A resin sculpture called All Together Now by artista Andrew
Edwards depicts del Christmas Day football match between German and British soldiers
fighting on the front line in World War One in 1914 after being unveiled in the
remains of St Luke's Church in Liverpool Photo:
REUTERS/Phil Noble (The
Telegraph-25 Dec 2014)
CURRENT LESSONS OF WORLD WAR I
EDUARDO C.GERDING
Ref: Adapted from the author´s American and British Presence in the United
Provinces of the Rio de la Plata-Volume 2 published by the Instituto de Publicaciones Navales.
What is this
war about? It´s mud, trenches, blood, rats, lice, bombs, pain, barbed wire,
rotting flesh, gas, death, rain, cats, tears, bullets and loss of faith in all
we once believed.
Otto Dix
I wanted to leave this chapter as the
second volume´s climax, a record of what the First World War meant to the world
and especially to Argentina, remembering David Friedman´s words: The direct use of force is such a poor
solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and
large nations.
The story begins with
the decline of Alexandrina Victoria,
the last descendant of the royal house
of Hanover and Queen of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland who
since May 1, 1876 was also Empress of India.
This queen ascended when she was 18
years old and her kingdom lasted 63 years and 7 months. She ruled 458 million people
and about 33,000,000 km2 (one quarter of the
world population and a fifth of the
land).
Imperialism reached its climax between 1890 and 1920 coincided
with the presidencies of Argentines Carlos Pellegrini, Luis Sáenz Peña, José Evaristo
Uriburu, Julio Argentino Roca, Manuel Quintana, José Figueroa Alcorta, Roque Sáenz Peña, Victorino
de la Plaza
and Hipólito Irigoyen.
In 1840, five years before the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado,
Queen Victoria married her German cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha native of Scholls-Rosenau.
Their marriage was exemplary and her devoted husband, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, was a great counselor interested in science and learning. When Albert died of typhoid fever in
1861 (today is thought to have been a gastric cancer) Victoria retained a permanent state
of mourning. In our country 48
hours ago Bartolomé Mitre had assumed the government.
Victoria called ¨Europe´s grandmother¨ had
9 children (4 males and 5
females) and 26 of her 42 grandchildren married into other royal houses.
Her eldest daughter Victoria
Adelaide Mary Louise
married in 1858 in the
same chapel than her mother to Prince Frederick William of Prussia (later Emperor Frederick III) and became Empress of Germany and Queen of Prussia.
The latter had
8 children one of whom was
Albert Frederick William of Prussia or Kaiser
Wilhelm II (nicknamed Willy)
The family of Queen Victoria
in 1846 as the
picture of the painter and lithographer
German Franz Xaver Winterhalter. From left to right: Prince
Alfred and Albert Edward, the Queen and Prince Albert, Princesses
Alice, Helena and
Victoria. Victoria Adelaide died
from breast cancer with secondaries in
her spine and was buried beside
her beloved husband (who died of cancer of the larynx) in the mausoleum of
Friedenskirche in Potsdam (Germany).
During the three Wars of German Unification Victoria
Adelaide and her husband supported Prussia and the North German Confederation thus creating friction between Victoria Adelaide and his
younger brother Albert Edward (the
future King Edward VII dubbed Bertie) Prince of Wales who had married
princess Alexandra of Denmark and
Danish interests thus defended in Schleswig-Holstein. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, married Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, married Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont
(Germany) and Princess Beatrice married Prince Henry of Battenberg (Germany) and had 3 sons and a daughter, Victoria
Eugenie Queen of Spain.
Today descendants of
Queen Victoria are: Queen
Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh,
Harald V of Norway, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Margrethe
II of Denmark, Juan Carlos
I and Queen Sofia
of Spain .
Note:
It is thought that the carrier
status of hemophilia A (Factor
VIII deficiency of
coagulation) of Queen Victoria and hemophilia B (Factor IX deficiency) is due to
a mutation of gametogenesis (her
father was 52 years old when she
was conceived) . The fact is that three
of the most powerful houses of
Europe were affected. Leopold, son
of Victoria, suffered from hemophilia
B and died at age
31 from a brain hemorrhage.
For the same reason Rupert grandson of Leopold
died at age 20. Alicia,
daughter of Queen Victoria, had a
son Frederick also affected. His daughters Irene and
Alix were carriers. Alix married Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia whose son
suffered from severe bleeding.. Beatrice married King Alfonso
of Spain and had two children:
Alfonso successor to the throne and
the infant Gonzalo died from abdominal bleeding as a result of an
automobile accident.
Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise, Queen
Victoria´s eldest daughter Empress of Germany and Queen of Prussia . (1840-1901)
Emperor Frederick III of
Germany and
King of Prussia
Queen Victoria´s grandson
Last Emperor of Germany and King
of Prussia
Abdicated
on November 9th, 1918
Spent the last 20 years of his
life in Castle Doom
The Kaiser Wilhelm II
Kaiser Wilhelm II was the first-born son
of Frederick III and of the Princess of the United Kingdom Victoria Adelaida
Maria Luisa and governed 1888 to 1918. On the death of his father, who only
reigned for 99 days, on June 15, 1888, William II acceded to the German throne.
Note:
On January 29 1859 the then 19 year old Princess Victoria went into
labor with her first baby. Her physician, Professor of Obstetrics Eduard Martin
was called at 10am, I found her to be 4cm
dilated with ruptured membranes and a fetus in the breech position. Using
chloroform for pain, Victoria progressed to full dilatation at 1pm and by 2pm
the buttocks were visible. This is when things went wrong. Essentially I took the left arm, which was
wedged up beside the head and pulled it forward across the body of the prince.
By his own account this "involved considerable effort". I have then
rotated the body to release the right arm, and then delivered the head. At
birth the Prince appeared lifeless but was (obviously) quickly resuscitated. The
Kaiser developed a weak and noticeably short left arm during childhood,
commonly attributed to the brachial palsy injury caused by the use of excessive
force during his difficult breech delivery, (Sunday,
November 11, 2012, Obstetrics and WWI-
http://medicalhistory.blogspot.com/2012/11/obstetrics-and-wwi.html
He married on February 27, 1881, being Prince of Prussia, with Princess
Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858-1921). It is not easy to prove
that William II would actively want to unleash the First World War.
King Edward VII (1841-1910) King George V
(1865-1936)
United Kingdom of Great Britain
Grandson of Queen Victoria and cousin
and Ireland , British dominions and of Kaiser Wilhelm
II and tzar Nicholas
Emperor of India. II
of Russia. From 1877 till 1891 served
First British monarch of the Saxe-Coburg- in the Royal Navy. He
married to Mary
Gotha house which was later renamed by de Teck whose father
was the Count of
his son as House of Windsor.He was the Hohenstein.
uncle of Kaiser Wilhelm II Emperor of
Germany and King of Prussia.
