World War 1

File: Men of the 53rd Battalion waiting to don their equipment for the attack at Fromelles. Only three of the men shown here came out of the action alive, and those three were wounded..jpg (187KB, 465x654px)

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“At first it was shock, then it was terror, then it was unbelief. I stepped over dead bodies, I stepped over live and smashed bodies, I stepped over pieces of what had been bodies. Wounded were crying out in agony. Shell-shocked men crawled and clung to each other. some blubbering like babies. And every few seconds another shell would burst into my nightmare.”
— Private Bert Bishop, part of a carrying party from the 30th Australian Battalion on 19 July 1916 during the Battle of Fromelles.

File: A fatigue party from the Australian 7th Brigade carrying empty sandbags pass the former German 'Gibraltar', July 1916..jpg (108KB, 800x576px)

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“My tunic is rotten …
We are lousy, stinking, ragged, unshaven and sleepless. Even when we’re back a bit we can’t sleep for our own guns. I have one puttee, a dead man’s helmet, another dead man’s gas protector, a dead man’s bayonet. My tunic is rotten with other men’s blood, and partly splattered with a comrade’s brains. It is horrible, but why should you people at home not know? Several of my friends are raving mad. I met three officers out in No Man’s Land the other night, all rambling and mad. Poor Devils!”
— Lieutenant John Raws, Australian 23rd Battalion, during the Battle of Pozieres, 4 August 1916.

File: Charles Bean, Australian Official War Correspondent, knee deep in mud in Gird trench, near Gueudecourt in France.jpg (63KB, 568x800px)

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Trenches in winter, not even once.

File: A soldier wading through the mud in Gird Trench, near Gueudecourt, in December 1916..jpg (157KB, 456x653px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297179

File: Moses, the donkey mascot of the New Zealand Army Service Company..jpg (112KB, 902x665px) Image search: [Google]

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“I can report the Division as being in first class fighting trim. I have never seen the men look so well as they do today. The sick rate is low… Even venereal, for the time being, is a negligible quantity.
I am afraid we must put that down rather to the fact that no leave is being granted to England than to any sudden development of virtue on the part of the men.”
— An April 1917 letter from Major General Sir Andrew Russell (GOC NZ Division) to Sir James Allen New Zealand Minister for Defence.

File: British Lewis gun team manning a post on the bank of the Lys canal at St Venant during the Battle of Hazebrouck, April 1918..jpg (53KB, 800x604px) Image search: [Google]

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I fucking love Lewis guns.

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>>3297151
nice idea for a thread!
Any stories or pictures of the Christmas truce or similar beautiful events in the war?

File: Two members of the 13th Australian Field Ambulance wearing their box respirators, at Anzac Ridge.jpg (210KB, 640x493px) Image search: [Google]

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“The command of the German Fourth Army, opposite the British, held a series of conferences to find possible explanations for the enemy’s success. The conclusions they reached were remarkable.
The British advances were being facilitated by the thinly held German forward zone. To counter this, more troops and machine guns should be concentrated in that area. The Germans also rethought the placement of their counter-attack divisions. By the time they arrived on the battlefield (usually late afternoon) they were required to assemble and attack while under the heavy fire of the British standing barrage. It was decided to hold these formations on the day of battle. They could then be concentrated at night and sent forward early on the following day.
These recommendations certainly prove the British command had no monopoly on muddle-headedness. Packing troops int he forward zone certain to be deluged by high explosive and shrapnel was bound to ensure increased casualties. Holding back counter-attack divisions until the following day, by which time the new British line would be established and protected by artillery, would achieve a similar result.”
— Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson - Passchendaele: The untold story - on the German responses to the limited objective attacks by Plumer in September.

Do you know much about Japan during ww1 and while it's not directly ww1 but is linked with it the 21 Demands.

I literally cannot think of a time, place or event that I'd like to partake in less than WW1.
Pretty horrifying to think that it happened just beyond living memory

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Austro-Hungarian soldier aiming his rifle on a mountain (Gisnitz) in the Alps.

If anyone is interested, here's a /hr/ thread with many high res photos of the Great War:

>>>/hr/2920732

Based thread

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Also, I've got a question on German strategy:

Why didn't the Germans hold off France at Alsace-Lorrain while defeating the Russians?
It seems that would have been favourable because it's a shorter frontline, the British wouldn't get involved (no invasion of Belgium) and the almost the full might of the German Army could be put against Russia.

Did they just underestimate France and overestimate Russia?

Couldn't they figure that the UK would join the war if they'd march through Belgium?

Also, why didn't the Army commanders (from every country) try to fight a defensive war from the beginning? Couldn't they learn from maneuvers and exercises that with these new weapons the attacker was disadvantaged?

File: Wounded Canadian and wounded German lighting a cigarette on Passchendale battlefield.jpg (180KB, 1000x781px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297345
Well there's the obvious one in 1914, with the big truce (that picture is just POWs and casualties sharing a light later in the war, there weren't helmets in 1914).
But there's a lot of references about "live and let live" sectors on the front. Quiet areas that didn't see a lot of fighting and where artillery would fire at the same time every day and was usually advertised beforehand to allow the other side to take cover. You could usually appear outside of the trenches without too much chance of being shot immediately and where raids were rare.

There was also a bit of friendliness between the Ottomans and Brits/Aussies/Kiwis at Gallipoli. There's a lot of reports of messages being thrown from one trench to another, often written in French, complaining about their officers, the state of the trenches and the monotony of the food. Ottomans would throw things they had too much of and in return would get tins of bully beef thrown back.

>>3297151
What are the best books about causes of ww1 apart from The Sleepwalkers by Clark in your opinion and why?

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>>3297390
right, the Stahlhelm only got adopted in 1916, should have noticed that. Thanks for the reply!

>>3297384
Attacking the Russians directly is dangerous,even with the poor performance of the Imperial Army you can see multiple example of invaders getting btfo in Russia
Everyone still believe this is the Napoleonic war where the spirit of the offensive where grand sweeping maneuver manage to give great victory

File: An Australian Light Horseman collecting anemones near Belah in Palestine.jpg (277KB, 640x462px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297390
I recall one story from an Australian who's battalion was holding a quiet piece of line at Gallipoli in winter. Every day an elderly Ottoman soldier, big white moustache and all, would come out into no mans land, completely unarmed and collect whatever wood he could find, small shrubs, bits of broken tree and the like. This went on for weeks and he was given the nickname grandad by the aussies. When they were relieved by another battalion an officer stayed behind to help acquaint the newcomers with the section of the line. He was busy talking to the CO the first morning they were in the line and before he had a chance to tell him about 'grandad' one of the sentries on duty shot him as wandered into no mans land.

Yo, any good books that focus primarily on the Eastern Front?

>>3297410
Fuck this is sad. Can you give me a nicely written source of this?

File: Aerial photograph of a French Army attack on the battlefield. Members of the German Army are retreating on the left with French soldiers advancing on the right. Somme 1918.jpg (209KB, 640x464px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297355
Not a great deal sorry. I know they used it as an opportunity to gobble up some islands in the pacific and to gain another foothold in China at Tsing Tao. They helped guard allied convoys in the Pacific. Beyond that, not a heap sorry.

>>3297384
No one expected the trenches and stalemate that would eventuate. And they certainly didn't expect Britain to join a MASSIVE continental war over a piddly little place like Belgium.
And they wanted decisive battles against the French first because they were imagined to be the bigger threat and that the Russians would take much longer to mobilise enough to be a threat. Added to which Russia was in transition, was barely modernised and Russia needing a much bigger invasion force than they could afford. But defending on home soil is much easier.

Because you can't win a war by fighting on the defensive. France didn't have a choice, they were invaded and had to remove kraut from their soil. And you can't figure out what is going to work against trench systems unless you attack them.

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>>3297406
>>3297432
Alright, thanks for the replies!

I know the Entente always had the advantage but at what point did the war clearly turn against the Central Powers? (like Stalingrad - Midway - Kursk for WW2)?

