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Battle on the Somme, by Oskar Martin Amorbach, showing the blue Hessen (Infantry Regiment Lieb, 'Grand Duchess') in combat against British troops.
The Polish children are coming for lunch. German soldiers with Polish children in Lomza, Polish Russia, June, 1915. The photo postcard from Adolf Herzell was sent July 7, 1915. Herzell wrote that 'the Polish children are coming for lunch.' Translation courtesy of Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
Section of a 1906 map of German East Africa from Belgian Congo and Lake Tangayika to the west to the capital of Dar-es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean coast. The German colony faced the British colonies of British East Africa and Rhodesia to the north and southwest, Belgian Congo to the west, and Portuguese Mozambique to the south. From Andree's Allgemeiner Handatlas, published in Leipzig, Germany by Velhagen & Klasing.
Map of the Danube River from the guidebook The Danube from Passau to the Black Sea, by The First Imperial Royal Priv. Danube Shipping Co., 1913 edition. It was translated from the German by May O'Callaghan and published in Vienna. Inside the back cover is a booklet General Remarks-Fares; Time-tables, 1914, that includes information about 'ships, cabins, combined tickets, luggage and attendance in general on the Company's steamers, etc.'
Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
"Prince Rupprecht's Statement of September 28thThis Somme offensive brings an attack of unusual violence every six days on average. I know this country well from the fighting of 1914. At that time we had moving warfare, while we are now in a position of siege.In his attacks, beginning in July, the enemy has gained some ground, but a decision of the situation is not to be thought of. One cannot prophesy how things will go here, but one thing is certain: Everything has now been so well provided for by us that one can quietly await coming events, be they what they may.The offensive will certainly not be at an end very soon. . . . I am of the opinion that the enemy is seeking a decision here and this years, and in this he has failed." ((1), more)
"Friday, September 29, 1916.The economic situation has become much worse in the last few weeks. The increased cost of living is causing hardship all round. The price of the most elementary necessaries is three times what it was at the beginning of the war; in the case of wood and eggs it is four times, and in that of butter and soap five times. The main causes of this situation are unfortunately as fundamental as obvious—the closing of foreign markets, congestion on the railways and confusion and dishonesty in the public services.What will it be in few weeks time when we have to cope with the rigours of winter and the tortures of the cold, which are even more cruel than those of hunger?" ((2), more)
"My dear General,I learn that after long and tough fighting, our brave African troops have captured Tabora, the citadel of the German East African defences.I would like to take advantage of this brilliant feat of arms to offer you, as well as the officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers under your command, my warmest congratulations on the constant successes won in this far-off campaign which has demanded so much effort to organise." ((3), more)
"Consequently, at 10:00 P.M. on 30 September [1916], the 10th [Romanian] Division, which initiated the assault, began marching toward the embarkation points. By 3:00 A.M. its first units began crossing in small boats. They wore summer uniforms and carried only limited ammunition and two days' food in their packs. By 11:30 A.M. the remainder of the 10th ID had been shuttled over, and by 3:00 P.M. most of a second division (the 21st Division) had arrived. The pontoon bridge, the construction of which began at 5:00 A.M., had reached only midstream by noon. This meant that except for the very lightest 53mm guns, all artillery had to await the completion of the bridge that evening. Meeting almost no enemy resistance, the Romanian infantry fanned out, enlarging the bridgehead four to six kilometers in all directions. The nearby Bulgarian villages of Babovo and Rahovo were occupied by 6:00 P.M." ((4), more)
"As I was firing I noticed her begin to go red inside like an enormous Chinese lantern and then a flame shot out of the front part of her and I realized she was on fire. She then shot up about 200 feet, paused, and came roaring straight down on me before I had time to get out of the way. I nose-dived for all I was worth, with the Zepp tearing after me, and expected every minute to be engulfed in the flames. I put my machine into a spin and just managed to corkscrew out of the way as she shot past me, roaring like a furnace. I righted my machine and watched her hit the ground with a shower of sparks. I then proceeded to fire off dozens of Very lights in the exuberance of my feelings." ((5), more)
(1) Beginning and end of a statement by Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, September 28, 1916 writing of the British offensive on the Somme. He notes that the attacks will be very violent with a 'colossal expenditure of ammuntion', but that the Germans are well-prepared, their artillery strengthened, and their flyers 'getting the upper hand.' At the beginning of the war Rupprecht commanded the German Sixth Army. In August, 1916 he took command of Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria, combining the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th German Armies.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. IV, 1916, pp. 252–353, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(2) September 29, 1916 entry from the diary of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. Imperial Russia's last great offensive had ground to an end, but casualties continued to climb. The hope that Romania's entry into the war would turn the tide was proving to be unfounded.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. III by Maurice Paléologue, page 44, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(3) Beginning of a September 30, 1916 letter from Albert I, King of the Belgians to General Charles Tombeur, senior Belgian officer in Belgian Congo, who had captured Tabora in German East Africa on September 19. Tabora lay on the rail line between Lake Tanganyika to the west and Dar-es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean to the east.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, pp. 124–125, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(4) Romania entered the war on August 27, 1916 by crossing the Transylvanian Alps and southern Carpathian Mountains into Transylvania, in Austria-Hungary. Within a month, a German and Austro-Hungarian army was driving the invaders back into Romania, while, across the small country to the east, a combined German, Bulgarian, and Turkish army under German General August von Mackensen had driven the Romanians back in Dobrudja, a region between the Danube River and the Black Sea. With the Flămânda Maneuver, the Romanians crossed the Danube River into Bulgaria to strike Mackensen's army from the rear as Romanian and Russian troops attacked in Dobrudja. Initially panicked, the Central Power forces quickly recovered. By the end of October 1st, German aircraft had bombed the bridge and bad weather and rising water threatened it. By the 2nd, Austro-Hungarian patrol boats released mines to float downriver into the bridge.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, page 84, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(5) Excerpt from the official report of British Second Lieutenant W. J. Tempest who shot down Zeppelin LZ.31 around midnight the night of October 1/2, 1916. The Zeppelin was piloted by Kapitänleutnant (lieutenant commander) Heinrich Mathy of the German Naval Airship Service, the most successful Zeppelin commander, who jumped to his death from LZ.31 on his fifteenth raid over England. With ten other Zeppelins, Mathy had set out to bomb London on a night that brought squalls, heavy clouds, rain, and snow. At least two other Zeppelin commanders saw the last moments of Mathy's airship through breaks in the clouds.
The Zeppelin Fighters by Arch Whitehouse, page 156, copyright © 1966 by Arch Whitehouse, publisher: New English Library, publication date: 1978
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