observed, but he hit the Leyton railroad station, damaged a tramcar roundhouse, and destroyed a number of small houses. Ten people were killed and forty-eight wounded." ((1), more)
"Again, in the country districts, anywhere and everywhere, they have only one question : 'When will it end?' But all these desires drift about helplessly. The Censor gags the papers. And the Deputies don't hear and don't want to hear those whom they represent.— If you mention peace, they say you are in the pay of Germany. It is a clever formula." ((2), more)
"At 02:00 on 19 August [1915], the Italians captured the enemy's front line on Mrzli, an unusually well-built trench that snaked below the summit ridge. This was the notorious 'trincerone' or Big Trench. Under it, the ground fell to the Italian positions. The Austrians had only to push rocks down the mountain at the right moment for an attack to fail." ((3), more)
"[Russian Foreign Minister Sazanov] read me a telegram from Savinsky telling him that, judging by a confidential report which could be relied on, the Bulgarian Government is henceforth determined to support the Teutonic powers and attack Serbia." ((4), more)
"The fortress of Novo-Georgievsk, the last Russian rampart in Poland, is in the hands of the Germans. The whole garrison, approximately 85,000 men, has been captured." ((5), more)
(1) The morning of August 12, 1915, Naval First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant-zur-See) H. von Buttlar had been caught in a violent storm over the North Sea while returning from an aborted raid on England, that lifted his airship dangerously high before driving it towards the sea. He was fortunate to survive. Oberleutnant-zur-See Friedrich Wenke was more successful, but overestimated his success. Ian Castle covers this raid on his website: www.iancastlezeppelin.co.uk/17-august-1915-1.
The Zeppelin Fighters by Arch Whitehouse, page 99, copyright © 1966 by Arch Whitehouse, publisher: New English Library, publication date: 1978
(2) Extract from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government. In preceding entries, Corday had written about the attempts to portray any calls for peace, even those by the Pope, as emanating from Germany.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 101, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(3) From Switzerland to the Adriatic Sea, Austria-Hungary held the high high ground along its border with Italy. Along the narrow front northeast of Venice, Italy would attack repeatedly in Battles of the Isonzo River. By mid-August, 1915, Italy and Austria-Hungary had already fought the two Battles, the First costing Italy 15,000 casualties, the Second 42,000.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 111, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(4) Entry for August 19, 1915 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. Alexander Savinsky was a Russian diplomat whose posts included Bulgaria.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 53, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(5) Entry for August 20, 1915 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. German forces had taken the fortress of Novo-Georgievsk the prior day. The success of the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive — begun on May 2 — had broken the Russian line, driven Russian forces from the Carpathians, and nearly driven Russia from its Polish lands. Russian supplies of shells, rifles, and ammunition were inadequate, and their retreat was not yet over.
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