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>>3297423
I read it a long time ago. It might have been in Broken Nation by Joan Beaumont or Gallipoli by Les Carlyon. Sorry I can't remember exactly.

>>3297415
Ring of Steel by Alexander Watson is pretty great, but otherwise I've only read chapters about it in other books sorry. There was an anon in the last thread who had a good list of books.

>>3297399
I've never really read too much into the beginning of the war. Guns of August is still a good place to start if you like the Fischer thesis. But the one that stuck with me most is probably AJP Taylor's War By Timetable. The lack of political will and railway mobilisation timetables forcing everyones hand basically.

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>>3297151
Do you have any pics of guys that look like this?

File: A French armoured car supporting two companies of the 18th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. Meteren, 16 April 1918..jpg (88KB, 800x647px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297442
Depends on your view. A lot of people think that once the Germans were stopped at the Marne their chance to win was gone. They had to make that first blow work otherwise they would eventually be ground down to nothing.
The other view is that until their last gamble in 1918 they still had a chance of not losing, even if they couldn't force a total victory. But once their stormtroop divisions were chewed up and the momentum of their advance was lost, welp. British and French manpower and materiel mattered, but so did the fact that they were outfought on the battlefield.

>>3297442
They didn't always have the advantage. The British army wasn't playing with the team at the beginning and it took some serious work to convince them to actually help (and it took internal work to convince Joffre too). If you pay close attention to the opening months of the war you can see Germany was really close to actually defeating France.

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>>3297452
Not exactly like that no. But I've got a little of some other armour. It wasn't exactly widespread and wasn't found to be very useful.

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>>3297462
Yeah I think the Entente had a "paper advantage" but until they got their command hierarchy worked out and their economies into full gear it was pretty even. I mean, there's a reason there was stalemate for the better part of 4 years.

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>>3297478
This one was really dumb. You could fold it up to provide a little shield to fire from.

>>3297445
I have Gallipoli waiting to be read so I hope it's there. Also I'm the same anon that asked about books on causes. I've some books on the topic and wanted to know your recommendations. I did like Guns of August and The Proud Tower was my first in ww1 lead up. War by timetable is one I want to read but it's really expensive. I'll have to get a digital edition I guess.

>>3297475
I'll never understand why Joffre acted the way he did. Of all the big characters he's the one I really can't stand.

File: A German soldier aims his rifle from a shallow fold in the ground near Fort Vaux with a dead French soldier on his left, 1916..jpg (120KB, 800x572px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297490
>I'll never understand why Joffre acted the way he did.
In what way? Not trying to bust chops, just curious.

File: The Battle of Ginchy, Somme, France. British supporting infantry walk forward up the slope behind the barrage, September 1916..jpg (67KB, 800x558px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297486
I should really set up a google drive with all my ebooks and shit. I don't have that one but I really enjoy pirating stupidly expensive academic texts.

>>3297508
Hey GreatWarAnon,

Can you give me the link to your blog?

Trench warfare seemed to be the one thing where after this war, both sides just universally said "let's never fucking do that again".

Open warfare may kill more, but at least you aren't hit with cabin fever

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PROVIDE A REALISTIC NUMBER OF AMOUNT OF COMBATANTS INVOLVED IN THE EASTERN FRONT

File: British infantry advancing in support during the Battle of Morval, 25 September 1916 5th div.jpg (706KB, 3500x2505px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297511
scrapironflotilla.tumblr.com
It's mostly a photo blog with occasional longer stuff written by me.

File: German mobile pillbox captured by the 13th Battalion, King's (Liverpool) Regiment at Tilloy-les-Mofflaines, 10 April 1917..jpg (88KB, 752x600px) Image search: [Google]

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Look at this adorable little pillbox.

File: Cutting barbed wire with trench mortar shells, Vimy Ridge, April 1917..jpg (232KB, 1280x997px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297550

File: German infantry regiment at stormtroop training school at Sedan practicing an attack on high ground. The unit are advancing in open formation by platoons and squads.jpg (78KB, 800x554px) Image search: [Google]

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https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9nsIJlmzwWFZlBqdVRYUFEya3M

Have some content. A lot of it is Australia related, but theres other stuff there as well.

File: Lieutenant Rupert Frederick Arding Downes MC addressing his platoon from B Company, 29th Battalion, near Warfusee, France, in August 1918..jpg (60KB, 940x627px) Image search: [Google]

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According to John Monash in The Australian Victories if France in 1918, the losses of the five Australian divisions that made up the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive was 21,243. During this time the corps had undertaken constant offensive operations, pushed the 2nd German Army back a distance of 37 miles and liberated over 100 towns and villages.

This success had a dreadful cost though. The Australian Corps was only in the line for 60 of the 100 days and their losses were consequently higher than in any other two month period of the War. Daily losses, or what the army refers to as wastage, averaged out to 70 men per division per day. Quite a high number given the low strength of the divisions at the time, but as Monash himself wrote. “Even during periods of sedentary trench warfare the losses averaged 40 per division per day.”

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Are these quotes sourced from Fromelles by Patrick Lindsay? I swear I've read these eyewitness accounts before.

>>3297345
That isn't from the Christmas truce, I've seen it captioned numerous times as a POW.

>>3297746
I know, another Anon already told me, but thanks.
Do you know which side was POW?

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>>3297745
The Fromelles one was from a biography of the 5th Div commander McCay.
And the Pozieres one from The Great War by Les Carlyon.
But they're both from published letters and diaries of the men. They get used in basically everything written about those battles because of how useful they are. So it wouldn't surprise me if Lindsay used them too.

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>>3297452

File: British and German wounded at a dressing station of the 58th Division near Chipilly, 10 August 1918..jpg (100KB, 800x637px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297749
I would say probably German POWs.

File: Old soldier from 7. Rheinisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.69 with his Gewehr 98. 5.12.1914.jpg (330KB, 640x1024px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3297756
how do you figure?

greatwaranon if i may ask you a question, its one thing i have never understood as an Australian. Why was there such enthusiasm for the war in Aus when Australia itself was half a world away from any possible danger?

>>3297745

>tainted love...

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>>3297151

What happened to wounded soldiers after the war? Did the various governments offer any financial assistance?

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What would be considered a good starting point for reading about the war? Would something like Guns of August work, or is it better to read a overall narrative of the conflict ( a la John Keegan)?

Pic sort of related, a photo of my Great great Grandfather who fought in WWI and enjoyed it

Excellent thread anon thanks. I like your blog too

>>3297915

"Guns of August" is painfully anglo-centric. In my opinion, the best introduction to the war is "A World Undone" by G.J. Meyer. It covers the entire conflict, from beginning to end, and includes lots of background information. The author does a great job stitching all the sometimes convoluted situations into a coherent narrative. He has another book. "The World Remade" which focuses specifically on America in WW1, which I have not read yet but am definitely planning to.

>>3297876
Well Germany still had some of the Bismarckian social state left, and they got free health care as well es a pension and of course there were multiple NGO's to help them. Problem was, rampant inflation made the meagre funds they recieved worthless, so begging, crippled veterans were a common site in the Weimar Republic.

>>3297963

I kinda figured that would be the case for the Central Powers, but what about countries like France, Britain, Italy, America, etc. did they have any kind of benefits back then? After WW2, America introduced something called the GI Bill of Rights specifically to help all the returning soldiers get rehabilitated into society. I was wondering if there was any equivalent for WW1.

There is a book about the african fronts in ww1, that i forget the name of but it's pretty good if anyone is interested

>>3297915
As I said up there, The Sleepwalkers by Clark.

>>3297151
Hey, welcome back GWA! I was in the last thread looking for pictures on Italy. Do you have any good pics/stories to share about the Salonika front? It turns out my great great grandfather served there.
>captcha is chemin dams
Oh fuck it's a sign

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In Canada there's a persistent meme that the German soldiers were especially afraid of Canadian soldiers and referred to them as storm troopers.

Can you please refute this OP. It comes across as absolutely absurd and highly unlikely.

