German First World War submarine discovered near Long Beach, California
Surrendered to Britain by Germany at the end of the First World War, the UB-88 was given to the U.S. for study and a victory lap from New York, around the Panama Canal and back up to the coastal waters off California. The agreement called for the German submarine to be sunk within two years. So on January 3, 1921, the U.S. navy sent it to a watery grave off Long Beach, without revealing the exact location. 72 years later Gary Fabian, exploring USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) maps, noticed something unusual: It was long and bore a shape that could indicate a submarine. Project website (wlfi.com)
Digging up World War I chemical weapons in D.C.
Greg Nielson pushed a joystick, and a video camera zoomed in on 3 men in moon suits and gas masks as they geared up to detonate a weapon of mass destruction less than 5 miles from the White House. The destruction of 5 poison-filled First World War shells ended just as planned. But the strange saga of America's most unusual hazardous waste site is far from over. Since 1993, the Army Corps of Engineers has removed 84 chemical-filled shells and 1,000 conventional munitions, plus 44,000 tons of contaminated debris, from the campus of American University and the upscale lawns of Spring Valley. (latimes.com)
Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group - Website and forum
On the Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group -site you will be able to follow the development of the matrix to provide information on all of the components of the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) during the World War One. The project was started in 2006 to create an authoritative listing of the Canadian units that served in the field in all theatres of the operations. (cefresearch.com)
An expedition searching for underwater Gallipoli relics
An expedition to uncover First World War relics beneath the waves at Gallipoli will soon set off for Turkey. The archaeological survey - "Project Beneath Gallipoli" - will map the forgotten underwater battlefields of Anzac Cove, North Beach and Suvla Bay. Diver and photographer Mark Spencer will rejoin the team that in 1998 surveyed the WWI wreck of the Australian submarine the AE2 in the Dardanelles Strait on April 30, 1915. The team hopes to map the remains of sunken landing craft, stores, dog tags, bayonets, ammunition, cigarette lighters along with the famous jetties, Watsons and Williams piers. (coffscoastadvocate.com.au)
World War I photographs saved by quick-thinking removalist in Canada
Dozens of First World War photos, including some from Australia's Gallipoli campaign, have been saved by a quick-thinking removalist. Max Madden, an Australian who runs a removalist business in Vancouver, was moving Canadian man Trevor Pilley to a retirement home when he noticed the historic black and white photographs inside an album marked "Dardanelles - Landing of Australians and New Zealanders at Anzac". The pictures - taken by Trevor Pilley's father, Charles, who was a WW1 machine gunner in a biplane - were in a pile of belongings to be sent to a consignment store for auction. (abc.net.au)
Huge First World War oil painting - The Rearguard (The spirit of ANZAC) - for sale
A painting inspired by the psychic spirits of dead soldiers and purchased by the grieving Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who lost a son in the First World War, will be auctioned off as part of the Owston Collection in Sydney on June 25-26. The painting, by Official War Artist William Francis Longstaff, is titled "The Rearguard (The spirit of ANZAC)". The iconic painting - thought missing until now - presents a ghostly array of soldiers lining up near the beach at Gallipoli in the bleak dawn, with departing transports and warships barely visible on the misty horizon. (paulfrasercollectibles.com)
"The Western Front" book re-published with unseen First World War sketches
Drawings by Sir Muirhead Bone were published in newspapers to improve morale at the homefront and in a book called "The Western Front" in 1916. The sketches include a dying soldier, a knocked out tank and stretcher bearers carrying the wounded from battle. Some of the images revealed the horrors of war, and were censored and categorized as too demoralizing in the light of the need for new recruits. The unseen images show the wartime reality, says Tim Barlass, publisher of The Western Front's new version. (oneindia.in)
First World War militaria to be auctioned off in Wrexham
A collection of WW1 militaria is to be auctioned off in Wrexham. The items, collected by a single vendor, offer a view into day-to-day life during the war. Among the highlights is trench art made by soldiers. There are also various military medals, including a German Iron Cross (1914) and a number of "death plaques". The most extensive element is ephemera: letters and documents about life on the front line and at home during the war. Auctioneer Dyfed Griffiths said: "The collection was compiled by a military historian who travelled ... collecting pieces and would meticulously research every item." (leaderlive.co.uk)
