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World War I Documents |
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Air WarfareAt the beginning of the First World War, airplanes were seen solely as reconnaissance vessels, but by the end of the war, they would play a crucial role. The American Escadrille, also known as the Lafayette Escadrille, was composed of American aviators who volunteered for combat duty with the French Air Force before the United States entered the war. The following is an account by James R. McConnell, one of the Americans to join the Lafayette Escadrille. It describes the air battles around Verdun, as well as the experiences of an aviator in World War I.
BalloonsThe use of balloons in warfare had been occurring since the eighteenth century. During World War I, balloons provided an optimal vantage point from which to direct field artillery. The following manual distributed by the United States Army details the procedures and techniques used in locating and estimating distances to targets.
Eddie Rickenbacker, a member of the Lafayette Escadrille, was an American fighter pilot who participated in World War I. The Lafayette Escadrille was composed of American aviators who volunteered for combat duty with the French Air Force. A skilled mechanic and flyer, Rickenbacker downed his first German plane on March 29, 1918. He earned the Medal of Honor for attacking seven German planes and downing two of them. The following document is Rickenbacker’s memoirs in which he recounts his time as an aviator, including the downing of his first plane, the death of a fellow aviator, and the attack on a German Drachen, a German observation balloon.
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Land WarfareThe First Battle of Ypres, fought between October 13 and November 22, 1914, was a result of Germany's drive to seize the ports of Belgium and northern France. The First Battle of Ypres marked the last major battle in which maneuverability played a pivotal role and also ushered in the era of trench warfare. Before its end, the French and British combined would sustain casualties of over 116,000 men, while the Germans would see casualties in excess of 130,000. What follows is a detailed account by the German General Staff of the maneuvers employed by the German army after November 3 until the close of the battle on November 22.
World War I witnessed the emergence of new technology. Two new weapons, chemical artillery shells and flamethrowers, played a significant role in World War I. The Germans first utilized chemical warfare at the Second Battle of Ypres (See “Ypres” for an eye-witness account) on April 22, 1915. The Germans used primarily three different types of gasses: chlorine, mustard, and sneezing gas. During World War I, chemical warfare would be responsible for 500,000 casualties. Using compressed oxygen, and later nitrogen, to propel flames up to seventy yards, flamethrowers were used to shock soldiers, especially new recruits. First implemented by the Germans at Bois de Malancourt, flamethrowers were ineffectual weapons after their initial shock wore off. The following document by Major S. J. M. Auld, a general in British Army, discusses the three major gasses used by the Germans, as well as describing the flamethrower and its potential.
GallipoliThe Gallipoli Campaign (1915-1916) was an attempt by the Allies to force Turkey from the war by capturing the Dardanelles. Although Winston Churchill considered it an excellent plan, the Gallipoli Campaign would eventually result in the greatest evacuation of British troops until 194-. Part of the faulty planning consisted of not taking into account the terrain, which gave a distinct advantage to the defending Turks. One man who would discover this difficulty first hand was Major John Gillam. Marjor Gillam's diary shows the difficulty of fighting in such terrain, as the British attempt to capture Chocolate Hill (Scimitar Hill). Written by a member of the Australian and New Zealand Army COrps (ANZAC), the second account details the life of a soldier fighting in the Gallipoli Campaign.
The Second Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the Second Battle of Ypres witnessed the effective implementation of three new weapons: massive artillery fire, wire, and chlorine gas. In the Second Battle of Neuve Chappelle, the British used massive artillery fire to soften up the German position, but when the British attempted to capture the city, the places where the artillery fire had not been thorough enough to destroy the barbed wire, the British could not advance and were slaughtered by German machine gun fire. In the Second Battle of Ypres, chlorine gas was used by the Germans in an attempt to breat the French lines, but even with this new weapon the Germans could not break the lines. The following source details thes accounts and the horror of these new weapons.
The First Battle of the Marne (September 5, 1914-September 10, 1914) was one of the bloodiest encounters of World War I. Both the Germans and the French sought to deliver a quick, decisive defeat to the other. The German's Schlieffen Plan, and France's Plan XVII brought the opposing armies into contact. When the Battle of the Marne occured, the French had already suffered over 67,000 casualties. Although the Germans claimed victory, the Battle of the Marne put an end to both sides' hopes of a quick decisive victory. The first source which follows is an eyewitness account by a French soldier who took part in the engagement from September 1 through September 12. The second source, written by British General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, details the maneuvers and strategies of the British army from September 1 through September 12. The third source chronicles the German's manuveurs and strategies which occured on September 9, 1914.
With the entrance of the Ottoman Empire into World War I in October of 1914, Mesopotamia became an active theater. Although they experienced some initial success, the British army in Mesopotamia would face enormous adversity. The following document details the British army's initial success in taking Kut-elAmara as well as their defeats at Ciesiphon and the retaking of Kut-el-Amara by the Turks.
Employing over 850,000 American combat soldiers, the Meuse-Argonne Campaign, conducted in southeastern France, was the final and most important campaign fought by the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). The AEF outnumbered the German troops eight to one, but the Germans held strong defensive positions. From the beginning of the campaign on September 26, 1918 to the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the AEF would suffer 117,000 casualties, while the Germans would suffer 100,000. The Meuse-Argonne Campaign was instrumental in ending WWI. Through the efforts of the AEF, the Germans found themselves outflanked and decided that they could not win the war. The following primary source, written by Lieutenant-Colonel Ashby Williams is a detailed account of the Meuse-Argonne Campaign and the difficult fighting that took place there.