Edward VII modernized the
British fleet (British
Home Fleet) and the Army medical
services.
During his reign saw the Boer war
. a conflict
which caused a scandal in the
British public.
Linking the Belgian Royal House
Once Belgium's independence from the Netherlands was achieved on October 4,
1830 Leopold I became king
of Belgium. Leopold was born in Coburg (Germany)
and founded the Belgian line of the house Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Leopold was nothing less than Queen Victoria´s uncle. He married initially Princess Charlotte of Wales who
died after a childbirth. Later
he married Marie Louise
of Orleans (France) who died of tuberculosis. They had a daughter , Charlotte who became Empress Carlota of Mexico
and Leopold II.
Leopold II, Queen Victoria´s cousin
was the founder and owner of the Congo Free State and
married to Archduchess Marie-Henriette
of Austria.
Albert I of Belgium, Leopold III's father was
the son of Philip Count of
Flanders and Princess Maria Luisa Alejandra
Carolina Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
(now Baden-Württemberg)who married in Berlin. Albert I was
the supreme chief of the Belgian
army, took personal control of his
country's troops at the outbreak of World War I and became
the head of operations at the Battle of the Yser (Belgium),
which took place between 16 and on October 31, 1914.
Leopold III educated at
Eton (Great Britain) was the fourth king of the Belgians, son of Albert I of Belgium and Gabriela Isabel of
Bavaria . He married Astrid
of Sweden who died in a car accident in Switzerland. They had two sons: Baldwin
(King of the Belgians) and Albert II (successor to Baldwin).
Leopold later married Mary
Lilian Princess of Réthy who was
the British-born daughter of a conservative politician from Wallonia.
Leopold III fought
as the youngest volunteer (14
years) during the First World War
with the 12th Belgian Regiment
but he had to abdicate later.
Leopold I King of Belgium Leopold II king of Belgium
(1790-1865) (1835-1909)
Albert I King of Belgium of the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
House.
(1875-1934)
Leopold III King of Belgium (1901-1983) with his first
wife
Astrid
of Sweden who died during a car accident.
The death of Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria died
at 6:30 pm at Osborne
House in the Isle of Wight on January 22,
1901 at 81 years, 7 months and 29 days due to a hemorrhagic stroke
. Sir Wilfred Laurier
said ¨We have met under the shadow of a death which has
caused more universal mourning than has ever been recorded in the pages of
history.¨
This caused a great universal grief. Queen Victoria´s coffin
was carried by her son Edward VII and her grandchildren Kaiser Wilhelm II of
Germany and Prince Arthur of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke of Connaught
(son of Arthur Duke of Connaught
and Louise Margaret of Prussia).
The funeral took
place on Saturday February 2
at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Following the instructions received by her personal physician Sir James Reid, she
was buried beside her beloved husband
Albert in Frogmore Mausoleum in Windsor
Great Park. It is said that when
the Queen was buried it began to snow.
Note:
The so-called Pax Britannica is
a term that refers to British rule between 1850 and 1873. It was a
period of sustained economic
prosperity in the industrial revolution whose predominant social value was Puritanism
extended to all colonies, protectorates and dominions.
Consequences of
Queen Victoria´s
death
Up until the time of her death 440 million British subjects felt safe in the world. The disappearance of Victoria and the reign of George V led British policy to
introduce reforms in India, lose part of Ireland, to face a recalcitrant
House of Lords, to see the advance of socialism, the revolution in Russia
and the drama of the Great War.
Death of King Edward VII
King Edward VII of
Great Britain, who was Emperor of
India from January 22, 1901 until his death on May 6, 1910, was the uncle of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and was
related to Tsar Nicholas II of
Russia . During the funeral Europe´s uncle could
see the majestic image of Kaiser Wilhelm II
of Germany riding a gray horse and wearing the scarlet uniform of
a British Field Marshal.
The Kaiser said 'I am proud to call this
place my home and to belong to
the British royal family ¨, William II always
wanted to reach an agreement with
Britain and even told
his uncle ¨not even a mouse will move in Europe without our permission ¨.
When the Kaiser deposit
the wreath on his
uncle´s coffin he gave his hand in a manly but affectionate way to his cousin King George
V which generated a most favourable comment in the British media.
(Barbara W .
Tuchman, The Guns
of August)
The Causes of WW I
While even today we
discuss the causes of World
War I traditional statements are threefold: 1) Antagonism
between Germany and France revived by the French defeat of 1871 and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine,
2) Antagonism between Germany and Britain competing in the field of colonial policy and industry
naval rearmament, 3) Antagonism between Austria-Hungary
and Russia for dominance in the Balkans.
The conflict began as a confrontation located in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia on
July 28, 1914. It became an armed confrontation when the declaration of war spread to Russia on August 1, 1914. Then it became a World
War with the participation of 32 nations.
28 were the so-called allies including
Britain, France, Russia, Italy
and the United States. The Central Powers on the other hand were composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and
Bulgaria. The immediate
cause of the outbreak of hostilities was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Habsburg, heir to
the Austro-Hungarian throne in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 by a
Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip
belonging to the Pan-Slav Black Hand organization that aspired to a Serbia
dominated the Balkans.
The Belgian topic
The neutrality of Belgium had been established by the London Treaty or Convention of 1839 signed
by the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia,
the Kingdom of Belgium and the Kingdom
of the Netherlands. It is often
said that Belgium was the creation of Great Britain through Foreign Minister Lord Palmerston who saw
the coast of Belgium as the border of Great Britain.
In 1904 the Kaiser invited
King Leopold of Belgium to visit
him in Berlin(he needed Leopold to abandon his neutrality), spoke to him in "the
kindest way in the world" about their
proud ancestors, the dukes of
Burgundy, and offered to
re-create the Duchy of Burgundy
, rebuild Flanders
and the French Ardennes. Leopold's
mouth fell open at such proposal and outlined a
smile. Leopold reminded then the
Kaiser that things had changed
much from the fifteenth century. Either
way, he said, his ministers and
Parliament would never consider such
a suggestion. The Kaiser had one of
his fits of rage and
scolded Leopold for putting the Parliament
and its ministers over the designs of the hand of God.
In 1913 the King Albert I
of Belgium was invited to Berlin just as his
uncle had been nine years
earlier. In this circumstance the Germans tried to intimidate him
in the presence and attitude of General Alexander von
Kluck and Helmuth Johann Ludwig von
Moltke. The Kaiser insisted
that war was inevitable.
Germany was not so
concerned about Belgium´s attitude but by the Belgian armed
resistance which could cause a delay in their schedule to invade France. If
the latter occurred Germany was
to distract divisions that were vital to his
march on Paris.
Let us bear in mind that
the Belgian army had only six infantry
divisions plus a cavalry division and they would have to
face thirty-four German
divisions.