>>3297876
They died of the spanish flu

>>3298606
As a German, I can say, that I have never heard of this. And there's a Canadian movie, where they fell for the propaganda, that Germans actually crucified people, so I really doubt the veracity of the stormtrooper claim.

>>3297151
Were there any soldiers who survived the whole war? Or by 1918 was everyone pretty much a replacement?

>>3297151
I am saddened World War I was the last great war with charges and trenches.

Modern warfare is terrible and can't be romanticized, its just non-stop bombing and centralized-special military units conducting operations

>>3298839
>I am saddened World War I was the last great war with charges and trenches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War

Don't see how that could possibly be romanticized, though.

>>3298873
>Don't see how that could possibly be romanticized, though.
The Iranians do.

Do you have any pictures of the Thai division fighting on the Western Front?

>>3298537
bump for this

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>>3297770
http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205216497 Little things like the piled up machine guns, stretchers and whatnot.

>>3297915
Yeah, read a narrative of the whole thing, or what'd be best IMO would be go with the Cambridge History of WW1 or something like that. Then figure out what you like and dig from there

>>3297979
In Australia, and Britain to a lesser extent, there was state welfare for wounded soldiers and widows and orphans. But if you were wounded or gassed and your symptoms didn't really get back until a couple years after the War you had very little chance of actually getting that welfare. When you were demobbed the medical officers asked if you were "fit" and if you said yes it meant you had no lasting injuries. Most men didn't realise that so when their injuries started playing up they had a bit of paper waved in their face saying they weren't suffering from war related injuries.
There was also a soldier settlement scheme in Australia giving land (usually really shitty land) to veterans from Britain and Australia to try and build up the economy. Pity the veterans were generally factory workers from like Manchest er and something like 70-80% of them failed within 2 years.

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>>3297806
My boy Monash wore it better.

>>3298606
Ok, this takes a little unpacking. But basically the Canadians, Australians and Kiwis were all considered "elite" units by German intelligence. When attacking they were generally successful, they tended to raid heavily and in large numbers that were designed to draw in German counter attacks and then destroy them with artillery. They largely missed out being hit during the Spring 1918 offensives and thus were some of the strongest units available for the counterattack in August when the Canadian Corps and Australian Corps spearheaded the Battle of Amiens, using very similar tactics to German stormtroopers. The difference is that in theory all British Empire units were trained in these tactics whereas there were specialised German stormtroop divisions who received the best in training and equipment for these kinds of operations.
So in short, sort of, yes.

>>3298817
Well there were quite a few old hands left in the armies, but usually in scattered positions, usually higher command and staff positions, but occasionally rank and file. To illustrate, the Aussies originally sent 20,000 men to fight at Gallipoli. In September 1918 the Aust govt decided these men deserved some time home in Australia and ordered any survivors to be removed from the line and sent home. There was less than 400 left in the AIF which numbered 100,000+

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>>3297151

>Buy into the meme that Lettow-Vorbeck was some kind of ultra-badass
>Finally get around to actually reading his biography
>All his "victories" were against poorly motivated Indian troops that the Anglo had shipped in from India.

What a piece of shit.

So hypothetically if the Italians had honored their alliance with Germany and Austria what would have happened? Would France be knocked out of the war after simultaneous Italian offensives in the south and German offensives in the North?

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Officers of the Canadian 15th Battalion, just coming out of the line on the last day of the Somme Offensive, September, 1916. Note the German souvenirs most carry.

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>>3299604

British tanks in Koln, 1919.

>>3299591

I'm not going to say that the Central Powers would actually win, but it would definitely be a more even war since having Italy would give Germany a way around the British blockade. It would also put a lot of pressure on France. Luigi wasn't a good commander, but he his offensives still succeeded in tying up large numbers of troops and equipment.

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>>3299609

Boy soldier (bugler) of the 90th Bn Winnipeg Rifles.

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>>3299614

Canadian artilleryman in his "greyback" shirt.

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>>3299620

Royal Flying Corp pilot on the Italian Front, 1917.

>>3299612
How bad is Cadorna in reality? And how much better is Armando Diaz in reality?

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I've been reading pic related and its an amazing book. Massie takes a subject that many tend to overlook when studying WW1 and makes it enthralling. The way he discusses the different admirals and captains makes it almost feel like a novel. I've only just gotten to the Battle of the Falklands. Would highly recommend.

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>>3299660
German East Asian Squadron departs Valpariso, Chile, after winning the Battle of Coronel, where the sank 2 British (outdated) armored cruisers while only suffering 3 casualties. 1 month later the entire squadron would be lost in the Battle of the Falkland Islands with the loss of nearly all 2000 hands, including Admiral Von Spee.

>>3299632

He was unironically, really bad. He was one of the ones that bought into the idea that morale determined the outcome of battles, and that if offensives were failing, then it was because the soldiers weren't displaying enough courage, etc. He seriously entertained the idea of re-introducing decimation of as punishment into the Italian army, which is a Roman thing where 10% of all soldiers in an underperforming unit were killed to motivate the rest. This was a concept that even the Romans came to believe was a stupid idea.

>>3299695
The German East Asia Squadron has to be one of the coolest stories no one has ever heard of.

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>>3299704
Totally agree.

>tfw you're nearly completely surrounded at the outbreak of war.
>tfw you're only hope is cross the Pacific, round Cape Horn, and try to cross the Atlantic.
>tfw no way to replenish ammunition and extremely difficult to get coal.
>tfw you might have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling battle-cruisers.

>>3299720
von Spee was the original absolute madman
>listen up lads
>we're all alone on the wrong side of the planet with the strongest navy in history hunting us
>lets go out and steal their supplies so we can journey across half the Earth and return to Germany so we can fight on our home turf

Please, PLEASE post your website/link to download your photos

I meant it when I say this but this has been one of the best threads on here and I wish you well with your PHD

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>>3297787
greatwaranon if i may ask you a question, its one thing i have never understood as an Australian. Why was there such enthusiasm for the war in Aus when Australia itself was half a world away from any possible danger?

Well recent research has discovered that there wasn't as much enthusiasm as we were previously led to believe. But there's a few major reasons.
Australia was only 13 years old when the war broke out. We were a very young country, still attached to Britain more closely than anywhere else. Something like 85% of our trade was with the UK, upwards of 25% of the population was born in the UK, all of our culture, popular and "elite" was from the UK. There's a lot of quotes of Australia being a British outpost in the antipodes and that Aussies were proud members of the British race. Most, apart from the labour unions and a lot of Irish people, saw any fight that Britain was involved in as entirely relevant to Australian interests.
There was the need to prove ourselves as well. Both as members of the Empire and as a nation and war was still seen as the perfect way of doing that.
There was also a little fear drummed up because of German colonies in the Asia-Pacific region, and that if Britain lost they'd expand their colonies and could even take Australia (pic related).

File: German-Spring-Offensive-4-Battlefield-Tours.jpg (55KB, 800x559px) Image search: [Google]

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Also any information you have on the 1918 Spring German offensive would be amazing, I've been frustrated with the lack on info on Micheal, Georgette, Bluscher etc

whacchu think of this channel? Is it accurate or is it bad history? https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar/videos?flow=grid&view=0&sort=da

File: An Austro-Hungarian observation point at Monte Sabotino, 1915..jpg (401KB, 1280x911px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3299757
scrapironflotilla.tumblr.com has everything I've posted here and more, but not all conveniently able to download.

and this is my google drive with a bunch of books/articles I've been using for uni if anyone's interested
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9nsIJlmzwWFZlBqdVRYUFEya3M

>>3299760
>Kaisermania

kek

>>3299773
Hey, welcome back GWA! I was in the last thread looking for pictures on Italy. Do you have any good pics/stories to share about the Salonika front? It turns out my great great grandfather served there.

>>3297151
Hello there anon, i've been thinking about doing a major in history, i love teaching history and talking about it is perfect (ww1 is my passion).

Is graduating in history good? What areas can you work? is the paycheck worth it?

