Walter Hinteler
 
  3  
Reply Sat 15 Nov, 2014 06:52 am
@Walter Hinteler,
http://i58.tinypic.com/20ro4fd.jpg
http://i60.tinypic.com/2pt8cc4.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/mqkg.jpg
Sunk Oct. 27, 1914 after hitting a mine laid by SS Berlin, sinking in Loch Swilly near Tory Island.
The crew were picked up by the HMT Olympic and HMS Liverpool. Olympic attempted to take Audacious in tow but this failed.
Audacious sank the next day. The wreck was not found until 1995.

SS Berlin: ex-North German Lloyd liner Berlin, later the White Star Line's Arabic.

HMS Audacious @ wikipedia
SS Berlin aka SS Arabic wikipedia
0 Replies
 
panzade
 
  1  
Reply Sat 15 Nov, 2014 10:43 am
Saw a first rate doc on the first WW.
Urge you to see it. The quality of the vintage film is awesome.
http://www.ahctv.com/tv-shows/apocalypse-wwi
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Sat 15 Nov, 2014 11:15 am
@panzade,
It's from of a Canadian/French series - we'd got it on tv here already *APOCALYPSE WORLD WAR I

*Edited: it was on History Channel
Walter Hinteler
 
  4  
Reply Sat 15 Nov, 2014 01:13 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
The (Dutch) website The Great War in Color not only shows a lot of (French) colour photos but gives some information about how they were made, too.

Because it's related to the actual date, from the source linked above ...

http://i58.tinypic.com/a49z53.jpg
In 1914 Indian Expeditionary Force A was sent to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting in France. In France it formed the Indian Cavalry Corps and Indian Corps composed of 3rd (Lahore) and 7th (Meerut) Divisions. (In France, these formations were simply known as 'Lahore' and 'Meerut' Divisions, to distinguish them from the 3rd and 7th British divisions.)
The corps finally got into action at the Battles of La Bassée, 1st Messines and Armentières in October-November 1914.
Walter Hinteler
 
  4  
Reply Sun 16 Nov, 2014 07:05 am
@Walter Hinteler,
Aside from the "usual" war reports, THE big news in the papers of November 15 (resp. the 16th, depending on country) was ...

http://i60.tinypic.com/20kc77a.jpg

Even the two Monday (November 16) editions of the Berliner Tageblatt had a long report/opinion about it:
http://i61.tinypic.com/nbzprd.jpg

Walter Hinteler
 
  4  
Reply Sun 16 Nov, 2014 07:05 am
@Walter Hinteler,
So, who was this fieldmarshall, and why had he been so important to be mentioned that way even in a German newspaper?

This is from the above mentioned German article:
http://i57.tinypic.com/a1lmyf.jpg

Foreseeing World War I, he was one of the earliest advocates of compulsory military service.

http://i57.tinypic.com/1g20lk.jpg

Quote:
Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, VD, PC (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914) was a British soldier who was one of the most successful commanders of the 19th century. He served in the Indian rebellion, the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second Anglo-Afghan War before leading British Forces to success in the Second Boer War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post was abolished in 1904.
[...]
In retirement he was a keen advocate of introducing conscription in Britain (directing the National Service League) to prepare for a great European war.Following his return from the Boer War, he was instrumental in promoting the mass training of civilians in rifle shooting skills through membership of shooting clubs, and a facsimile of his signature appears to this day on all official targets of the National Smallbore Rifle Association.
[...]
In an important speech in Manchester's Free Trade Hall on 22 October 1912 Roberts pointed out that Cobden and Bright's prediction that peace and universal disarmament would follow the adoption of free trade had not happened. He further warned of the threat posed by Germany:

In the year 1912, just as in 1866 and just as in 1870, war will take place the instant the German forces by land and sea are, by their superiority at every point, as certain of victory as anything in human calculation can be made certain...We may stand still. Germany always advances and the direction of her advance, the line along which she is moving, is now most manifest. It is towards...complete supremacy by land and sea.

He claimed that Germany was making enormous efforts to prepare for war and ended his speech by saying:

Gentlemen, only the other day I completed my eightieth year...and the words I am speaking to-day are, therefore, old words—the result of years of earnest thought and practical experience. But, Gentlemen, my fellow-citizens and fellow-Britishers, citizens of this great and sacred trust, this Empire, if these were my last words, I still should say to you—“arm yourselves” and if I put to myself the question, How can I, even at this late and solemn hour, best help England,—England that to me has been so much, England that for me has done so much—again I say, “Arm and prepare to acquit yourselves like men, for the day of your ordeal is at hand.
Link to source and full wikipedia report
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Sun 16 Nov, 2014 08:01 am
@Walter Hinteler,
Walter Hinteler wrote:
THE big news in the papers of November 15 (resp. the 16th, depending on country) was ...