One of the most courageous
actions of World War I took place
on 2 August at 9
PM, when King Albert I presided
over the Council of State. He said about the German
claims: ¨ Our answer must be no, no
matter the consequences. Our duty
is to defend our territorial integrity and we must
not fail this ¨. He insisted however,
that consequences would be severe
and terrible and the enemy would be
relentless.
One hour after the
German invaded Belgium, King Albert
I wearing campaign uniform addressed the parliament. The procession comprised an open carriage
that moved along the Rue Royale carrying
Queen Isabella of Bavaria and his three sons as the
king rode just behind the carriage. This
moving scene after the king's speech would trigger a popular
fervor, which was described in his diary
by the then U.S. Minister
in Brussels.
Britain declared
war on the German Empire on
August 4, 1914 just when the latter invaded Belgium. German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg
said he could not believe that Britain and Germany went to war for a mere
piece of paper. It was actually
for something more than a chiffon de papier given that Britain did
not want the blooming German Imperial
Navy controlling Belgian ports. On August 2, the Kaiser
unsuccessfully ordered General von Moltke to cancel
the invasion of Belgium to avoid Britain`s involvement.
Voices that raised against the war
Shortly before the start of
the Great War British General Horace
Smith-Dorrien predicted a catastrophic conflict which should be avoided at all costs. The following also opposed to war: David
Lloyd George (Chancellor of
the Exchequer), Sir Charles Trevelyan (Parliamentary Secretary to the Board
of Education), John Burns (President of the Local Government Council) and John Morley (Secretary
of State for India). The Union of Democratic
Control was founded which included two
Liberal Party pacifist
Norman Angell, Ed Morell and Ramsay
MacDonald, a Labour Party leader.
All were convinced that the conflict
was due to the action of secret diplomacy led by
the British Foreign Secretary
Sir Edward Grey.
Many
prominent figures joined the Union of Democratic Control : J
A Hobson, Charles Buxton, Ottoline
Morrell, Philip Morrell,
Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, Arnold Rowntree,
Morgan Philips Price, George Cadbury, Helena Swanwick,
Fred Jowett, Tom Johnson,
Bertrand Russell Philip Snowden, Ethel Snowden, David Kirkwood, Willikam Anderson,
Mary Sheepshanks, Isabella Ford,
HH Brailsford, Israel Zangwill,
Margaret Llewelyn Davies, Konni Zilliacus, Margaret Sackville and Olive Schreiner.
Hellen Keller(1880-1968)
General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien GCB,
GCMG, DSO, ADC.
(1858-1930)
Many opponents of the First
World War such as Eugene Debs
were imprisoned
in the U.S. such as Bertrand Russell in
Britain. In the U.S. the Espionage Act of
1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918
made it a federal crime to recruit
opposition or expressions compatible with disloyalty. In Britain 16,000 people were conscientious objectors. The latter were put in prison in confinement on a diet of bread and water and denied work after the war. On
January 5, 1916 Helen Keller, author, political activist and speaker
originally from Alabama (USA)
and deaf and blind gave her anti-war
exhibition at Carnegie Hall in New York
City.
In 1916,
in Ireland and during Easter
week an insurrection
took place against the British government ending with the creation of the Republic
of Ireland. As a result of this revolt the British Army had 116 killed, 368 wounded
and 9 missing. Sixteen policemen were killed and 29 were wounded. The casualties of civilians and Irish rebels were 318 killed and
2217 wounded. During the Russian
Empire revolution (1917-1923) the
Bolshevik Red Army faced the White
Russian Army forces. It is
estimated that the Red Army had
125,000 casualties and the White Russian Army and
Poles had 175,000. 450.000
military personnel on both sides died of
disease. The Cheka carried out 250,000 executions of the
people´s enemies. 300000-500000 Cossacks died ( out of a 3 million population).
The German Revolution occurred in 1918 and
1919. The units of the German
Imperial Navy (especially
the sailors of SMS Thüringen
and SMS Helgoland)
refused to set sail for war. The revolt in the Ports of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel spread
across the country. On November 9, 1918 the Weimar Republic was proclaimed and shortly after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated.
First World War
Propaganda
(Propaganda Postcards of the
Great War-
http://www.ww1-propaganda-cards.com/
)
As a result of World War I a series of truly egregious actions were taken. The British cut the trans-Atlantic
cable in order to isolate Germany so
they would become the only source of information for
the U.S. which at that time was neutral. Both British
and German citizens thought God was on their side and the enemy had dealings
with the devil. German cookies were renamed
Empire Biscuits and
even dachshunds were booed.
The Royal House of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was renamed
the House of
Windsor. Louise, granddaughter
of Queen Victoria, Princess of Battenberg was
daughter of Louis of Battenberg and Victoria of Hesse-Darmstadt. She became Queen of Sweden since 1950.Her
father, the Marquess of Milford
Haven renounced to his German titles in 1917 and
changed the family name of Battenberg to Mountbatten
(literal translation).
During World War Luisa worked as a nurse
in France between 1915 and 1917 at the British Hospital
of Nevers. As a result of her work she was
awarded the Royal Red Cross.
The most serious fact was that a fifth of the
British officers who volunteered at the beginning
of the war were German descendants.
They did so in order not to be considered traitors.( Jingoism and
Propaganda World War One and Acrobatic truths. http://www.timegun.org/jingoism.html )
WW I Naval battles
Battle of Heligoland Bight
|
August 28th,1914
|
Battle of Coronel
|
November 1st,1914
|
Battle of Malvinas
|
December 8th,1914
|
Raid on
Scarborough and Hartlepool
|
December 16th,1914
|
Battle of Dogger bank
|
January 24th,1915
|
Battle of Jutland
|
May 31st,1916
|
Battle of the
Straits of Otranto
|
May 14th,1917
|
Raid on Zeebrugge
|
April 23rd,1918
|
Battles in African
waters
Battle of Sandfontein
|
September 26th,1914
|
Battle of Tanga
|
November 3rd,1914
|
The Battle of Jutland
was the largest naval battle of World War I and the
second largest in history after the Battle of Cape Ecnomus (between Roman and Carthaginian
navy) in 256
a. C. It was fought between
May 31 and June
1, 1916 in
the North Sea off the coast
of Denmark. The High Seas Fleet of Kaiser's Navy,
led by Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer faced the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy commanded
by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. Jellicoe's battle forces were composed of twenty-eight dreadnoughts and nine battle cruisers, while Scheer had sixteen dreadnoughts,
five battle cruisers and six obsolete pre-dreadnoughts. It was a German tactical
victory and a British strategic victory. The Germans not only lost fewer ships while causing
considerable damage to the Royal Navy, but their
ships better withstood the punishment,
their artillery was much more effective
and their commanders acted effectively in night actions.