>>3299750
>Sail into French colony.
>Don't fly any german flags.
>"Haha oh yes, ve are ze Royal Navy mein French friend. God save ze king mein old chum."
>Get all your ships provisioned by the enemy.
>As you're leaving port the colony's governor raises a large French flag as a salute.
>Have your ships run up the German flag as you sail away.

top bantz

File: Inspection and firing of a 42cm howitzer at Cucco, Slovenia, by the army commander. August, 1916..jpg (570KB, 1257x1680px) Image search: [Google]

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Going out for a little bit, sorry guys.
Will be back in an hour or so to answer all your questions.

>>3299793
>be SMS Emden
>be raiding inna Indian Ocean but need to refuel
>sail up to British colony at Diego Garcia
>they have no radio, they don't even know there's a war on
>spend a week chilling with the Brits, repairing ship, and refueling before setting out to raid British shipping again
The maddest lads

>>3299762
A-Anyone?

>>3299762
Would you like a tl;dr?

>>3297151

Could Germany have won?

>>3299845
They probably could have if America stayed out of the war, just by breaking France's moral and sending them the way of Russia.
They definitely could have if Britain stayed out of the war.

>>3297171
What does he mean by "met them?" I thought that both sides killed any enemies they saw in no man's land.

>>3299857
1. "met them" is just another way of saying he happened upon them.
2. I think they were officers from his own side.

File: Austro-Hungarian soldiers in a trench on the Karst Plateau, c1915..jpg (414KB, 1280x927px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3299779
I'll keep up pictures of the Italian front for ya, but I don't know much about the Salonika front sorry. Just the basics of the front being the allies sat around not doing a great deal except to fuck up occasionally. It was very much thought of as a sideshow and second rate units were sent there. The Battle of Dorian in 1917 especially was a huge fuck up, like Western Front sized.

>>3299785
If its your passion then I say do it. I didn't actually do my undergrad in history. I only picked up some history units right at the end to fill some blank spots in my timetable. But I realised that I really loved it and I was pretty good at it and when I was offered honours I jumped at the chance. Job offers unfortunately are a little sparse but places like museums, archives and libraries are probably the biggest employers. Oh and universities if you're really lucky. You can also freelance doing family history stuff and working for govts doing historical significance stuff. Money varies depending, but I usually tell people I'm doing history because I hate money. You're not gonna get rich by becoming a historian.

>>3299950
thanks GWA

File: An Italian naval gun mounted on a carriage captured by the Austro-Hungarian forces during the 11th Battle of the Isonzo, 1917..jpg (57KB, 771x429px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3299845
>>3299855
If Britain stayed out I'd say they had a better than even chance. But even without American involvement the Entente still would have won, it just would have taken into 1919.

>>3299857
>>3299882
Yep, met them as in he came across them during the battle and they were other Australian officers. Pozieres was the first Western Front battle for all these troops and the volume of artillery was traumatising for troops who had only experienced it at Gallipoli.

>>3299964
>If Britain stayed out I'd say they had a better than even chance
If Britain stayed out, France probably wouldn't have been able to stop the Germans at the Marne. I don't know if losing Paris would have knocked France out of the war, but it certainly would have happened.

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>>3299986
This is one of those eternal What Ifs. I personally don't think the Brits played the decisive role during the early war and think the French could well have stopped the Germans on their own. It's that problem of overstretched supply lines and exhausted men that hampered them as much as stiff resistance.

>>3300000
You know, I never really thought of it that way before. I knew that the Germans were burning through their supply horses quickly, but didn't think that it was smothering their advance.

P.S. nice get

>>3297484
how is that dumb, that looks pretty useful

>>3297486
Reading the Proud Tower right now and am finishing France's chapter revolving around the Dreyfus Affair. How did you enjoy the book, anon?

I have found that I am really enjoying reading a few topics and others a little less. It doesn't quite have the narrative that Guns of August did.

>>3300022

I think what he means is that it is so cumbersome and heavy that you'll inevitably stop using it.

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>>3300018
Yeah, if you think about how the British retreat is written about and how tired all their infantry was, imagine how bad it must have been for the Germans. They'd had a longer march, at least as much fighting and longer supply lines.
[spoiler]my first ever get :D[/spoiler]

>>3299762
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nsIJlmzwWFZlBqdVRYUFEya3M

Ok, I just updated my google drive with the entire Cambridge History of WW1 and Great War, Total War Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914–1918. Each is like 30 chapters from different scholars on different things. When I get back on my laptop where I have my pirating software I'll grab a bunch more books on 1918 and trench fighting.

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>>3300022
If its thick enough to actually stop a bullet then it's going to be too heavy and awkward to be much use as body armour. And can you imagine trying to take it off and set it up during a firefight? And when you invent something that tries and do 2 things it tends to be pretty bad at both.

>>3299795
that thing looks fucking wild

any idea on what it's called aside from 42cm howitzer? Or how many were built?

File: An Australian sleeping in his trench shelter in the second line of trenches before Riencourt, during the fighting near Bullecourt..jpg (126KB, 639x476px) Image search: [Google]

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Here I witnessed the most tragic episode of my service. A corporal working to deepen the section of the trench his men occupied, throwing earth out to where several corpses of soldiers killed the night before lay. Noticing the colour patch on one corpse, he remarked ‘That is my brother’s battalion.’ As he crawled to it, he turned the corpse to discover with terrible grief that he had been throwing the earth on his dead brother.
Walter Hill - AIF

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>>3300336
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_cm_Haubitze_M._14/16
The cool looking bit is the rotating platform built for it.

File: Construction of a 42cm howitzer platform at Cucco, Slovenia, 1916.2.jpg (469KB, 1280x937px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3300363

File: Inspection and firing of a 42cm howitzer at Cucco, Slovenia, by the army commander. August, 1916.2.jpg (297KB, 1280x939px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3300366
It was the biggest calibre howitzer they had and the sort of thing used to destroy the Belgians forts.

How ethnically diverse were Austro-Hungarian units?

I know there were Czechs, Hungarians, Austrians and others in the armed forces but how diverse would the actual fighting units be? Would Austrians and Croats be trenchmates?

>>3300367
thanks senpai

are there any other WWI guns that are as cool as this? Because this is pretty gosh darn cool.

File: British wiring party, taking up corkscrew supports, walking passed a 12 inch Mk II W railway gun on Armstrong Mk II mounted on a railway carriage between Arras and Feuchy, May 1917.jpg (66KB, 754x599px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3300391
Man the Austro-Hungarian army was a fucking shambles. When you have an Empire that diverse with so many different languages expanding very quickly you're going to run into trouble. They had officers, usually staff officers, who barely understood the language of the troops or not at all, because there was three fairly separate armies in the empire it made cooperation and coordination really difficult when the languages were all different.

>>3300434
I think artillery is awesome so pretty much anything from the war is cool af to me. But railway guns are probably the other big cool one. All sides had them in decent numbers because they were the guns with long enough range to work as counter battery to the enemies heavy guns. How well they actually worked at that is debatable tho

File: A 15-Inch Howitzer is prepared for firing from a position near Dainville. Battle of Arras 10 April 1917..jpg (62KB, 800x555px) Image search: [Google]

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You can see from this picture that the crew for a single one of these guns was big and firing them for a sustained barrage required an immense amount of preparation and effort. Hell just look at the guys holding the brush to clean the barrel.

>>3300480
>When you have an Empire that diverse with so many different languages expanding very quickly you're going to run into trouble

There's a "joke" in a Hemingway book (can't remember if it was For Whom the Bell Tolls or A Farewell to Arms) about a Hungarian corporal and 11 Czechoslovaks, or the other way around.

>there was three fairly separate armies
#1. The Austrians and their part of the empire
#2. The Hungarians and theirs,
what was #3? The southern slavs?

>>3297151
Were the British an effective fighting force in 1918? How did they compare with the other powers in their ability to defeat the enemy?