With the advent of trench warfare, the use of artillery proved problematic. Traditional artillery could not deliver the explosive at a steep enough angle to inflict damage. To solve this dilemma, the three major powers involved in World War I developed mortars, which had the added advantage that they could be fired from the safety of the trench. The following document describes the mortar's principle parts, its proper use, and its ammunition.
The Battle of the Somme was a massive engagement which occurred in northern France in 1916. Lasting from July 1 to November 19, the Battle of the Somme incurred 57,470 British casualties and a comparable number of German casualities on the first day of the battle alone. It was during the Battle of the Somme that tanks first made their appearance on the battle field. While the British did have some success in the battle, the overall outcome was negligible. The Barrle of the Somme did prove that if one was willing to accept the losses, it was possible to break strong defensive lines. The first document is an eye-witness account by Edward G.D. Liveing, a British infantry officer, of the dreadful first day of the battle. The second document is a report by General Von Bulow, a German general about the lessons learned from the Somme.
Tanks first came into being furing WWI. General E.D. Swinton, who is given the credit of developing the first tank, saw the new weapon as an effective means of defeating strong defensive points, which were becoming prominent during the First World War. The First Lord of the Admirality Winston Churchill secured the approval of the British government for the development of the tank. Tanks could negotiate barbed wire, ditches, and especially trenches. The first effective tank was the Mark I, which was first used in combat in September of 1916. Major Clough William-Ellis and A. Williams-Ellis in their book The Tank Corps give a detailed account of the tank corps in the Third Battle of Ypres as well as a brief history of the tank and its workings.
The Battle of Tannenberg, which occurred from August 22, 1914 to August 29, 1914, rendered the Russian Army ineffective for the remainder of the war, allowing the Germans to concentrate on the western front. The German Army under Paul Von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff surrounded and defeated the Russian Army commanded by Alexander Samsonov, who would later committ suicide. The Germans, who lost 20,000 men, captured 90,000 Russian soldiers. The following memoirs of General Ludendorff describe the battle.
Trench Warfare had become a fixture in World War I by the end of 1914. Faced with a static front line, both the Allied and the Central Powers dug in. At the beginning of the war, Trenches were no more than crude ditches dug solely for the purpose of avoiding frontline fire, but by the end of the war, they would be complex structures stretching across the Wester Front. The following manual written by a member of the British Expeditionary Force, describes the manner in which trenches were constructed, from the dimensions to the structure of latrines and dugouts.
Wire became a fixture of modern warfare during World War I. It was implemented to impdes enemy advances. The following isa manual printed by the Army War College that details the porper way in which to construct wire implements.
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Psychological WarfareWorld War I witnessed the advent of large-scale psychological warfare. Psychological warfare is divided into three types: white, gray, and black. White psychological warfare is blatantly subversive and from a clear origin. Gray psychological warfare has no stated origin. Black psychological warfare attempts to come under the auspices of a credible source. The following document describes the black psychological warfare implemented by an Allied newspaper in order to influence the areas of France under German control.
Psychology of WarWorld War I left many questioning why the war had occurred. John T. MacCurdy harkened back to the ideas of Wilfred Trotter, a social psychologist, for the answers. Trotter claimed that three different types of herd life dominated the interactions of peoples: those who united for aggression, those who united for protection, and those who united for productiviity. MacCurdy takes these ideas and applies them to the nations participating in World War I.
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Sea WarfareBy the beginning of 1916, Germany was cut off from the ocean by the British navy. The attempt by the German Navy to break this naval blockade resulted in the Battle of Jutland. On May 31, 1916, the Germans under Vice Admiral Franz Hipper lured the British Fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, into an encounter near the peninsula of Denmark that projects into the North Sea. By the end, the British had lost 6,096 men as well as fourteen ships. The Germans had lost 2,551 men and eleven ships. The British losses were greater, they were able to continue the blockade. The first document which follows is the official dispatches by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe and Vice-Admiral Sir John Beatty of what transpired during the battle. The second document is an account by two men, both young officers, who fought in the Battle of Jutland.
After their defeat at the Battle of Dogger Bank as well as Britain’s continual naval blockade of Germany, on February 4, 1915, the German government declared the waters surrounding Great Britain a war zone. On May 7, 1915, the S.S. Lusitania came under fire by a German submarine and was sunk, killing 1,201 passengers, over 100 of which were Americans. This event nearly brought the United States into direct military conflict with Germany. It was later proved that the Lusitania was carrying 4,200,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, a claim which the Germans had made in justifying their attack on the vessel. The first document which follows is the official British report of the incident. The second document is a compiling of the diplomatic correspondences between Germany, England, and the United States as well as the official documents dealing with the resignation of Wilson’s Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan.
The potential of submarines became clear during World War I. While all the participatory nations already possessed submarines by 1914, the Germans relied heavily on U-boats due to Britain's naval blockade of Germany. The German submarines were extremely effective weapons. In May of 1915, German U-boats sank fifty-two ships. One of these ships was the Lusitania. After 128 Americans lost their lives as a result of the Lusitania incident, the United States nearly allied themselves with the Allies against Germany. In 1916, the invention of hydrophones and depth charges put an end to a submerged submarine's invincible status. The following is the journal of U-boat commander von Forstner in which he details the inherent limitations (e.g. air supply, oxygen) of U-boats, as well as the procedures followed while engaging the enemy.
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| McGovern Library Dakota Wesleyan University 1201 McGovern Ave Mitchell, SD 57301 800-333-8506 Copyright © 1995-2007 |
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