After Jutland the bulk of the Kaiser´s fleet remained in port and
Germany changed its strategy for
submarine warfare. The Germans
had 2551 casualties and the British 6094.
As a result of World War I a series of truly egregious actions were taken. The British cut the trans-Atlantic
cable in order to isolate Germany so
they would become the only source of information for
the U.S. which at that time was neutral. Both British
and German citizens thought God was on their side and the enemy had dealings
with the devil. German cookies were renamed
Empire Biscuits and
even dachshunds were booed.
The Royal House of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was renamed
the House of
Windsor. Louise, granddaughter
of Queen Victoria, Princess of Battenberg was
daughter of Louis of Battenberg and Victoria of Hesse-Darmstadt. She became Queen of Sweden since 1950.Her
father, the Marquess of Milford
Haven renounced to his German titles in 1917 and
changed the family name of Battenberg to Mountbatten
(literal translation).
During World War Luisa worked as a nurse
in France between 1915 and 1917 at the British Hospital
of Nevers. As a result of her work she was
awarded the Royal Red Cross.
The most serious fact was that a fifth of the
British officers who volunteered at the beginning
of the war were German descendants.
They did so in order not to be considered traitors.( Jingoism and
Propaganda World War One and Acrobatic truths. http://www.timegun.org/jingoism.html )
WW I Naval battles
Battle of Heligoland Bight
|
August 28th,1914
|
Battle of Coronel
|
November 1st,1914
|
Battle of Malvinas
|
December 8th,1914
|
Raid on
Scarborough and Hartlepool
|
December 16th,1914
|
Battle of Dogger bank
|
January 24th,1915
|
Battle of Jutland
|
May 31st,1916
|
Battle of the
Straits of Otranto
|
May 14th,1917
|
Raid on Zeebrugge
|
April 23rd,1918
|
Battles in African
waters
Battle of Sandfontein
|
September 26th,1914
|
Battle of Tanga
|
November 3rd,1914
|
Admiral Reinhard Scheer
Admiral Sir John Jellicoe
WW I Naval battles
in South
America
The battle at the height of
the Bay of Colonel (Chilean territorial waters) or Battle of All
Saints' Day took place between the fleet of Admiral Maximilian von Spee´s
German armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau
and the light cruisers Leipzig, SMS Nürnberg and Dresden and the British fleet
composed of of the Glasgow, the cruiser Monmouth, the
packet Otranto which became an auxiliary cruiser and the
cruiser Good Hope, under Admiral Sir
Christopher Cradock. The Good Hope and Monmouth
were sunk dying Admiral Cradock in battle. The
Germans had three
wounded and the British 1654
dead (1859-1935)
The Imperial German war flag (1
Count Maximilian Graf
Von Spee
A dmiral Sir Christopher Cradock
The Battle of the
Malvinas Islands took place off the
Argentine coast between the
German squadron commanded by
Count Maximilian von Spee and the British fleet commanded
by Doveton Sturdee which
was anchored in Port Stanley in the Malvinas Islands. German ships
which participated were SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau (with
Lt. Heinrich von Spee Admiral's son) and the
light cruisers SMS Leipzig, SMS Nürnberg and SMS Dresden. It was a British
victory. If von Spee's squadron had bombarded Puerto Argentino, the ships would have
been unable to move in the harbour and
the Germans would have defeated the
British as the Japanese Admiral Togo did with the Russians at Port Arthur 10 years before.
However, von Spee
was not Togo and
that decision cost him his
full squadron, his
own life, their children and the
rest of his men. The British had 10 casualties and
the Germans 1,871.
The case of SMS Dresden in Chilean Patagonia
The SMS Dresden was a light cruiser Emden
class of the Kaiserliche built
in Blohm und Voss
shipyard (Hamburg) launched in 1906 of
118 m
in length and three chimneys with 10 cannons
of 105 mm,
8 x 52 mm
and 2 torpedo tubes of 450 mm. Her Parsons turbines
and four propellers allowed her to achieve 28 knots. She had 361 crew members,
and performed outstandingly in the evacuation of the Germans living in Veracruz Mexico) in 1914. From Tsingtao
(China) she joined the fleet of von Spee at Easter Island and participated in the Battle of Coronel. The SMS Dresden was the only survivor of the Battle of the Malvinas thanks to her powerful turbines. She could hide in the fjord
Quintupeu (Chile) and survived thanks to the assistance given by Germans
Gottenburg and Albert
Pagel who settled in Puerto Montt.
The SMS Dresden did not fall into British hands. The ship was scuttled by her crew in Cumberland Bay
in today´s Juan Fernandez island.
It is said that this
ship carried the treasure of
Tampico. In February 2006 her 155 kg
copper bell was
recovered by a group of archaeologists.
The ship remains in relatively good condition at 70 m deep and 516 m from the pier.
Battles of WW I
The First World War was fought on the Western Front, Eastern Front, the Front Gallipoli, on the Italian front, the Palestinian Front and the Front of Mesopotamia (now Iraq). The first battle of the Western Front was the Battle of Liege (August 5,
1914). There were countless others
on this front: Battle Frontier, Battle of Mulhouse, Battle of
Haelen, Lorraine Invasion,
Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Charleroi,
site of Namur, the Battle of Mons,
the capture of Dinant, the site of Maubege, the destruction of Louvain, the Battle of Le Cateau, Battle of Guise, the Battle of Marne, the Battle of the Aisne, the
Battle of Albert, etc. Antwerp site.
On the western front the first Battle of the Marne deserves a special mention. It occurred in the autumn of
1914 and marked the failure of the Schlieffen Plan
and beginning of trench warfare,
the Battle of Arras where British used the rolling
barrage, the instant trigger graze fuze and the anti-battery fire .In the Battle of Ypres on
April 22, 1915 the Germans first used poison gas in
chemical warfare; this gas
is also known as mustard
gas. The Battle of the Somme
is remembered primarily for his first day, July 1, 1916, in which the British
suffered 57,740 casualties,
of which 19,240 were
fatal. It was the bloodiest
battle in the history of the
British Army. The Battle of Verdun
(Meuse Mill) was
the longest and bloodiest after the Battle of the Somme. The French army confronted the German forces. The result was a quarter of a million dead and about half a million casualties on both sides. The success of the fixed fortification system led to the adoption of the
Maginot Line. At the Battle of Delville
Word (July 15, 1916) South African forces were involved.
The South African Infantry Brigade suffered
catastrophic losses of 80%.