File: Dump of German heavy artillery guns and howitzers (15 cm guns and a 21 cm Mörser 16 heavy howitzer) captured in the Battle of Amiens by the British Fourth Army, 27 August 1918..jpg (95KB, 769x600px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3300559
I'd say they were at least as effective as the French. And both were better than the Germans by that point. I'd say that it's a myth that the Germans collapsed entirely from exhaustion and the blockade.
Allied tactics and technology had advanced to a point where they could usually ensure success and be able to break even the strongest German lines (I say lines but they were miles deep), with almost any division of their armies. The Brits outfought their enemy.
This was due to a couple of things. The increase in material was actually really important here. The Entente were able to produce enough guns, ammunition and supplies to more than make up for what was used up during operations and to equip more and better units. Their infantry used better supporting weapons, Lewis Gun, light mortars, rifle grenades and grenades, in greater numbers than the Germans could. Tactical doctrine I'd say was itself on a par with the Germans but much more widespread in the armies and better trained.
But artillery was where it mattered and the Entente was better. By 1918 they could effectively neutralise most German artillery before and during an attack, through use of things like sound ranging, flash spotting and pre-registry were able to find German artillery positions without it being known in advance, and even more importantly could hit them. It had perfected the creeping-barrage, protect consolidating infantry with a curtain barrage and destroy German counter-attacks as they formed up. (The Germans weren't blameless and their immediate counter-attack orders sent a lot of troops into this protective fire)
It was that combination of really professional artillery and mixed infantry that could handle any German strongpoint that made for success.


Pic is German artillery captured by the Brits during the Battle of Amiens. In 1915-17 it was unheard of to actually get far enough back quickly enough to capture much artillery. Here they took over 500 guns.

>>3297166
:/

>>3300634
5 of the 8 men in that picture died during the battle and the other 3 were wounded. Fromelles was a giant clusterfuck of a failure.
British headquarters described it the next day in a single line saying "Yesterday evening, south of Armentières, we carried out some important raids on a front of two miles in which Australian troops took part. About 140 German prisoners were captured".
The Australian 5th Division took 5,500 casualties in one night with two battalions in particular taking 90% casualties.

File: A 15 inch howitzer on the Somme being loaded and the prepped for firing..jpg (134KB, 800x622px) Image search: [Google]

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BIG
BRITISH
GUNS

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>>3300655
The biggest guns the Brits had in 1916.

>>3300028
I really liked it my dude. The only chapter I don't really like is the one about German culture. It's great as a standalone but not in that book I think. I learned a lot reading it and it really helped me understand things like how important Mahan's ideas were for the coming or what was going on in Britain and.
Also I think the chapters dealing with Thomas Reed are one of the better written.

>>3297338
pan mag best mag

File: Captain Garcenot showing the use of a pneumatic Brandt gun. Cousances-aux-Forges, February 1918..jpg (160KB, 930x700px) Image search: [Google]

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Fuck gunpowder, that shit's loud. How about steal mortars?

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>>3300809
Stealth*
Fucked that up didnt i?

File: French soldiers wearing chemical protection suits cleaning a field gun. Date unknown..jpg (254KB, 960x700px) Image search: [Google]

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Artillery were very often subjected to gas bombardments during the War. Called neutralizing fire, an enemy would douse the area where batteries were thought to be in order to cause their crews to don gas masks or leave their guns. This was less effective than destroying the guns with high explosive shells or killing the crews with shrapnel, but it was easier, required less pinpoint accuracy and could cover large areas with comparative ease.

After being covered in gas, especially mustard gas, the chemicals in the gas would settle on the guns making them hazardous for crews to use without thorough cleaning.

>>3300817
Anon, care to recommend me some books on ww1 armament?

File: Two unidentified Australian Lewis Machine Gunners of the 1st Battalion.jpg (194KB, 639x493px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3300879
Everything about specific weapons I've read has been in a book about something else so I can't offer much on that but if you want good stuff on artillery Sanders Marble is the author to look for.
And Osprey does a ton of stuff on weapons so that'd be the first place I'd look for something like that.
https://ospreypublishing.com/store/military-history/period-books/world-war-1

File: Battle of the Lys. 18 pounder gun of the Royal Field Artillery in a cow shed. Near Saint-Floris, 2 May 1918.2.jpg (103KB, 800x639px) Image search: [Google]

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Peek a boo!

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Hey GreatWarAnon, any summary on aviation in WW1? Maybe even a few photos?

File: German pilot Richard Scholl and his co-pilot Lieutenant Anderer, in flight gear beside their Hannover CL.II biplane in 1918..jpg (649KB, 1247x894px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3301265
White Heat: The New Warfare 1914-18 by John Terrain covers it and all the new WW1 tech pretty well
The Great War in the Air: Military Aviation from 1909 to 1921 by John Morrow
and
The History of The War in the Air 1914- 1918 by Walter Raleigh. This one is from just after the War so it offers a what was a very fresh view of air power.

File: Observer, pilot, and Bristol Fighter F2B aircraft, Serial B1146, of No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps..jpg (184KB, 640x416px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3301292
The little rack on the side of the plane is holding different kinds of flares in case anyone was wondering.

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>>3301292
Thanks, wondered if you could tell me a bit about it tbqh... what was the impact air power had on the war and who did it best?

>>3300480
>Man the Austro-Hungarian army was a fucking shambles.
Have you read Judson's "Habsburg Empire"?
one of the best books ive read this year, would definitely recommend it if you are interested in the social and political development of the last 200 years of the empire, it totally changed my perspective

>>3301085
I was going to ask if Osprey was worth it since they're expensive. Thanks man.

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Do you think there were any minor details that could have changed the war (i.e. a train arriving sooner, 10 more soldiers somewhere, helmets from the beginning of the war) or was it mostly decided on the grander scale in your opinion?

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>>3301349
It was really a tertiary arm in the war. Like, it had an important role in reconnaissance and aerial photography was important for artillery spotting, getting accurate info about enemy defences and where/when an attack or counter attack would be launched. But in terms of attack capability? Pretty much nada. There was some aerial bombing and strafing going on, but it wasn't accurate enough or on a large enough scale to make a huge difference. I'm sure it was good for morale to see planes attacking trenches or strafing roads behind the line, but in terms of actual damage, it wasn't a lot.
Later in the war there was a bit of experimentation with things like long range bombing, which turned out to be ineffective with the bombers they had, and with dropping ammunition to attacking troops, which worked well, but could only be done on a small scale.

The bombing of cities by zeppelins and then bombers was an interesting aspect though, which is comparatively little studied. Even if it didn't do a lot of physical damage it freaked the fuck out of the British public and gave the Germans a really bad image internationally.

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>>3301422
Thanks for the insight!

What do you plan to work as once you have your PhD?

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>>3301359
No, but it sounds like a good read. Added to my e-shelf.
One good thing about my uni, they have a fucking god tier library for history.

>>3301382
A lot of Osprey get's pirated so I'd imagine you wouldn't have too much trouble finding some. That White Heat book I recommended earlier would probably also cover a lot of what you're after on the armaments side.

>>3301384
Well one thing that comes to mind would be Lenin not getting shipped back into Russia. That coulda made a big difference given that the provisional govt was ok with staying in the War.
God I hate Gallipoli, but had the leadership of the Anzacs been better on the day of the landing they could conceivably have advanced far enough to cut the south of the peninsula off, or at the very least made it untenable for the Ottomans to hold on. But I don't know if that actually would have helped any because once the stalemate kicked in nothing could really change it.
But I can't really think of any situation where the whole war would have changed from a really minor detail. The strength of the Western Front made it that to threaten the strategic situation would have needed a breach on a really wide front and that wasn't ever really a close thing until the end of the war. Like, even the big German breakthroughs in 1918 only changed a portion of the front, and they were scores of miles wide.

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>>3301443

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>>3301443
Hoping to keep working at universities teaching. The dream goal is professor, but I'd be very happy lecturing and researching. Living the academic life.

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>>3301464
that's cool, I also enjoyed school and learning, looking forward to university.