It was in the papers first only on November 16 - even in France, where he died. (Cable news weren't published at once - you had to wait for the news in printed papers on the following day(s).
My mistake, mea culpa.
Walter Hinteler
 
  3  
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2014 08:38 am
@Walter Hinteler,
The first battle of Ypres lasted for a month, and was the beginning of grueling trench warfare between the Germans and the allies.
Since the actual battle ended, on the battlefields of Ypres stationary warfare is now the rule.

http://i59.tinypic.com/jrs6yw.jpg

The German military tried unsuccessfully to cut British troops off from their supply lines by staging a targeted attack on the Channel coast. What followed were horrific battles in Flanders until April 1915 ... ... ...

http://i62.tinypic.com/m7rldt.jpg



Walter Hinteler
 
  4  
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2014 09:00 am
@Walter Hinteler,
On 17 November, the Germans staged a series of local contests, and rained shells on Ypres. The 2nd Grenadiers’ war diary for that day noted ‘Attacks repeated with great strength. Battalion fired 24,000 rounds’ (of small ammunition). In their growing desperation to score at least one decisive strategic victory in the West, the Imperial High Command was implacable.



And these days in Brussels ...
A Belgian who found a "secret" police agent watching him, referred in perfectly audible tones to the "mad Emperor".
He was arrested promptly and taken before a German officer. "How dare you speak so of our Kaiser?" said the officer fiercely.
"I didn’t speak of the Kaiser" said the Belgian, meekly. "I was referring to the Czar".
"Impossible!" cried the German officer. "When a mad Sovereign is referred to it always means the Kaiser."
Walter Hinteler
 
  3  
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2014 11:18 am
@Walter Hinteler,
The above posted joke is from The Daily Express.

Actually,in Germany there still was a mood, was later has been called "Hurra-Patriotismus" (Hurrah patriotism), now additionally been backed by the "Augusterlebnis" (Spirit of 1914).

From wikipedia
Quote:
Until the 1990s, most historians took the memory of the Spirit of 1914 at face value and claimed that the enthusiasm in August 1914 was universal.

The reality was more complex. There was widespread apprehension when Germany declared war on 1 August 1914 and civilians watched their loved ones march off to battle in the following weeks. Middle-class nationalists were the most enthusiastic and published countless tracts and editorials hailing the new political unity. An estimated one million war poems were sent to German newspapers in August 1914 alone. Dissent was smothered by this overabundance of literature cheering the war, the promise not to violate the Burgfrieden, and fear of undermining support for loved ones on the front. It accordingly appeared that the Spirit of 1914 was universal. The memory of Spirit of August 1914 persisted, even when the actual support for the war waned with the horrifying casualties on the front and the terrible hunger on the home front caused by the British blockade of Germany.



Walter Hinteler
 
  3  
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2014 12:06 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
Following the Franco-Prussian War in 1870/71, conscription was introduced in all German states.

Effective military service began then upon a man’s 20th birthday. If the service was in the infantry it was for two years and for three in the cavalry and the artillery.

The soldier then passed into the Reserve for either four or five years according to the number of active years he had just completed.
Additionally, the German reservist was required to undergo a fortnights training every year.

For the next eleven years the soldier served in the "Landwehr" from where he passed (back) into the "Landsturm" for a further seven years. At the ripe old age of 45 he was no longer eligible for military service.
It was only intended to call up the Landwehr and Landsturm in time of actual war.

Each year there were more twenty year olds than places in the army.
In 1900 therefore the idea of an "Ersatz-Reserve" came into being. Ersatz means supplement and the Regiments contained those men who for one reason or other had not been called up. They were required to serve for twelve years with the possibility of three training sessions each year (which rarely happened).

An "Einjährig-Freiwilliger" (one-year volunteer) was a voluntary conscript with secondary school education ("Obersekunda"). The "one-year volunteer service" was first introduced 1814 in Prussia, and was taken over by the German Empire from 1871 until 1918, and was also implemented in the Austro-Hungarian Heer from 1868 until 1918.

In nearly all German local/regional museums, you can see items (steins and other memorabilities) of the day, when the reservists left the active duty - they didn't like or like the conscripted period like anyone else generations later.

Since patriotism, after the 70/71 war and the unification, was 'in', German families liked to show proudly their sons ... sometimes even 'upgraded' through hand-colouring - like this one of a great-uncle

http://i59.tinypic.com/2njf3l.jpg

But even, if you didn't like the military, as a one-year volunteer you could get promoted to cadet-officer and prove this with a sable, like (paternal) grandfather

http://i57.tinypic.com/fd9308.jpg
Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2014 01:20 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
Back to the actual situation on November 17, 1914, with a look in the Berliner Volkszeitung, morning issue, local news and classifieds.

Quite a lot of death notices ...

http://i62.tinypic.com/2zjb3ww.jpg

... certainly haven't enlarged the "hurrah-patriotism".