Note:
It is called Christmas Truce a brief unofficial cease-fire that
took place between the German Empire and the British troops stationed on the Western Front of World War I during
Christmas 1914. The truce began on the eve of Christmas,
December 24, 1914 when German troops
began decorating their
trenches, then continued their celebration
by singing carols, namely Stille Nacht (Silent
Night). British troops in the trenches
across then responded
with carols in exchange
Both sides continued shouting Christmas greetings to each other. At
a funeral in No Man's Land, British and German soldiers met to read a passage from Psalm 23: The truce was brought
to the screen in the 2005 French film "Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas). (The film was nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film"
in its 78th edition.) . Christmas Truce was
also portrayed in the film by
Richard Attemborough Oh What a Lovely War. The truce
was also remembered in the video of Paul McCartney
Pipes of Peace (1983). On November 21,
2005, the last surviving allied
veteran of the truce, Alfred Anderson, died in Newtyle, Scotland at 109 years. During
Easter 1916 a
similar truce occurred
on the Eastern Front.
Big Bertha howitzer
The Germans had to use heavy
artillery at the Battle of Liege (Belgium) to raze the Belgian fortifications.
This included the Big Bertha howitzer 420 mm and 305 mm
mortars.
Gas mask used in
the WW I
The gases used ranged from tear
gas incapacitating agents such as
mustard gas and lethal agents
like phosgene. Chlorine
was the first killing agent
used.
The Germans used gas in the Second Battle of Ypres, April 24 against
the First Canadian Infantry
Division, on 2 May near Mouse
Trap Farm and on
May 5 against the British at Hill
60.
The first battle of
the Eastern Front was the Battle of Stalluponen: the first victory of the German army over the Russian army. The
Battle of Gumbinnen
was followed by the Battle of Tannenberg, Battle of Masurian Lakes, the Battle of Bolmov, the Battle
of Lake Naroch and
finally the Battle of Lutsk
on June 4, 1916.
The Battle of Gallipoli
or Battle of the Dardanelles took place at Gallipoli peninsula of
Turkey. It was a decisive victory
of the Ottoman Empire under the command
of General Otto Liman von Sanders´
Prussian forces against
French, British, Australian and New
Zealand forces. The Italian Front was
marked by the battles of the
Isonzo between the Austro-Hungarian
troops and the
Kingdom of Italy. The casualties were
enormous and represented half of
the Italian casualties during the
Great War. In turn, the Austro-Hungarians lost 200,000 men ex 1,200,000. At the Battle of Caporetto the Battalion commanded by Theodor Sproesser, in
which Erwin Rommel was Oberleutnant, played
an important role. The bloody
outcome of the Battle of Caporetto was vividly
described by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms.
The Palestinian Front was marked by the Battle of Romani, the Battle of Gaza, Battle of Beersheba, Battle
of Mughar Ridge and the fall of Jerusalem. On the night of August 3, 1916, the Ottoman army, under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress
von Kressenstein, attacked the defenses of the British Empire in Romani. In the Mesopotamian
Front the Battles of Qurna, Shaiba Battle,
Battle of Nasiriyeh, the capture of Kut-al-Amara, the Battle of Es Sinn and the Battle of Ctesiphon took place ending with the
Battle of Sharqat on October
29th, 1918.
The latest French tank Schneider
CA in Musée des Blinder in Samur
Note:
Erich Maria Remarque was
born in Osnabrück (Germany). This was the pseudonym of the German writer Erich
Paul Remark writer
who recounted the horrors of the Great War. He participated in
the First World War which inspired him to write his
greatest work of literature, All Quiet on the front
(1929), a story that describes with
relentless clarity and warm
compassion the suffering caused by the conflict. It was made into a film directed by Lewis Milestone,
and in 1930
won the Oscar for best picture and the best director.
Air power in WW
I
Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich Graf von
Zeppelin, better known as Ferdinand
von Zeppelin and
other German military believed
they had found the ideal weapon
to counter British naval superiority and to
attack on English soil. During
World War I (1914-18)
a hundred dirigibles were used by the German army and navy both for recognition tasks (with an important role in the Battle of Jutland) to aerial
bombardment. The Germans bombed various
parts of England in 1915-17.
The raids began in late 1914, had its zenith
in 1915, and were more sporadic after 1917.
The Red Baron was
a German pilot who managed to
shoot down eighty enemy planes during WW
I before being
shot dead on the morning of April 21, 1918 near the River Somme in northern France. Hero of the Germans and highly respected by his enemies during World War I, he allowed his badly wounded victims to escape. During the month of April 1917 his unit was
responsible for the downing of 151
British aircraft against 66 of their own. He was
awarded the medal Pour
le Mérite. His aircraft, the
Albatros D. II
biplane and later triplane Fokker Dr.I allowed him ample capacity
manoeuvres and tricks. However, most of his
victories in aerial combat were achieved
in an airplane Albatros type.
Graff Zeppelín over London
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von
Richthofen
(1892-1918 ) The
Red Baron.
Fokker Dr.I
In 2010 the German film premiere The Red
Baron was presented directed by Nikolai
Müllerschön.
The famous Dr.I pilots
were Kurt Wolff (33
wins) W. Voss
(48), Erich Löwenhardt
(53), Ernst Udet (62)
and naturally Manfred von Richthofen
(80). Manfred's brother, Lothar,
was also a famous fighter pilot, who survived the war only to die in a plane crash in 1922. Max Immelmann
was the first pilot awarded Pour le Merit, the highest German
military honor, which was given
by William II of
Germany in January 1916.
The medal was first called the Blue Max in his honor. Oswald Boelcke was awarded
the medal in the same ceremony.
WW I pilots in Argentina
Ernst Udet was a
German ace of the First World War. In 1916 he scored
his first kill. A few months later he had a bitter showdown with Georges Guynemer
(French flying ace). By the end of the war he became lieutenant and
shot down 62 aircrafts, second only to
the Red Baron. Between 1919
and 1920, Udet made air exhibitions. He came to Argentina where
he won a plane race from Rosario to Buenos Aires.
He travelled to the United States,
where he made a bet with his lover, the Canadian actress Mary Pickford, that he would pick up her handkerchief in flight with the wing of his plane. And
he succeeded. He committed suicide at age 45 on November
17, 1941 in
Berlin after a heated argument with Hermann Göring after
the failure of Operation Sea Lion.
Ernst Udet
Gunther Plüschow, was born in 1886 in Munich . He was a navigator and top pilot of WW I , writer,
photographer, journalist and filmmaker and
joined the Naval Lyceum in Schlosberg
Ploen in 1897.
In 1905, he joined the Imperial
German Navy School. In 1912, being 28 years old, he
ended his training at
the Naval Academy. By then he had
already travelled the world aboard the Storch and even
reached China. He
was assigned as a military
aviator and air observer to Tsingtao, a
German colony in China along the
Yellow Sea. He was sent there
with a Taube plane. When the Japanese
took Tsingtao, Plüschow
escaped with secret documents. His flight took him 9
months in total. The Ullstein
publishing house (in addition to his
family) persuaded him to write
a book recounting his adventures, which sold 600,000 copies. In 1919, disappointed by the social chaos of
Germany, resigned from the Navy.
