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Collier's War Maps of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora, and the Bosphorus, with insets for the Dardanelles and the Gallipoli Peninsula, the Narrows of the Dardanelles, Constantinople (Istanbul), and the Bosphorus between the Sea of Marmora and the Black Sea
A large German bomber, capable of bombing England. The plane is powered by two engines, and holds a crew of three with a pilot and front and rear gunners. The plane is likely a Gotha bomber, originally built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik, then built under license by Siemens-Schukert Werke and Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (LVG). Note the ground crew pushing on the lower wing and the men holding the tail up as the plane is moved backwards. Sanke postcard number 1040.
Postcard celebrating the arrival of the first American troops in France; they arrived May 26, 1917.
Hand-painted ink and watercolor card of a soldier walking to the A.F.A Canteen sends wishes for a Happy Pentecost from Austro-Hungarian lance-corporal Ernst Gundermann, May, 1917. Pentecost (a moveable feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the the disciples of Jesus after his death) fell on May 27, 1917.
La Domenica del Corriere of August 22–29, 1915, an illustrated weekly supplement to Corriere della Sera, published in Milan, Italy. The front and back covers are full-page illustrations by the great Italian illustrator Achille Beltrame. This back cover is an illustration of Italian author, pilot, soldier, and self-promoter Gabriele d'Annunzio dropping streamers in the colors of the Italian flag and bearing patriotic massages over Trieste, Austria-Hungary, a city with a large ethnic Italian population.
"The Russians repeated the [mining] operation on the night of 24 May. The Svobodnaya Rossiya and five destroyers were also at sea to cover the operation and a reconnaissance of Sinope by the seaplane carrier Aviator. The Russians varied their original plan slightly. The Pamiat Merkuria now brought the launches to within 12 miles of the Bosphorus in order to spare them the long haul to the minelaying area, and they were then towed by the destroyer Pronzitelni to the edge of the old minefield, roughly 12 miles from the entrance. The operation was successful, the mines were laid undetected." ((1), more)
"As the nights grew shorter, even the prospect of Zeppelin raids seemed remote. The people of England trustingly turned their thoughts to more pleasant things, such as the coming of summer and the approaching Whitsun holiday.This supreme but misguided sense of security was completely shattered when German bombs tumbled down on Tontine Street in Folkestone late in the afternoon of 25 May 1917. The shoppers in the crowded street were given no warning. Earsplitting explosions smashed shop windows, splintered beams, and sent bricks and rubble cascading into the roadway. Then all was quiet except for the cries and moans of the injured." ((2), more)
"The first 243 American soldiers to reach Britain did so on May 18 [1917]. They were the medical staff and orderlies for a base hospital. On May 26 the first American combat troops arrived in France. By the end of that week a total of 1,308 had landed." ((3), more)
"Occasionally there were rampages against stores or rowdy scenes at rest camps, on troop trains, and at railway stations, where trains were derailed and carriages smashed. Such actions might last a few hours only, or extend to a week. Some regiments mounted protests two or three times. Only on a few occasions were officers molested, as at Tardenois on the Aisne on 22 and 27 May. Soldiers were evidently very clear in their minds about officers, formation or unit commanders, whom they respected and whom they did not." ((4), more)
"This ridiculous plan [to cross the Timavo River on plank walkways, capture Hill 28, advance across two kilometres of open ground to seize the castle in Duino, and raise a huge Italian flag] was partly conceived by a 54-year-old captain in the Novara Lancers — none other than Gabriele D'Annunzio. This was Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italy's celebrity bard and all-round decadent. Sharing the Futurists' fascination with aeroplanes, he had made daring flights over Austrian territory. He also milked events for personal publicity, lobbying far and wide for medals. He admired Cadorna, composing odes in his honour. Unofficially, many in the army found him comical and even hateful." ((5), more)
(1) The Russians successfully laid mines in the Bosporus — the strait leading from Constantinople to the Black Sea — the night of May 17, 1917, the action they were repeating on the 24th. Repeating the operation on the 25th, one of the mines exploded while still in the Russian launch, destroying the boat and alerting the Turks who discovered the new mine field. Many of the ships mentioned had been renamed after the Russian Revolution to eliminate imperial references: Svobodnaya Rossiya (Free Russia) had been Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya, Aviator had been Imperator Nikolai I.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 251, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(2) Zeppelin raids England had killed civilians, but the airships increasingly fell victim to bad weather and improved British defenses. Six new high-altitude Zeppelin capable of climbing to four miles targeted London the night of May 23/24, 1917, but turned back before reaching their goal. The attack on Folkstone, west of Dover on the English Channel coast, by 21 twin-engine Gotha G.V bombers on May 25 caused more damage than any Zeppelin raid: 95 killed and 195 wounded. Whitsun or Whitsunday is the name used in the Anglican and Methodist churches for Pentecost, the moveable feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus after his death. Pentecost fell on May 27, 1917.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, page 19, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
(3) The first American destroyers had reached Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland on May 4, 1917. Significant numbers of US troops would be longer in coming, but President Woodrow Wilson had been clear on April 2 of his intention when he asked the United States Congress for a declaration of war against Germany: the 'immediate addition . . . of at least five hundred thousand men' and 'subsequent additional increments of equal force.' In May, 1917, US troops could boost morale and be the vanguard of the strength to come, but they were not yet a fighting force.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 333, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(4) After the failure of French commander in chief Robert Nivelle's 1917 spring offensive — the Second Battle of the Aisne, begun on April 16 — an offensive that Nivelle had asserted would provide the breakthrough of the German line that would lead to victory, mutinous incidents broke out in the French army, particularly among the troops that had suffered the highest rates of casualties in the offensive. The mutinies were of greater or lesser severity, beginning in April, with the most serious incidents in May and June.
Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-18 by Anthony Clayton, page 144, copyright © Anthony Clayton 2003, publisher: Cassell, publication date: 2005
(5) The Tenth Battle of the Isonzo, which Italian commander in chief Luigi Cadorna had begun with the heaviest bombardment yet on the Italian front, had already failed when the plan of the Italian writer Gabriele D'Annunzio on the Timavo River, one of the last actions of the campaign, was executed. A powerful speaker and self-promoter, D'Annunzio's performances included dropping leaflets over Vienna that proclaimed the imminent triumph of Italy over Austria-Hungary and Germany. In his Letters, Anglo-American writer Henry James refers to D'Annunzio as 'that particular rotten little skunk' while admiring one of his recent poems. Futurism was an Italian art movement that celebrated the modern world, its technology, speed, and disruption.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 255, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
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