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Front cover of 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. The front cover is an illustration of contemporary trench warfare, with soldiers throwing both ball and stick grenades to turn back an enemy attack. The 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 the city of Trieste, Austria-Hungary.
Uncle Sam weighs the lives lost in the German sinking of the Lusitania (and other ships, as seen on the horizon) to his cash flow from selling weapons and other supplies to the combatants, particularly the allies. The moneybags have tipped the scales. A 1916 postcard by Em. Dupuis.
French General Maurice Sarrail decorating officers near the frame of German Zeppelin shot down on May 5, 1916 by naval gunners in view of the citizens of Salonica, Greece. General Sarrail commanded the Allied troops at the front that included French, British, Serbian, Russian, and Italian troops, as well as a battalion of Montenegrin soldiers. The Zeppelin's frame is in the background, and civilians are among the observers of the ceremony.
John Bull, symbol of Great Britain and here a bird-catcher, tries to entice the kingdom of Romania, in 1915 a neutral nation, into his trap. He already has Russia by the nose, and the plucked cock of France and an Italian fowl close at hand. Neutral (and wise) Greece rests out of reach, while Bulgaria sings to the Islamic crescent moon of Turkey. In the background Turkish, German, and Austro-Hungarian soldiers meet at a crossroads. Carved into the tree is a heart dated 1915, and the initials 'F A R', perhaps for 'France aime Russie:' France loves Russia.
General Luigi Cadorna, chief of staff of the Italian Army
"In quick time, we had crept up to the enemy barrier. Just before it, we came across a pretty stout and well-insulated wire in some long grass. I was of the opinion that information was important here, and instructed Wohlgemut to cut off a piece and take it with him. While he was sawing away at it with — for want of more appropriate tools — a cigar clipper, we heard something jingling the wire; a few British soldiers appeared and started working without noticing us, pressed as we were in the long grass." ((1), more)
"On Sunday, July 30, 1916, at 12:24 a.m., the first fire started at the terminal. Two hours later, Black Tom had become a great white light illuminating the night sky. Stockpiled shells exploded, and stored bullets flew about wildly. There was a tremendous, awful, sustained boom . . .Far across the river in Manhattan the windows at the library at Forty-Second Street were blown out, water mains broke, downtown streets flooded, and people, certain the world was coming to an end, rushed from their apartments and hotel rooms and into the street. By the end of the week, newspapers estimated the damage to New York and New Jersey warehouses, railroads, and businesses at a staggering $20 million. And the bodies of five victims were recovered." ((2), more)
"Around 127,000 Serb soldiers were concentrated at the end of June in camps prepared by the French on the Halkidiki peninsula. In July their numbers grew to 152,000. They received additional armaments and a certain period of extra training, after which they returned to the battlefield during June and July, mainly taking up positions in the area from Mount Kozuf to Lerin (Florina) in the central section of the Allied front north of Salonika. French and British troops formed the bulk of the Allied forces on the Salonika front, but there were also strong Russian and Italian units for a short time, compared to one Montenegrin battalion under French command." ((3), more)
"Tuesday, August 1, 1916.Briand has telegraphed me as follows:As regards a Rumanian declaration of war, I share the view of Sir Edward Grey and General Joffre that in the last resort we should not insist on an immediate declaration of war on Bulgaria ; it is probable that the Germans will force the Bulgarians into attacking the Rumanians at once, and the Russian divisions can then commence hostilities.It is equally probable that as the Rumanians have not prepared for operations south of the Danube, but have concentrated the bulk of their forces in the Carpathians, they will get a rude shock from the Bulgarians." ((4), more)
"The divisions that had been transferred to the Trentino were brought back to the Isonzo, along with most of the First Army's artillery, without detection. By early August, over 200,000 men were ready to move against San Michele and Gorizia. The heavy guns were placed in front of Gorizia, shells had never been available in such quantities, and the number of mortars quadrupled over the past year." ((5), more)
(1) Sebastian Jünger writing of a patrol that started about midnight the night of July 28–29, 1916. Jünger orders one of him men to throw a grenade among the British. In the following moments Jünger tries to seize prisoners, comes face to face with a British soldier pressed against the wire, loses the magazine of his pistol, and flees with his men as a machine gun begins firing. Seeking safety, his lands on barbed wire stretched across a water-filled mine crater, and hangs there for half an hour till the frenzy of firing dies away. Although he is shaken by the encounter, he concludes that, 'These short expeditions, where a man takes his life in his hands, were a good means of testing our mettle and interrupting the monotony of trench life. There's nothing worse for a soldier than boredom.'
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 87 (and 88–89), copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(2) On July 30, 1916, saboteurs detonated a railroad car filled with dynamite, setting off further explosions at the Black Tom munitions plant in Jersey City, New Jersey, the largest munitions and gunpowder shipping facility in the United States. The saboteurs included Paul Hilken, son of the head of the Baltimore office of the North German Lloyd shipping fleet and local honorary German consul, and Captain Frederick Hinsch, commander of the North German Lloyd cargo ship Neckar. The United States, neutral until April, 1917, supplied the Entente Allies with arms, raw materials, and financing. The British blockade was effective in minimizing the country's ability to do the same for the Central Powers.
Dark Invasion; 1915; Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America by Howard Blum, page 412, copyright © 2014 by Howard Blum, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2014
(3) From their base in the port of Salonica, Allied forces had expanded their footprint in Greece to the frontier where they skirmished with Bulgarian and German troops. The French and British were joined by Russian troops that had sailed from Archangel on the White Sea, by Serbia's army, recovered from its defeat and forced retreat to the Adriatic coast, and by the Italian troops. The French had supplied and aided Montenegro in 1914 and –15, before its surrender on January 17, 1916.
Serbia's Great War 1914-1918 by Andrej Mitrovic, page 164, copyright © Andrej Mitrovic, 2007, publisher: Purdue University Press, publication date: 2007
(4) Entry for Tuesday, August 1, 1916, from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. Aristide Briand was Prime Minister of France when the Ambassador wrote. General Joseph Joffre was commander of the French Army from the beginning of the war until December, 1916; Sir Edward Grey was British Foreign Secretary from 1905 to the same month. Russia, France, and Great Britain had been trying to entice Romania into the war since its beginning, and during the summer of 1916 as Austria-Hungary was staggered by Russia's Brusilov Offensive, begun on June 4. By August 1, with the addition of German forces, and often German commanders, Austro-Hungarian units were becoming more successful at resisting the Russian advance. Bulgaria had been defeated in the Second Balkan War in 1912 when Romania allied with Greece and Serbia, and attacked Bulgaria across their shared border. Bulgaria would soon return the favor.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 309, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(5) After facing five Italian offensives in one year along the Isonzo River in northeastern Italy, Austro-Hungarian Commander in Chief Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf launched the Asiago Offensive on May 14, 1916 in Trentino, striking behind the Italian armies, hoping to cut them off with a successful drive to the Adriatic Sea. Surprised by the successful attack, General Luigi Cadorna shifted troops from the Isonzo to Trentino, while the government pleaded with the Russians for a relief offensive against Austria-Hungary. Russian General Alexsie Brusilov responded with one of the greatest and most successful offensives of the war, one that threatened to destroy the Austro-Hungarian Army. As Conrad stopped the Asiago campaign to fight the Russian threat, Cadorna redeployed his forces in preparation for the next battle of the Isonzo.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 170, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
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