Local news ...

http://i62.tinypic.com/34fgncg.jpg

... has a larger report about the jobless situation: it isn't nearly as dramatic as predicted in the first days of the war, it says, but only quite a few female servants are depending on unemployment benefits.
Several reports deal with the salary given by the military for civil workers/employees. The military has promised, according to the paper, to rise their salary up to the tariff amount.

This small notice is interesting:
http://i60.tinypic.com/359bgi0.jpg
It repeats the official announcement by the regional military headquarters that on "Buß- und Bettag" (Wednesday, 'tomorrow' - it's a public holiday, the Protestant churches celebrate a Day of Repentance and Prayer), no newspaper are allowed to be printed and/or sold. This applies for the next Sunday, too: "Totensonntag" (Sunday of the Dead).
The reason: considering the actual severe situation of the war (sic!) and the feelings of many of the Christian population.

Just a snap-shot of the situation of Tuesday, November 17, 1914 in Berlin.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  3  
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2014 01:36 pm
Last but not least a notice from the same paper, under "Mietsgesuche" (apartments wanted ads)

http://i57.tinypic.com/w1426a.jpg

A two-room apartment (that's a bedroom, living room plus kitchen) is searched by a civil servant (especially in those days, civil persons were person in a position of authority and highly respected). He and his family fled (sic!) from East Prussia and want these rooms for the duration of the war ... for a fee (sic!) ...

Walter Hinteler
 
  3  
Reply Mon 17 Nov, 2014 01:57 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
And in today's (17.11.2014) news: Previously unseen WW1 moments revealed in photographs by soldier George Hackney

Quote:
http://i60.tinypic.com/27yo5y8.jpg
An incredible collection of photos revealing previously unseen moments from World War One has been released.

Although it was highly illegal to take unofficial photographs in the trenches, keen amateur photographer George Hackney smuggled a small, concealable camera with him when he was called to fight on the Western Front.

While many of the men featured in the poignant shots did not survive the bloody conflict in which over 37 million people died, Hackney, who was from Belfast, lived into his late 80s and shared his photos with the loved ones of his subjects.

In 1977, his collection was donated to the Ulster Museum before his death, but was left unseen by the public for over three decades until a curator handed them over to a filmmaker two years ago.

Experts believe that on top of the initial 300 images, there could be as many as 200 more to be found.

Tonight, a documentary entitled 'The Man Who Shot the Great' on BBC One Northern Ireland will showcase Hackney’s images to the wider public for the first time ever, and bring the photographer’s story to life.

The arrestingly candid photos show both familiar scenes, such as a Sergeant atop his horse holding a rifle, to intimate moments where a man writes a letter or a diary entry while his comrade is in a deep sleep in the bed next to him.

One unnerving image taken onboard a paddle steamer travelling from England to France shows a Batallion piled together asleep, resembling dead bodies.
Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2014 07:35 am
@Walter Hinteler,
There were a lot of ethnic Germans in Russian service in Poland - nearly all Russian high officers of government there, civil and military were ethnic Germans.

During the battle of Łódź (November 11 to December 6, 1914) the vive-governor of Warsaw, general Baron von Korff, and his adjutant, captain Fechner, were captivated near the town of Kutno by Ulanes from the 9th Metzer regiment. (November 16 already)

http://i62.tinypic.com/iwrjg4.jpg
Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2014 08:40 am
@Walter Hinteler,
The Frankfurter Zeitung has a longer article on November 18 (since Frankfurt wasn't part of Prussia, the paper was printed/sold this day) about animals in the war

http://i62.tinypic.com/ejwoz6.jpg

Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2014 08:41 am
@Walter Hinteler,
At first, horses are described, "Oldenburger" or "East Prussian", like in the drawing above ... but since the paper doesn't have pictures, I searched for some

http://i58.tinypic.com/fvxnro.jpg
Barracks of the Husaren-Regiment Königin-Wilhelmina der Niederlande (hannoversches) No 15 (Hussars Regiment "Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands" (Hanoverian) No.15)

The paper reports that in Belin horses from cossacks are shown for fun (and a fee) ... because they are so small. But captured cossacks horses were used by the Germans as well (on the second pic, a postcard)

http://i61.tinypic.com/2iaskcm.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/dfam34.jpg


Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2014 08:41 am
@Walter Hinteler,
German animals were captured as well -this not mentioned in the paper but only the successful 'work' of the pigeons

http://i62.tinypic.com/14ddq8g.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/slo8du.jpg


Walter Hinteler
 
  2  
Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2014 08:41 am
@Walter Hinteler,
Mentioned are, however, the "exotic" animals used by the 'enemy'. And by the allies.

http://i60.tinypic.com/2unvmvt.jpg
Italians unloading a mule from a ship at Salonika.

http://i59.tinypic.com/2d10l5k.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/2s6rnye.jpg
panzade
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Nov, 2014 09:47 am
What a goldmine this thread is turning out to be.
It reminds me of a good sports broadcast where the play by play man is assisted by the color commentary and on the field guys.
Kudos Joe , Walter and the rest of the posters.
0 Replies
 
 

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