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French dead and wounded soldiers on stretchers, and being carried by stretcher bearers. A German prisoner is in the center, hands in his pocket. The Adrian helmets date the photograph from mid-1915 or later.
Allied observation balloon with prominent striping over Joncherey, France, between Belfort and the Swiss border. Trenches are clearly visible below.
I've killed many Germans, but never women or children. Original French watercolor by John on blank field postcard. In the background are indolent Russian soldiers and Vladimir Lenin, in the foreground stands what may be a Romanian soldier who is telling the Russians, 'You call me savage. I killed a lot of Boches [Germans], but never women or children!'
Allied soldiers fortifying shell craters after an advance. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot, 1918 Edition.
British soldiers advancing on the Flanders front. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot 1918 Edition
"Now, by mid-June, the mutinies had almost become common knowledge. True, the newspapers were muzzled by censorship, but in place of facts a flood of wild rumors sprung up. The Zone of the Armies was swept by provocative tales of entire divisions abandoning the trenches, of wholesale executions of mutineers on such a vast scale that machine guns had to be used, and of huge clashes between the cavalry and the mutinous infantry.Some of the rumors had, of course, a certain basis in fact. . . ." ((1), more)
"Thursday, 8th June [Old Style]Enemy aeroplanes had been over about 4 a.m. and awakened us; discontented murmurings came from most beds. We took turns in washing, with as little water as possible. Once or twice we had tried to persuade Rupertsov, our tent-boy, to scrounge another bucketful for us. He would screw his face up and shake his head. . . .Friday, 9th JuneEnemy aeroplanes came over again soon after dawn and a couple of shells were dropped near our bivouac; but no harm was done. But we lost two aerostats that bright June morning; and two valiant Russian aeronauts, who had not had enough time to escape, perished in the flames." ((2), more)
"Already in June the factories and the regiments were quietly returning more and more Bolsheviks as their delegates to the various socialist conferences. By the middle of the month Lenin felt strong enough to show his hand in the First All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Tseretelli, the leading Menshevik and the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, made a speech in which he rejected the idea that the Soviets should seize power from the government. 'There is,' he said, 'no political party in Russia which at the present time would say "Give us power."'Lenin interjected, 'There is.'" ((3), more)
"June 23rd, a quiet day, and fresh after rain. The Battle of Arras has fizzled out, but the Division has a programme of mild counter-irritants and blood-lettings. Another bombing of Tunnel Trench is on the bill. First the G.O.C. said that The Cams. would crack the shell and we would get the yolk, then that they were to make June 24th—one bite of it. They didn't. At midnight they bumped on to manned shell-holes in front of uncut wire. Fritz has become an artist in shell-hole defence. An enterprising platoon could walk out and pull up a lot of his wire, but——" ((4), more)
"An unpublished incident at Blackpool is being told. A Yankee said to a wounded Tommy on the pier that they had 'come over to finish the War.' T.A. threw him into the water, and was given a year for manslaughter. The Yankees are fussed over officially, but few among them endear themselves." ((5), more)
(1) General Henri Philippe Pétain took command of the French Army on May 15, 1917 after the failure of the Nivelle Offensive, and as mutinies spread, ultimately affecting nearly half the army. Pétain assured the soldiers he would not squander their lives in pointless attacks, and that France would build the materiel — tanks, heavy artillery, aircraft — that could bring victory. He also punished mutineers. In his Pyrrhic Victory, Robert Doughty, using French author Pédroncini as his primary source, reports 3,427 soldiers were convicted and 554 sentenced to death. Most of the death sentences were commuted, but not all. Doughty's references put the number of executions between 'about 40' and 62.
Dare Call it Treason by Richard M. Watt, pp. 210–211, copyright © 1963 by Richard M. Watt, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1963
(2) Excerpts from entries for Thursday and Friday, June 21 and 22 (June 8 and 9, 1917 Old Style) from the diary of Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross. The Russian Provisional Government formed after the Russian Revolution were preparing for an offensive, and Farmborough and her unit were south of Lemberg in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, now Lvov. An 'aerostat' is a lighter than air aircraft such as the observation balloons used by both sides in the war.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, pp. 274–275, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(3) The All-Russian Congress of Soviet and Front Line Organizations began on June 16, 1917 and ran for three weeks. Since the first day of the Russian Revolution, the government had been divided between two centers of power, the Duma and the Soviets, councils elected in factories, the army, and from cities and towns across the country. Vladimir Lenin was leader of the Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks were a competing socialist party.
The Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead, page 194, copyright © 1958 by Time, Inc., publisher: Carroll and Graf, publication date: 1989
(4) Extract from the entry for June 24, 1917 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. The Battle of Arras was launched on April 9, 1917, and was suspended May 5. The capture of Vimy Ridge was its greatest success; otherwise, like the Nivelle Offensive, of which it was the British component, the attack was a failure. The G.O.C. is the General Officer Commanding; The Cams, the Cameronians, the Scottish Rifles.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 359, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(5) Extract from the entry for June 25, 1917 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. The United States had declared war on Germany on April 6. The soldier thrown into the water by 'T.A.' or Tommy Atkins, slang for a British soldier, may have been part of the contingent that landed in France the next day.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 360, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
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