He was an aviation
pioneer in the Magellan area. Plüschow flew the first seaplane in Tierra del Fuego
and Cape Horn and settled in Punta Arenas
and Puerto Natales . On December 3, 1928 he
succeeded in achieving one of his most important ambitions and amazed the people off Ushuaia by landing the first
aircraft in the virgin bay.
He died in a seaplane accident on January 28, 1931, in Lake Rico, 70 km from El Calafate,
Santa Cruz.
The Belgian aviation
The Belgian Air
Force was established in 1909 as
a branch of the army and was
called Ouvrier et Compagnie
des Aérostiers. In 1914 it was called Aviation Militaire Belge named.
It consisted of 4 squadrons of Henri Farman aircrafts.
Most aviators came from the Engineers
and Artillery corps. When the war started a fifth squadron was created with Bleriots planes and civilian pilots. On January 3, 1915 two
British machine guns were incorporated to the Belgian aircrafts.
On February 13 Belgian
pilots held 28 offensive
patrols.
Day 26 saw the
first aerial combat between 3 Farmans planes and 10
German Albatros. On
February 22, 1916 the 1ère Escadrille de Chasse
was formed with new Nieuport planes.
The Belgian Air
Force participated in the Third
Battle of Ypres. In a short time after its creation, the Belgian Air Force had
700 aerial combat with 71 confirmed victories and 50 probable. The Belgian
top pilots were Willy Coppens
aces (37 wins),
Andre de Meulemeester (11 wins), Edmond Thieffry
(10 wins), Fernand Jacques (7 wins),
DuBois Adoph d'Aische
(6 wins) and Jan
Olieslagers (6 wins).
The British Bar in
Buenos Aires
The Bar Británico (The
British Bar) is located at the corner of Defence and Brazil streets in the San Telmo neighborhood where
the pulpería La Cosechera used to be.
British war veterans used to meet in the
old house of Avenida Garay
what is now known as the Hotel Savali. Maybe that is why the Spanish
owner who bought it called
the hotel El
Británico(The British). On June 23, 2006
it was vacated by a decision of Civil Court 107. (La Nación,
June 23, 2006). In 2011 it re-opened.
The Bar
Británico
Argentine naval training
during WW I
In 1916 the United States Navy offered Argentina ten vacancies
for officer training in the
fields of artillery, submarines, communications and aviation. Navy lieutenant
Antonio Marcos Zar
was proposed in the selected group of ten officers, not
for artillery, but for aviators.
Marcos Zar, founder
of Argentine naval aviation, was born on 31 May, 1891 near Venado
Tuerto (Santa Fe)
and entered the Naval Academy on March 15, 1907 as
part of the promotion 36.
The Pampa
Transport set sail
The ten officers left
for the transport Pampa on February 16, 1917 and
arrived in Boston for their assignements. Europe was in
the midst of the First World War. Frigate Lieutenant Richard Fitz
Simon, and Navy
ensigns Ceferino M.
Pouchan and Marcos Antonio Zar arrived on
March 30, 1917 to the newly Pensacola Naval Air Station and began their training
in training aircraft from April 1917. On
September 8, 1917 Zar conducted a patrol over
the Gulf of Mexico.
Graduation as U.S. Naval Aviators
On September 19th of that year
the three Argentine officers graduated
as Pilots and Naval Pilots (U.S. Naval Aviator), Fitz
Simon # 95-a, Pouchan # 95 and Zar # 95-c.
Zar received brevets 95 and 96 of both
categories. The first was
bestowed by the American Air Club, and the second by the United States Navy.
United States entered the First World War on April 6, 1917. According to the book Contact ! by Arthur Reginald
Wright on November 9th, 1917 the United States officially received approval from the Argentine government for the three naval aviators to serve as ground instructors at the Pensacola Naval Air Station
The Naval Air Station in MoutehiLacannau
(France)
The three airmen were moved by ship to France in early 1918. As soon as
they arrived, they presented themselves in Paris on April 15, 1918 to the United
States chief of naval air forces headquarters in Europe. Henceforth they went
to the Naval Air Station in MoutehiLacannau, Gironde, in the southwest France
on the Atlantic and near the Gulf of Gascony. They approved the theoretical and
practical courses of the said school.
On May 14, 1918
Frigate Liutenants Pouchan and Zar were assigned to the Naval Air Station in Le Croissic.
Both officers presented themselves to this last assignement on July l8th.
Frigate Lieutenant Richard Fitz Simon was appointed during and after the Great
War to the Naval Air Station at Killingholme (England).
From they were sent to anti-submarine patrol operations and convoy escort.
The Naval Air Station in Bolsena (Italy)
Zar requested permission to join an American school of acrobatics and hunting
in Italy, and thus separated from Pouchan who remained at Le Croissic. On
October 5, 1918 the already veteran pilot presented himself to the American
Hunting School ascribed to the Naval Aviation School of Lake Bolsena, located
approximately 80 miles
northwest of Rome. Zar graduated as a fighter and persecution pilot.
Activities after the war
After the war, Zar and Pouchan were discharged by the United States forces High
Command.. Then went to London and presented themselves to the Argentine Naval Commission .
They were ordered to
return to Italy for other courses in Orbetello. The seaplane courses were now conducted
in the Italian air bases of Cascina Costa and Malpensa. They went later to Fiumicino on the Tyrrhenian coast and
completed a course on dirigibles. The two officers returned to Argentina in
July and August 1919 after they had completed their training.
SPAD S.
XIII French aircraft in the colors and emblems used by
the American
pilot Eddie Rickenbaker.
French aircraft Nieuport 28
used by the U.S. Army
Air Service (USAAS)
Navy Lieutenants of
Marcos Zar and Ceferino Pouchan next to Frigate Lieutenant Richard Fitz Simon at Pensacola Naval Air Station (USA) in 1917. (Marcos A. Zar 1891-1955 Fundador de la Aviación Naval –Instituto
Argentino de Historia Aeronautica Jorge Newbery-Buenos Aires, 1980)
Casualties during WW I
The following table reminds us of the words of the fictional
character of the movie MASH,
Colonel Medicine Doctor Sherman Tecumseh
Potter who said 'I think there should be a
mandatory rule of war to see someone up close and get to know him before shooting ¨
Country KIA WIA MIA
Entente 5,152,115 12,831,004 4,121,090
Russia 17,000,000
4,950,000 2,500,000
France 1,357,800 4,266,000 537,000
British Empire 908,371 2,090,212 191,652
Italy 650,000 947,000 600,000
USA 126,000 234,300 4,500
Japan 300 907 3
Romania 335,706 120,000 80,000
Serbia 45,000 133,148 152,958
Belgium 13,716 44,686 34,659
Greece 5,000 21,000 1,000
Portugal 7,222 13,751 12,318
Montenegro 3,000 10,000 7,000
German Empire 1,773,700 4,216,058 1,152,800
Austria-Hung. 1,200,000
3,620,000 2,200,000
Turkey 325,000 400,000 250,000
Bulgaria 87,500 152,390 27,029
The First World War also caused an enormous amount of casulaties. At the end of the war
the British Army had 80,000 cases
of what was then called shell shock or battle fatigue, especially
those who fought in France,
Flanders, Isonzo and Gallipoli. Industries, ports, roads and buildings were
destroyed. European agriculture was
severely affected but not the
U.S. There was an
exodus from the countryside to the
city. Perhaps the most affected
country was Russia
for several reasons. The cost of the war equated to 32% of Britain’s budget, for France 30%, for Italy 26%,
22% for Germany and
USA 9%. Canada emerged as a world power.
