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Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
Egypt and Sinai from Cram's 1896 Railway Map of the Turkish Empire.
East Front, 1917; a pencil portrait sketch of a pipe-smoking German soldier, on a postcard with a printed border in the colors of the German flag. The message on the reverse is dated February 4, 1917. In the upper left the reverse is numbered '4)'.
German soldiers in a snow-covered trench, five of them in steel helmets. The men in the foreground may have just come out of a dugout. Those in the back wear heavy coats, look frozen, and may have been on guard duty. The photo postcard was sent from a soldier named Hermann Herold of the 16th reserve Jäger (mounted rifles) battalion, February 19, 1917.
1898 map of St. Petersburg, the Russian capital, from a German atlas. Central St Petersburg, or Petrograd, is on the Neva River. Key landmarks include the Peter and Paul Fortress, which served as a prison, Nevski Prospect, a primary boulevard south of the Fortress, the Finland Train Station, east of the Fortress, where Lenin made his triumphal return, the Tauride (Taurisches) Palace, which housed the Duma and later the Petrograd Soviet.
"Until now, I always managed to still my hunger in the end. (The eternal theme of the German nation.) . . .A package arrived from Wiessee; it contained raw carrots and an enormous beet." ((1), more)
"As the locomotive's front wheels passed over the mine, nothing happened.But, a split second later, as the heavier driving wheels flexed the track, they crushed the hidden trigger below. The searing yellow explosion tossed the engine from the track, followed a millisecond later by its deafening boom, which rocked the desert. Through the darkness came the 'clanking, whirling, rushing' noise of the stricken train, the shouts and screams of those inside as it corkscrewed off the stony embankment, and the lethal patter of debris returning to earth.. . . It was 20 February 1917, 'the first time that the Turks have had a train wrecked,' he reported later, and the first ever act of sabotage committed by the British army behind enemy lines." ((2), more)
"Be quite [sic] and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do. You are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Zulus, Swazis, Pondos, Basothos, and all others, let us die like warriors. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries my brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais back in the kraals, our voices are left with our bodies." ((3), more)
"The results of this conference, which has been the subject of so much mystery—and likewise so much talk—are very poor. We have exchanged views about the blockade of Greece, the inadequacy of Japan's help, the prospective value of intervention by America, the critical position of Rumania and the necessity of closer and more practical allied co-operation; we have ascertained the colossal requirements of the Russian army in matériel and made joint arrangements to provide for them as soon as possible. That is all. . . .'Please tell the President of the Republic and the President of the Council that you have left me very anxious. A revolutionary crisis is at hand in Russia; it nearly broke out five weeks ago and is only postponed. Every day the Russian nation is getting more indifferent towards the war and the spirit of anarchy is spreading among all the classes and even in the army.'" ((4), more)
"Be quite [sic] and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do. You are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Zulus, Swazis, Pondos, Basothos, and all others, let us die like warriors. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries my brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais back in the kraals, our voices are left with our bodies." ((5), more)
(1) Part of the diary entry of Paul Klee for February 20, 1917, during Germany's 'Turnip Winter.'
The Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918, Edited, with an Introduction by Felix Klee by Paul Klee, page 367, copyright © 1964 by the Regents of the University of California, publisher: University of California Press, publication date: 1968
(2) British Officer Herbert Garland and his guide Abdel Kerim conducted the first successful raid on the Turkish railway in Hejaz on the Red Sea coast of Arabia. The railway was well-constructed, well-guarded, and had few bridges. The raids focused on destroying the locomotives, which were irreplaceable during the war.
Setting the Desert on Fire by James Barr, pp. 112–113, copyright © 2008, 2006 by James Barr, publisher: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., publication date: 2009
(3) The address of Reverend I. W. Dyobha to his comrades aboard the SS Mendi, February 21, 1917. The Mendi was off the Isle of Wight when it was struck by the SS Darro, sinking in about 25 minutes. Many of those aboard we part of the South African Native Labour Corps. 633 South Africans and 30 sailors of the Mendi crew died in the disaster. About 207 men of the SANLC were rescued. The men did not panic, and oral tradition says some of the men performed the Death Drill Reverend Dyobha called for. The assegai was a spear or javelin with an iron of fire-hardened point. A kraal is an enclosure for livestock.
The Delville Wood South African National Memorial and Museum commemorates South Africa's partici, Wall plaque
(4) Excerpts from the entry for Wednesday, February 21, 1917 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia in the Russian capital Petrograd. The conference had included French, Russian, and Romanian representatives. Greece was ostensibly neutral, but was occupied by over 500,000 French, British, Serbian, Russian, and Italian soldiers. Japan had seized territory such as Tsingtao and Samoa from Germany in the Pacific in 1914, and helped arm Russia, but did not provide combat troops. Romania, at the time of the conference, was reeling from its defeat by the Central Powers in the last months of 1916. The United States broke relations with Germany on February 3, but remained neutral. The Ambassador saw clearly Russia's approaching crisis.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. III by Maurice Paléologue, page 196, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(5) The address of Reverend I. W. Dyobha to his comrades aboard the SS Mendi, February 21, 1917. The Mendi was off the Isle of Wight when it was struck by the SS Darro, sinking in about 25 minutes. Many of those aboard we part of the South African Native Labour Corps. 633 South Africans and 30 sailors of the Mendi crew died in the disaster. About 207 men of the SANLC were rescued. The men did not panic, and oral tradition says some of the men performed the Death Drill Reverend Dyobha called for. The assegai was a spear or javelin with an iron of fire-hardened point. A kraal is an enclosure for livestock.
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