>>3297151
Why was the NZ and Australian government so hesitant to release details about the SMS Wolf? Considering the govt knew about the shipping losses and the mine fields, why did they not make trading ships aware of the danger?

Look up the voyage of the Wolf; it's seriously impressive. 400 days, over 15 captures, 3 line fields. Going all the way to the edge of the world and making it back in one piece

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>>3301506
I've got no good answer for that. The Aust govt didn't have a lot of control over the information it gave out about the war effort. It handed control of the Australian navy wholesale to the British at the outset of the war. I'm guessing that the Brits thought it would be easier or safer for no one to be able to spread rumours about the Wolf than to give out what info they had. But honestly, that's just a guess. I have a book about the ship sitting on my shelf but I've never had the leisure time to actually read it.

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>>3301452
thanks a lot man thats kinda what I expected, cause I always heard about the attempt on Hitlers life and how if the suitcase was like a foot closer he would have died, and I always was wondering if there were other instances of little things changing wars.

Good luck on the PhD man

File: Lieutenant Fonck and his pet stork Helena. June 1918,.jpg (109KB, 800x700px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3301540
Who knows though. If Haig had been hit by a stray bullet while he was a corps commander that could have made a hell of a difference.
And thanks, it's still early days with my studies so I've got a long way to go.

File: Marcel Gromaire, La guerre (War), 1925.jpg (509KB, 1138x1543px) Image search: [Google]

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I also really like a lot of the modern art that came out of the war.

what the fuck was Romania thinking joining the war? Did they not see what happened to Serbia? I find it hard to believe that the Romanians were so greedy to want Transylvania that they didnt realize they were gonna get crushed. I assume they were making bank selling oil to the central powers at super inflated prices.


Any other cool stories/trivia about the Balkan theater? Gallipoli doesn't count everyone knows about that lol.

The idea of both sides being home by christmas was thrown around a lot at the start of the war. I understand the germans believing the schlieffen plan would work, but why did the allies believe that the war would be quick? the only thing i dan think of is that the uk/france thought russia would crush down on berlin once they got the ball rolling. Did they know how unprepared the Russians were?

File: Charles Pears - The British Submarine K22 in Dry Dock, at Rosyth, in Winter, 1918..jpg (92KB, 944x562px) Image search: [Google]

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>>3301864
No one ever thinks wars are going to last a long time. It was just assumed that there'd be a few decisive battles and one side would give up. A few people who'd seen the Russo-Japanese war might have thought it wouldn't be over that quickly but no one was listening to them.
And on paper it looked like the central powers would get crushed pretty quickly.

>>3301855
I dunno, Romania managed to fight on for almost two years against an overwhelming enemy. And with some good defensive planning it was conceivable that they'd able to hold the line and have another front against the central powers opened.
And with France and Britain and Russia giving lots of assurances of assistance and money you can see why it might have seemed like a good idea at the time.

>>3301855
romania joined at the most autistic time
instead of during the galician offensive or brusilov offensive where the Austro-Hungarian were at their most fragile,they struck when Russia was beaten back

It would be interesting to get your take on the often posted opinion that the Aussies and New Zealanders first but also other colonials were spent by the Brits heavily instead of their own. Some data or other information would be grand.

Anon do you know much about Australia's involvement in the middle east? I find the light horse very interesting.

>>3301926
Fuck Churchill

>>3297514
>Open warfare may kill more, but at least you aren't hit with cabin fever
Open and mobile warfare is actually less deadly to a common infantry soldier, iirc and afaik

>>3299986
>>3300000
Aside from the battle of marne the french army was in mutiny in 1917, even with the USA and Britain on their side in the war. Don't you think the Central Powers would have been in a very good position even in a more drawn out war if Britain stayed out?

I know there was a lot of mountain fighting between Austria and Italy, how much was there in the Balkans + the Carpathians?

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>>3297151
Hi, OP
Do you personally have a family member who fought in the war?

Why did you pick WW1 to do your PhD on?

>>3300690
Oh man, I had never heard of Thomas Reed before and I am even from the land of burgers haha. That US chapter was fantastic, her connection to the fall of America as the model for responsible government was extremely sad and enlightening. It is much easier to see how foreign policy has developed to the point where it is now.

>>3297516
God it kills me. So many good men culled

>>3297151
How much of a difference would an italian entry on the side of the central powers have made, in your opinion?

>>3302830

It would have made it a much more "even" war. Impossible to say whether it would tip the scales far enough to produce a central powers victory.

I am not too sure of pre ww1 naval strengths of anyone but germany/uk, but would italy being a central power have allowed the italian/a-h/ottoman navies to contest the mediterranean? i assume most anglo naval power was busy blockading the krauts, and if they couldn't blockade both I assume the suez becomes another target like in ww2.

The Italian navy was even worse than its army

>>3297151
Do you think Churchill was right when he said that the breakup of the Habsburg Empire was one of the cardinal tragedies of the Great War?

>>3302742
I'm with you although I'm from South America. Reed was quite a character.

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>>3302146
Yeah, pretty much. Like looking at the numbers Germany would have had a numerical advantage on the Western Front if the Brits had stayed out. The French still would have needed to stay on the offensive because they had an invader in their territory and you can't remove kraut by sitting their and not attacking. So chances are it would have been a slogging match much like Verdun, but everywhere. How long they could sustain that kind of warfare on their own is anyones guess.

>>3302064
It varies a lot, but I remember reading that the Battle of the Bulge had an almost identical casualty rate as most WW1 battles.

>>3302703
Yeah, on my mums side there was two great uncles who fought. One of which joined in 1914 and was wounded six times before being killed in September 1918.
I did my honours thesis on WW1 and I really just wanted to continue that theme. WW1 is a big deal in Straya and there's a fuckton of myth built up about it in the public imagination and I wanted to look at that a bit. Just got hooked from there cause it's a really fascinating war that is really badly misunderstood.

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>>3302682
I can't give you much on that I'm afraid. I know there was a fairly large amount involving Bulgaria, Serbia and AH, but I don't really know any details sorry.

>>3303366
I'm not sure. It sure as hell destabilised further an already shaky region, but like pretty much all empires it was coming apart at the seams. If it didn't happen then it would have happened in the next 20-30 years.

>>3302830
Interesting concept. But like the other anons said, Italy was not exactly a world power. A land invasion of France would have ended much the way the fighting against AH ended for the Italians I think, but the value of opening another front and draining French resources from the fight against Germany might have made a difference.
The French and British navies would have just demolished the Italian though, pretty much no contest there.

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>>3301927
The ANZAC mounted units did really good work in the Mid East actually. Their campaigns were fluid and really well fought, but they were again, almost a side show. It was the infantry/artillery combination that proved vital. Battles like Beersheba are still a really good read and it's got a lot more life and humour than the Western Front. If you want the good shit then I recommend reading about the Imperial Camel Corps.
The Australian Official History actually covers the Mid East really well and is free online, I highly recommend that too.

>>3301926
Oh man, this is pretty much my pet area. What exactly would you like to know about the Dominions?

>>3298606

Damn son try not to be too salty that your country failed to take Vimy and then the Canadians embarrassed you...

Canadian troops were trained to the same standards of all empire troops so no empirical difference there. However, they were hugely successful in many areas which earned them fear and respect from the German soldiers. Canadians were also known for having exceptional morale despite being the furthest from home of all Entente troops (until the Americans joined). Their high morale could be a chicken or egg conundrum relating to their victories and successes so that's difficult to properly analyzed. Canadians also fielded the best and most productive snipers of any nation in the war

>>3304187
>Oh man, this is pretty much my pet area. What exactly would you like to know about the Dominions?
As an Australian I'm just suspicious of the narrative pushed by a lot of other Aussie posters that Commonwealth troops were spent heavily by the Brits is all.

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>>3304420
>furthest from home
Australia and New Zealand would like a word.