Consequences for Germany of WW I
The human factor
1. Germany lost 1.7
million young men and another 4.3
million
were wounded in the conflict.
Social Consequences
1. The female
labor force was kept high, close to 37%, as
during the war.
2. The perception of soldier veterans was
that the German Army had been betrayed by Communists
and Jews.
3. The Prussian
aristocratic elite, who commanded the Kaiser´s armed forces he tried to regain
their privileges.
4. The first President
of the Weimar Republic had a hard
time getting the support of the Army.
Geographic consequences
1. The provinces of Alsace and Lorraine returned
to France.
2. Part of Schleswig
was ceded to Denmark.
3. The so-called Polish
Corridor ,which separated East
Prussia from the rest of Germany
was created.
4. Germany lost all its overseas colonies.
5. German territory lost a million square miles.
Economic Consequences
1. The cost
of the war for Germany had been
nearly 40 billion dollars.
2. At the end of the
war Germany possessed an obsolete industrial
machinery.
3. The workers had severe restrictions in their diet and
had to resort to eating
rats.
4. 35% of trade
was carried out on the black market.
5. Since 1915 the
Germans were not allowed to drive cars.
Financial implications
1.
The Allies established in 1921 monthly payments totalling £ 6600
million in repairs. Germany was re-building its economy and, in
turn, making war reparations.
2.
Germany lost the source of their raw materials from the colonies.
3.
Inflation from the beginning of the reparations payments was as
follows:
July 1914 1.0
January 1919 2.6
July 1919 3.4
January 1920 12.6
January 1921 14.4
July 1921 14.3
January 1922 36.7
July 1922 100.6
January 1923 2.785
July 1923 194.000
November 1923 726.000.000.000
Wholesale Price Index: Germany, 1914 -
1923
Political Consequences
1.
The Kaiser was forced to abdicate.
2.
There were movements of the left and the Spartans led by Rosa
Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. The latter founded in 1918 the
German Communist Party. In January 1919 there was a
Communist revolt against the government.
3. They formed the extreme right group (Freikorp ) composed by
hardened and disillusioned veterans who came from the front.
With the support of government forces they clashed with left.
4.
Germany was commercially isolated from the rest of the world.
Political reactions
1. The new German Government was forced to sign the treaty clause
accepting that
Germany caused the war. General Ludendorff
accused them of stabbing Germany in the back.
2. Protesters against
the Weimar Republic opposed to
the Treaty and
uprisings occurred such as the Putsch of Kapp and Munich.
3. The prosecution of the Kaiser was demanded.
This never
occurred because the Dutch
government gave him asylum
and
refused to surrender.
Consequences of WW I in Argentina
Victorino de la Plaza
Victorino de la Plaza was born in Cachi (Salta).He was a lawyer, military (he
fought in the War against Paraguay)
and Argentine politician who was president between August
9, 1914 and October 12, 1916.
He had to take various actions on the occasion of the Great War in which our country remained neutral. One measure was
the closing of the Caja
de Conversión to prevent evasion of gold.
He created the
Directorate of
Industries to promote the manufacture of products that were imported from Europe. De la
Plaza married twice, the
first time to Belvis Ecilda Castellanos. They had no sons. The
second time he married to Scottish Emily
Henry, who gave him his only son: Henry
Victoriano de la Plaza. Victorino de la Plaza had to resolve the British capture of our
ship President Mitre and later
the seizure by the French of the Argentine ship Curumalán in Cardiff.
1. Effect on imports:
Argentine imports
decreased between 40 and 50%
compared to
the level prior to 1914. This was due to the reallocation of
resources in Europe for military equipment. The tonnage of
foreign
vessels which entered and left the Argentine ports fell by
almost half between 1913 and 1918.
a) Coal
The importation of coal
was reduced. The volume imported
in
1918 represent only 20% of
total imported in 1913. The coal
rose 538% between
1913 and 1918. The quebracho and
algarrobo
from Northern
Santa Fe Railroad which was used for
railways provided less
energy than coal. The Argentina Navy
ships used
coal. Only the major vessels and
battleships
Rivadavia and Moreno could use oil.
Note:
When the British tried
to cut the coal supply of coal
to the German Electricity
Company (Compañía de
Electricidad Transaltlantica Alemana ) its President Emil Hayn threatened to stop supplying electricity to British tramways
and lighting in Buenos Aires .
b) Oil:
Oil
imports increased 256% between 1914 and 1918
2. Effect on exports:
a) Wheat
Wheat
exports to Britain were reduced
by the British grain
policy. France
and Italy accounted for remittances
of wheat
which Britain stopped importing in 1916.
b) Meat
The export
of frozen meat increased from 200,000 tons in 1914
to 500,000 tons
in 1918.The export in 1918 was three times
the annual
average of1910-1914.
The increase in meat sales
abroad caused a decrease in the number of heads for the
domestic market and increased price of meat from 50 cents per
kilo in 1914 to 71 cents in
1919. There was a rift
between
livestock
producers and British
refrigerators in Argentina
c) Dairy
Exports of
dairy products (butter and cheese) to Europe
increased .
Between 1915 and
1916 exports to Denmark, Sweden and
the
Netherlands (which
in turn re-exported to Germany) were
increased.
In 1915 U.S. exports to Argentina doubled over the previous year
and the British fell by a third. In
1916, U.S. manufacturing took
first place in Argentine imports until 1921.
German companies in Argentina
The Germans in Argentina formed a Committee for Freedom of Trade and an Equity and Justice League. German firms in
Argentina such as Engelbert Hardt & Co, Staudt & Co, Kroppy Co, H. Sternberg & Co, Lindwebel Schreyer & Co, and
Plaut
& Co contributed to Argentina resisting pressure from allies to cease its neutrality.
Relations with U.S.
The main beneficiary of the British
policy of blacklisting and embargo
was the U.S. whose share of Argentine
imports of 13.5%
in 1914 rose to 33.9% in 1918.This last caused alarm in Britain.
