The first mass tank attack

The above video covers the first mass tank attack during the battle of Cambrai in WWI. It focuses on one tank, named Deborah, that was involved in the attack and met its end on the field of battle. I suppose you could call it the first combined arms operation. However, like the first of anything it didn't work as well as hoped; there were coordination and technical issues that caused the attack to fall short of its goals.

 

WWI drawings of Sir Muirhead Bone

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Sir Muirhead Bone was a 20th century Scottish etcher and watercolorist. He primarily focused on architectural subjects. However, in WWI he was appointed as an official British war artist. These drawings and prints are from his WWI artwork.  

Sir Muirhead Bone

WWI Fokker DVII biplane

The above video shows the construction methods and workings of a Fokker DVII biplane. The planes entered service in 1918, late in the war, but proved to be an excellent warplane. After the war all existing DVIIs were transferred to the allies as part of the armistice. Below are a pictures of surviving planes. 

 

Remembering our veterans

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Below is an excerpt from the diary of Sgt. Reese Melvin Russell, Company E, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division. It is from the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project Collection, World War I: Diaries and Memoirs archive. He was gassed during his tour but made it home. His daughter Frances found the diary long after he died. He was haunted by the war and for the rest of his life he slept poorly and drank too much. On this Veterans Day give a thought to all our veterans, each with their own stories to tell.  

I stepped over one [of our wounded] and he said, 'Sgt, can't you please do something for me for I am killed.'... He had a grenade in his pocket and he got it out with his good hand, one hand was torn up pretty bad. He handed the grenade to one of the men and said, 'Give them [the enemy] this. I wish I could.'

  

Taping windows against bombardment

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During WWI Parisians were worried that their city might come under German bombardment or air attack. Shop owners and businesses, to minimize the danger of shattered glass, taped their windows. While the taping started our utilitarian, eventually the taping deigns became more elaborate and artistic.

These images are taken from the La boite verte post Les élégantes protections anti-bombardements des vitrines de Paris en 14-18. There are more examples at that link.  

Starting a WWI tank

A 1917 Renault FT. In its day it was probably the best tank built. The video give a good look at its details. I love the hand crank to start it.

Veterans Day

Moving forward to relieve the front line troops in the trenches

Today we remember our veterans. Walter Hare of the West Yorkshire Regiment recalls when he first went to the front line in December of 1916:

We moved to the right, I remember, got into a church yard – a cemetery – and then dropped down into a trench. And I couldn’t believe it; I was knee deep in mud for a start. I’d never been told about the Somme and the mud on the Somme, it was all new to me. Well we sloshed down this communication trench and we passed a support line and then we went further up and got to what was the front line. And then that was the first we knew about trench warfare – we were told we hadn’t to show our heads above the parapet because there were snipers and they would get us if we did, you see, so we had to be careful. It was a bit of a shock because I could hear shells exploding and rifles and machine guns going, and I thought, ‘Well, I shan’t be here above five minutes.’ It depressed you a bit; just I’d not been warned about it, you see, I’d no idea what it was like. (source) 

Inside the UB 110, a salvaged WWI German submarine

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In 1918 the UB 110 was sunk. It may have been the last submarine sunk in WWI. The English salvaged it, intending to commission it into their navy, but the war soon ended and UB 110 was scrapped. How they could have ever figured out all the controls and valves needed to sail her is beyond me,

These pictures, and those after the jump are photographs that were taken while she was in dry dock being refitted. They are from Rare Historical Photos post Inside the German submarine SM UB-110, 1918. There are more pictures as well as more information about the UB 110 which, including a possible atrocity at the time of her sinking, at the linked article.

Rosie the Riveter, WWI style

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WWII leading to a lot of women in the workforce, personified by Rosie the Riveter, is well known. Less well known is that in WWI a lot of women were also employed in industries. These pictures, and those after the jump, show some of those women on the job.

They are taken from The Public Domain Review's article Women at Work during World War I where there are more.

Official WWI Art of the American Expeditionary Forces

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Upon entering WW1 the U.S. Government selected 8 artists and commissioned them as Captains to record the war for the public. From Picturing World War I: America's First Official War Artists, 1918-1919:

By spring 1918 the artists were in France, busy at work. Both the American and French high commands gave the artists carte blanche to travel where they would in the war zone and to draw whatever they saw. They took full advantage of their freedom to create images of men, machines, and landscapes from the ports of debarkation to the front lines. Ultimately they produced more than 700 sketches, drawings, and paintings. Their work fell into four broad categories: warscapes, which depicted devastated landscapes and damaged buildings, usually with little or no human presence; soldier life and activities, both at work and at rest behind the lines; military technology and engineering, with particular attention to such novelties as tanks, planes, and motor vehicles, as well as the AEF’s logistical underpinnings; and combat.

These images of saome of their work are from the Smithsonian Institution archives collection:  Official Art from the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. There are more pictures after the jump, and of course many more at the link.

WWI newspaper photographs

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At the end of the 19th Century the rotogravure printing method was developed. This allowed fairly high quality photos to be reproduced, even on news print. Papers that could afford the process printed special sections which contained rotogravure photographs.

These are examples of such pictures taken publiahed WWI are from the Flikr stream War of the Nations, 1919. There are more examples after the jump, and even more at the Flikr stream.

WWI dazzle painting

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U-boats were an enormous problem for allied shipping in WWI. Camouflage patterns were tried, but because of endlessly changing sky and sea conditions none were successful. Instead, Norman Wilkinson, and English artist and naval officer, came up with the idea of breaking up a ship's outline with bold patterns.

German U-boat captains had to calculate a boat's course and speed to properly lead their torpedo shots to hit the target. Dazzle patterns made it difficult for a captain to accurately judge the heading of his target's bow. In addition, U-boaters refined their calculation of a ship's course and speed by aligning two mirrors inside of the periscope, and dazzle patterns made that difficult to do.

The effectiveness of dazzle painting is in dispute. Regardless, with the advent of radar and more sophisticated optics, the patterns fell into disuse. Besides, the Admirals never liked seeing their boats painted so garishly to begin with.

It is a shame all we have are black and white pictures of the boats because, as you can see in the sample below, they were often painted in very bright colors as well as bold patterns. There are more examples of ship's wearing dazzle patterns after the jump.

 

WWI Reenactment

Russian troops muster for an attack (click any picture to enlarge)

 EnglishRussia has a post The Brusilov Offensive that shows a number of pictures of the reenactment of a WWI battle. It isn't clear from the article who is doing the reenactment, but from the number and ages of the participants I would guess they are hobbyists, like our Civil War reenactors.

They represent troops from Russia, Germany, Austria, Scotland and England. Along with their personal arms and kits they have Maxim machine guns, at least one artillery piece and a replica of an armored vehicle. What ever its genesis, it looks like a fairly elaborate display. The poor Russians even get gassed at one point.

There are more pictures after the jump, and many, many more pictures -- including original WWI photos for comparison -- at the above link.

An armored vehicle to support the attack

A machine gun nest