The problem with saying that they were trained to the same standards is that there wasn't really any set standard. Training was mostly done at the divisional level and lower. Whilst GHQ did put out pamphlets and circulate directions for training each division would have its own training schools, each corps would have its own schools and each army would have its own schools. They didn't all teach the exact same thing in the exact same way either.
Currie paid particular attention to training of troops in things like bombing and consolidation of captured ground while he was a divisional general which meant that his Canadians were very good at capturing and holding territory, but no more so than the Kiwis or the 9th Scottish Division or 3rd Australian.
It was that he took that emphasis on training with him when he was promoted GOC of the Canadian Corps and stressed it to his divisional generals which not all corps or army commanders did to the same extent.
And the morale question has been studied, by Tim Cook and a host of others. There were high levels of well trained reinforcements, a good logistical system and very well enforced discipline. And Currie, like Byng before him, had the moral courage to refuse orders that he deemed impossible or suicidal. They could do this because the Canadians were a national force and had to be dealt with specially by Haig and the rest of the Brits. Same applied to other Dominions.
I'm not saying they weren't very good soldiers, because they were, but it wasn't due to any innate talents or special psychology. Looking at them in 1915 and early 1916 and you'll see an army struggling in the exact same way the Germans and French and British struggled. They, however, had some advantages that others did not.

>>3300790
tell that to the soldiers who actually had to use the damn things

>>3297151
What are you doing with your PhD?

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>>3304726
That is a huge crock of shit and partially spurred initial interest in the war.
First of all the percentage numbers of Australian casualties look bad. But the reason they look so bad is that we had a higher "teeth to tail" ratio. The actual fighting troops are the teeth and the fuckhuge logistical support network that supplies them with everything from pants to ammunition to duckboard tracks to jam is the tail.
Australia had five infantry divisions and associated troops, but relied largely on British logistics to supply them. Same with artillery, whilst the field artillery was Australian and a little of the heavy artillery was, all the really big guns were Royal Garrison Artillery, meaning British.
And it's the same for the Kiwis and Leafs. They had teeth but used the British tail.

I haven't ever really seen any concrete evidence of the Dominions being used more often or more heavily than British divisions. It really seems like one of those national myths that we like to play around with to blame someone else for the huge casualty lists. There might, and I stress might, be a case to be made for saying they were used to take the hardest positions, but any position on the western front was fucking hard to take and the casualty numbers prove that. But if they were indeed used then it's because their commanders, (largely Australians) said they were the best ones to take those positions.
In 1917 the British reduced the number of battalions in a brigade from 4 to 3. The Dominions did not. This left their divisions larger and stronger than their British colleagues. As such in 1918 the Dominions corps and divisions were larger than British ones and better for attacking with, such as at Amiens and through the Hundred Days. Although even then they made up only 10 out of ~80 British Empire divisions on the western front.
But used to spare British units from taking casualties? Absolute bullshit.

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>>3305021
As in doing with once I'm finished or doing it on?

>>3305049
Once you're finished. I'm probably going to have to pursue a PhD and though our areas of study are different I haven't thought much about how I'm gonna put my foot in the door for some places

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>>3297151
Very nice, I have an immense amount of emotion for that conflict as well.
Here are a few drawings I did of the war.

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>>3305053
A lot of that you do while you're doing the PhD. I'm hoping to teach at a university and pursue an academic career. Otherwise work as a researcher for a museum or library or something like that.

But a lot of the networking is stuff you do while you're doing your PhD. It's going to conferences, getting published, talking with other grad students and meeting supervisors and if you can teaching some classes (which I'm doing at the moment, first year history class on WW2). You're meant to be a part of and contribute to the academic/scholarly life basically. Get to know the people who hire for the jobs you want. It's shitty "normie" type stuff, but it is what you have to do if you want to succeed.

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>>3305066
That's awesome anon. Got a link to it anywhere so I can post it on my blog?

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>>3305090
I really don't have a link to it anywhere, first time being uploaded. But regardless, I would be honored if you did use these on your blog.

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>>3305126

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>>3305136

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>>3305146

>>3305126
>>3305136
>>3305146
>>3305162

Where are these from?

>>3305162
>>3305146
>>3305136
>>3305126
>>3305066
These are very nice. Look like something you'd see in the sunday comics or one of those old children's books. How old are these drawings? Have you maybe thought about making a short little webcomic about WW1?

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>>3305126
These are all really cool. I was just hoping to credit you somehow, but I can just call it an anonymous submission.

>>3305184
>>3305066
nvm missed the first post, very nice m8, you should do the German Army, ANZAC, Belgians with their top hats and the AEF

>>3305193
>I can just call it an anonymous submission.
It wouldn't be a lie

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>trench warfare
This is what the front line looked like in 1917.

>>3305188
Thanks! I am planing on making history books.
Mostly demographics through history, but I will have a lot of drawings of what they looked like back then.

But these drawings are about a year old.
>>3305162
this one is 3 years old.
>>3305193
Thanks! I am glad I can have a reason to share them.
If you want to put a name, you can put: TimbukDrew
>>3305197
I can work on one right now.

I don't suppose you have any information on how the Scottish Highland regiments reacted to no longer being allowed to wear the kilt?

>>3305227
This is a very comfy thread btw OP, there may be hope for /his/ after all. this ought to be the standard for all /his/ threads

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The US guys on the bottom have about the right color of brown. The ones in the middle are a little too dark.

>>3305227
Buncha Cheeky lads.
food tins, nicknacks all over.

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Just a bunch of Magyar, Ukrainians and Czech

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>>3305252
Early war troopers.

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>>3305230
Hmm, no. But there are plent of pictures of them wearing it well into the War. But honestly with the advent of mustard gas and the all around awful conditions I can't imagine they were that bothered by not being able to wear it during operations.
But there's a lot of books on the Highland Divisions so I'm sure you had a look through you'd be able to find something. Otherwise get a memoir or published diary from a Scott.

>>3305231
God I wish. I'd always wanted a /his/ board so when we got one I was fucking thrilled. But once I saw how it'd turned out I was really disappointed. There seems to be a pretty big distrust and in some cases hatred of scholarly or academic history in /his/ that I really don't understand.

>>3297151
Great War Anon, I have a serious question. Have you read The Arms of Krupp? If so, do you have a recommendation of another history book that covers a single subject? I have had a hard time finding books as good as it is.

>>3297151
Do you think Britian faked the Zimmerman telegram

>>3299695
I'm from Chile and never fucking knew that there was a WWI battle in our shores... fuck our educational system, it's shit.

>I'm doing my PhD on WW1
>I also run a WW1 blog with 3000+ pictures of the War.

So what's the deal is this guy like the savior of /his/ or what's good?

>>3297432
>And they certainly didn't expect Britain to join a MASSIVE continental war over a piddly little place like Belgium.
I have to disagree with this. British foreign diplomacy was definitely anti-German and pro-France/Russia leading up to WW1, I doubt the Germans thought the British would not enter the war at all. Britain backed France during both Moroccan Crises as well as signed the Entente Cordial.

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>>3305197
Just finished this, Here are your Belg.

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>>3305419
No I haven't but it seems like a good book.
It depends what you're interested in. I spruik Artillery in the Great War by Paul Strong and Sanders Marble a lot because it's a really great and comprehensive introduction to artillery during the War.
Battle Tactics on the Western Front 1916–18 by Paddy Griffith is an really good look at how trench warfare evolved.
Command and Morale: The British Army on the Western Front 1914-18 by Gary Sheffield is another good one looking at what actually made an army work.

Oh, I've added a bunch more stuff to my google drive so have a look at what's in there.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9nsIJlmzwWFZlBqdVRYUFEya3M

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Talk about him.

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>>3305510
Fair enough. Interpretation is what this is all about.
I should clarify land war then. Because I think you're right that they could probably have expected Britain to be involved, but primarily through her navy rather than a field force.
The Entente Cordial wasn't exactly a binding military alliance though was it? It agreed to a bunch of things but that Britain would come to the aid of France with an expeditionary force wasn't among them.

>>3305347
What kind of firearms are they using, there? Those rifles don't really match any profile I can think of and they're loading round-nosed bullets instead of Spitzer cartridges.