U.S. banks settled
in our country: In 1914 the First National City Bank of New York which
was associated with a union to promote financial transactions which
involved Standard Oil, Carnegie
Foundation, Anaconda Copper, Ingersoll
Rand and Kuhn ,
Loeb & Co.
In 1917 the subsidiary of The First National Bank of
Boston settled to finance Argentine timber trade with
Boston
In January 1916 the U.S. lent Argentina a
credit for $ 15 million followed
by another 25 million.
Argentine
volunteers during the First World War
In 1914, about 30% of the population of
Argentina, 7,885,237 people in total, was composed of immigrants born abroad,
mostly from Europe and even more from Italy and Spain. In the case of the city
of Buenos Aires, the number exceeded 60% of the population, and in Rosario it
reached 47%. A recent book by the French historian Grégoire Champenois,
reconstructs the history of Argentines who traveled to Europe between 1914 and
1918 while the country went through a difficult neutrality. (German Padinger-Between the trade and the
trenches, the impossible neutrality of Argentina in the First World
War.-Infobae).
Argentina suffered the sinking of numerous
freighters that brought their products to Europe, such as Toro and Curamalan vapors
by the Unterseeboote (submarines) of the German Imperial fleet.
It is estimated that some 4852 fighters from Argentina went to fight in the British army during the Great War, as well
as some 5800 did in the French army and about 32,430 in the Italian army. At
that time the Italian community multiplied by more than 11 to the French and by
more than 33 to the British. The mobilization of Germans and Austro-Hungarians
does not seem to have been important, since the majority would not have been
able to avoid the British naval blockade to reach Europe (Hernán Otero for Science Today on 08/01/2014.) Published in Number 139.
http: /
/cienciahoy.org.ar/2014/08/convocado-voluntarios-de-la-argentina-en-la-gran-guerra/)
Harold Duggan, a native of Rojas, Province
of Buenos Aires, from an Irish family, volunteered for the British Army at age
18. He was decorated twice with the Military Cross and one with the
Distinguished Service Order. The first decoration was received from the same
King Jorge V. Duggan was in charge of a company.
He participated in the Battle of the Somme
where on the first day the British had 57,740 casualties. (La Nación, May 11, 2018)
Harold Duggan, (the
second from left to right) in the front row along with other officers of the
British Army. Source La Nación-Credit:
Santiago Cichero / AFV.
The last British survivors
In 2009, 111 years old
Harry Patch, the last
British soldier who fought in the
trenches of WW I, died in a nursing home in Wells,
Somerset. Patch never
spoke of his war experiences until he was 100 years. Following the pattern established by Patch, Dr Martin Farr, University of Newcastle said it would
be appropriate to invite German
war veterans next time. This
was endorsed by a representative of the
Ministry of Defence. A week before
Patch died, British
war veteran Henry Allingham
at 113 who was the last witness of the Battle of Jutland also died.
Harry Patch
Patch always maintained that war is never worth it and that combatants on both sides should be honored. Patch said: ¨ The Germans suffered the same as us ¨.
On May 20, 2011, the
newspaper The West Australian reported the death in a nursing home in Perth (Western Australia) at 110 years of the
only remaining veteran who participated
in both World Wars. Claude Choules was born in
Britain and raised in Wyre
Piddle (Worcestershire). He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1915 when he
was 14 years old and served in
the same 41 years. He emigrated to Australia in 1920.
He married to Ethel Wildgoose a Scottish nurse her
lifelong companion who died in 2003 at age
98. He witnessed the surrender of
the German Imperial Navy in 1918. Choules
(nicknamed chuckles) .He was a man of great sense of humor. At
the end of his days he was
blind and nearly deaf.
(1911-2011)
Claude Choules
Claude Choules hated the war and, since leaving the Royal Navy in 1956, only
participated in the Anzac Day parades when
he was ordered to. Daphne Edinger,
his daughter said her father did not believe
in war and did not want to celebrate the anniversary of the end of the First World War.
The last surviving
Germans
Dr Erich Kästner (1900-2008)
Dr. Erich Kästner,
born in Leipzig-Schönefeld, was the last veteran of the First World War who fought on the side of
the German Empire . He was the second oldest man in Germany. He
fought as a soldier in the Army
in the Sonder-Bataillon Hauck.
Kästner received the Medal of Merit
of Lower Saxony. In
World War II served
as Mayor giving ground support in
the Luftwaffe. He became a judge and died in Cologne at 107 years.
Franz Künstler (
Franz Künstler, a German Banat (Swabian) native of Sósd (Hungary), who died at age 107 was the
last veteran of the First World
War who fought in the ranks
of the Austro-Hungarian artillery
in the regiment (HFKR 5. Ku Feldkanonen-Regiment / - 5. Honvéd ágyúsezred
Tabori). He fought on the Italian front on the Piave River. When the
Empire collapsed Künstler fought
against the Communists in Hungary.
During the Second World War he served 6 months
as postman in Ukraine. After the war he settled in Niederstetten,
Baden-Württemberg (Germany) where he
worked as a museum guide.
The last surviving French
veteran
French war veteran Louis de Cazenave who
fought in the Battle of the Somme and the Second Battle
of Aisne, died in 2008 at
the age of 110 at his home in Brioude. French Defence
Minister Herve Morin said De Cazenave
departed from this world with the “discretion
and simplicity that he learned
growing as a remedy against the uproar and horror of
combat ¨
1900-2008)
Louis de Cazenave (1897-2008)
In an interview
with Le
Monde newspaper in 2005
said: ¨ War is something absurd, useless, that nothing can justify.
Lazare Ponticelli was
born in Groppo Ducale, a civil parish in the town
of Bettola, province of Piacenza,
northern Italy. He was the last documented French veteran of the First World War and last poilu, or foot soldier of the
trenches. When Lazare was two years old, her mother went to France in order to have a better life. After the unexpected death of his father and his older brother, Peter, the rest of the
family moved to Paris, leaving Lazare with his neighbors. Ponticelli lied about his age to join the French Army in 1914. After the war, he and his brothers founded the metallurgical and pipes
company “Ponticelli Frères” (“Ponticelli
Brothers”), which survived throughout
the Second World War and still exists. At the time of his death, Ponticelli was not only the oldest man born in
Italy but in France.
Lazare Ponticelli
(1897-2008)
He maintained a critical
stance about the war in general
and humbly kept his military decorations in a shoebox. Despite
his disdain for
the state funeral that was offered
by the French Government, he finally
accepted, although he put
emphasis on the fact that the procession
was not to excel that of any
soldier killed in the battlefield.
Acknowledgements:
Theo Albert
Walsh Librarian and Volunteer Barney Emile Buehler Library,
United States Naval Aviation National Museum .
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