>>3305568
your right that it wasn't binding at all and was just a piece of paper, but it was a piece of paper that ended the centuries long British-French hostilities almost solely because of the threat of a united Germany to both countries.

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Hey /his/,
Just found this at a yard sale and picked it up for 30 bucks. Anyone care to give me the history breakdown?

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>>3305749
Interesting. Looks like a Brodie Helmet. Is the insignia a sticker or painted on?
Gotta see some more pictures before can say much more. Any markings on the underside of the rim or inside anywhere?

>>3305633
The Polish Legion fought for the Austro-Hungarians so I'd say that they're Mannlichers of some kind.

>>3305850
Insignia is definitely painted on. There is lettering on the underside of the rear that reads ZC188.

>>3305854
Same poster here, on close inspection it is harder to tell whether or not it is a sticker despite what I said before. When touching the insignia it feels like it at / below the paint level so to speak.

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From the top

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Underneath

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>>3305869
>>3305854
Ok. ZC means its an American M1917, made during WW1 by the American Sheet and Tin Plate Co. and the batch number is 188.
After a little digging I found this which has markings for the US 27th Division.
You got yourself a genuine antique there anon. Does it have a liner inside?

>>3305897
No, no liner. Also, could you possible explain the small hole in the center of the helmet? Would that have a little peg or something to hold the liner? By the way, thanks for the info.

I believe you skipped my question >>3305563

If you don't recognize him, you can click on the options next to posts and press search image on Google for a reverse image search.

Is he a hero?

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>>3305906
I believe there's meant to an attaching point for the liner there, little screw type thing. Just seems to be missing in yours.
But still a really neat find and a steal at $30

>>3305925
Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.

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>>3305563
>>3305916
I'm sorry but I haven't heard of him. I looked at his wiki page but I don't know anything abou Kurdish history and it didn't say anything about his involvement in the war.
What did he do?

>>3305424
Nah, the Germans were plenty capable of making terrible foreign policy decisions on their own.

>>3305488
Haha, thanks anon. I'm trying.

>>3305850
drawfag from earlier:
Always love the trains that rolled out in the war.
tin turtle, and all tho other small trains are wonderful to behold in person.

Besides that, I hope everything comes along well for you and I will follow your blog. I am always happy to find someone who has a legitimate passion for any moment in history, not just a flash in the pan because they saw a movie.

I hope it all works out well for you, and might see you around in the future.

>>3297151
Did you come across the so called killology of the Dominions in any of your reading? There's this hardrooted myth about the 15-20 percent in WW2

What are the biggest tropes about the first world war you've come across in your research?

>>3305950
I love armoured trains and the light rail that brought all the ammo and supplies up to the front.
Thanks heaps, I appreciate the good wishes. It's nice to share history with other people who enjoy it just as much.

>>3306073
I haven't no. But I'm gonna take a stab and say it's about killing POWs rather than taking them?

Well I've hit the image limit again. I'll monitor the thread for tonight but feel free to let it die and I'll start another one tomorrow.
I kinda like the idea of this being a /his/ general.

>>3306216
What do you think of The Great War on youtube?

>>3306216
No no the myth goes that 15-20 percent is the amount of men actually firing in the general direction of the enemy, whereas all the rest wouldn't even pull the trigger of their guns so to speak. Killology is the historical discours around the willingness to harm the enemy.

Are you going to make a part III?
I'd like to hear your opinion on some other stuff

>>3306254
I have never watched it. I enjoy documentaries on topics I don't know a lot about, but not on ones I do yaknow?
I tend to heckle when they simplify things for a non expert audience. Although I appreciate people who are good at communicating historical topics to people who are normally not that interested in history. It's a pretty tough thing to do and a different skillset to actually being a historian.

>>3306274
Aah, I've heard about that in reference to Vietnam, I think the context was conscripts having problems actually shooting at people.
I'm not sure how you'd even go about applying that to WW1 studies. There aren't any veterans to interview and it's not something that tends to show up a lot in written accounts. I can certainly imagine that there would have been people who'd have trouble attempting to kill another person, but as high as 80-85%, I just don't buy it.
Having that said, I've read nothing on the topic so that's just talking out my arse.

I'll hang around for the next 2 hours or so, but I'll start a new thread tomorrow.

>>3297915
do you have a better pic? tats seem interesting for that period of time was he a sailor?

>>3299535
Nobody agrees, nobody cares nigger

Thanks for all the effort spent here gwa - much appreciated. I always find it refreshing to actually read quality content with a civilized discussion here. So kudos to you anon.

Besides that any reading recommendations regarding tunnel warfare in ww1? Always has been one of the most faszinating aspects of it imho.

>>3299535
>>All his "victories" were with poorly motivated African troops that had to be pressed into service

>>3305544
Thank you for the great reading ideas! I am looking forward to learning more!

Is there any way Germany could have won in your opinion? Sorry if it's a meme question

>>3297151
I'm sure this has been asked before but a few basic questions:
What ere German war aims, anyway?
Could Germany have won the war? How could it have been done? If so what would their peace have looked like?

Some more FWW books that are a great read:

Hobbs, R - The Myth of Victory: What is Victory in War? (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1979)

Steiner, Z & Neilson, K Britain and the Origins of the First World War (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.)

Winter, J. M. The Great War and the British People (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)

Heuser, B - The Evolution of Strategy (Cambridge: Cambridge, 2010.)

Foley, R. T. German Strategy and the Path to Verdun, Erich Von Falkenhayn and the Development of Attrition, 1870-1916, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Bell, A. H. The Last Great War: British Society and the First World War (The Journal of British Studies: 48, 2009)

Gregory, A. The Last Great War: British Society and the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Have you looked into medalists OP?

>>3305043
Cheers for that.

Seems like you're heavily invested in the Empire. I wonder if you know anything of let's say the Belgian army

I wanted to post a nice picture but we've reached the image limit...

>>3297193
with their hats they look like Civil War soldiers

Does anyone else get off to the idea of female soldiers being drafted into ww1 and being forced to do an "over the top" rush and dozens of "dough girls" being gunned down? Imagining the thud of bullet striking bone, piercing their soft white flesh, blood pouring down their thick thighs, their young tight bodies splattering in the mud and being stepped on by comrades, pushed down further into the muck to rot and be forgotten. Or the wounded qts lying in no man's land for hours as their ruined organs failed, too weak to fend off the carriom birds that landed to begin pecking them apart while they were still alive.

I dunno why , but that shit makes me so goddamn hard.

>>3308806
mmh
not really

>>3308806
nigga...

>>3297415
Russia's Last Gasp by Prit Buttar deals with the Eastern Front in 1916-1917, especially the Brusilov offensives and Romania's ill-fated entry into the war on the side of the Entente.

>>3308829
What?

>>3297519
This is an outstanding website.

One reason I like military history is that it puts my problems into perspective....

>>3308741
Civil war uniforms, especially the south, were heavily based on French uniforms of the mid 19th century.

>>3308806
Naw son, that's fucked up.

>>3308991
Thanks anon, I try. :D

>>3308736
Well you're in luck because I just started a new thread
>>3309165

>>3308741
The civil war forage cap is based off the French kepi

>>3304420
>Damn son try not to be too salty that your country failed to take Vimy and then the Canadians embarrassed you...

Buddy I'm a fucking Canadian, how else would I even know or care about the meme in the first place?

Aweome thread OP! Thanks!!!

>>3297151
i still have part of my great grandfathers diary in the war, but only the part from the invasion of belgium to the marne, it's pretty beautiful and at the same time horrific to read though

>>3297151
amazing pictures, thanks alot GreatWarAnon

>>3309166
>that's fucked up.
Why? It's just a sexual fantasy.

>>3304991
I've heard it explained by a Canadian professor that Canada was almost entirely rural, providing physically superior recruits compared to urban factory workers. Makes sense that farmboys would be able to outperform factory workers physically; I'm sure Australia and NZ would have a similar rural population ratio.