How the First World War sacrifices and valour defined Canada
Before the start of the Great War in 1914, Canada was a nation still shy of a half-century in existence - a glorified colony of Britain with a regular army of 3,000 soldiers. The next 4 years would see a conscription, the introduction of a "temporary" income tax, and an explosion in Halifax. There would be bloody battles fought at Ypres, Passchendaele, the Somme and Vimy Ridge. And in many ways, Canada - then a country of 7 million people - would come of age. Almost 650,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in the "war to end all wars." One in 10 would not come home. (cbc.ca)
Amazing First World War photos uncovered - and for sale
An album of amazing photos taken by a WWI soldier has been discovered - and shows the men having a great time. They show the troops swimming, playing cycle polo and sightseeing - a far cry from the usual images of muddy trenches of the Western Front. The photos belonged to Wally Langrish, whose war took him in 1915 from Aldershot, Hampshire, to India and Mesopotamia. They show the soldier of the 1/9th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment - one of many territorial units replacing regular units that were called home - forming a football team in Bangalore and touring the Taj Mahal. (metro.co.uk)
Original Anzac book to be reprinted for a second time, with material left out earlier
Seven months into the Gallipoli campaign, war correspondent Charles Bean invited the diggers to submit poems, drawings and essays for a Christmas book. The process was promoted cash prizes worth 5 pounds. Bean got some 150 entries and The Anzac Book was published in 1916, selling an amazing 100,000 copies. It was published again in 1975 and now, in 2010, it has been republished for a second time. This time it includes material Bean judged inappropriate for publication, drawn from the archives of the Australian War Memorial. (ninemsn.com.au)
WWI film "Beneath Hill 60" tells the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company`s effort to mine beneath a German bunker
Beneath Hill 60 tells a true story of how Australia pulled off one of the great feats of the First World War. Instead of going over the sandbags, this war film is about a group of Australian miners sent to bring about one of the biggest explosions of the war. Beneath Hill 60 recounts the history of a battalion of Australian miners recruited to tunnel through a hill under German lines on France's Western Front in 1916. A massive blast, set off by the soldiers in the excavation, was the biggest man-made explosion recorded at the time - and heard as far away as London. (dailytelegraph.com.au)
Chinese on the Western Front
Chinese men on the Western Front? How did this happen, and why? 1914-1918, the governments of France and Britain used their diplomatic influence to hire thousands of Chinese labourers - and then shipped them to Europe to help the Allied war effort against the imperial Germany. Thousands died by enemy fire, a few were executed by their employers. On the 20th April, this almost forgotten First World War story will be the subject of a talk by Gordon Mar, who has researched his subject in Australia and Canada, and talked to relatives of some of the people involved. (cumberland-courier)
The diary of a World War I artilleryman who saw action at the Somme and Ypres
Clarence Percy Ahier served as an artilleryman at the Somme and Ypres in World War One. Many of those serving during the war recorded their memories - in spite of such act being a court martial offence. Some accounts became famous, and others were locked away in attics. Ahier's WW1 diary - donated to the Societe Jersiaise - falls into the second category. It tells his story from enlisting in 1915 through to the return to Jersey in 1919. Returning home in 1917 on leave, he was amazed how little people knew of the war: "It struck me very forcibly how little people over here realised what war was really like." (bbc.co.uk)
First World War medals found in Liverpool house may have been there since 1918
Three WWI medals discovered in the attic of a house being cleared out may have lain untouched since the end of the war in 1918. They were found at a house in Sedley Street, Anfield which had been lived in by the same woman for 45 years. She had no knowledge of the medals, and did not know the names of the previous residents. The three military medals are a silver medal, to mark the outbreak of war, a gold Victory medal to celebrate the defeat of Germany, and a cross-shaped campaign medal. They each have the name of Lance Corporal B Nicholson of the 11th Hussars. (liverpoolecho.co.uk)
Truce by Jim Murphy (book review)
Truce is a historical account of an unusual act of good will that took place during the First World War. On Christmas morning of 1914, along the Western Front the fighting stopped. There were no orders to that effect - the commanders on both sides had warned their soldiers to be on high alert for a holiday attack - but at many points along the front, soldiers from both sides met in the "No Man's Land", or were invited into the enemy's trenches. They exchanged greetings, shook hands, gave what meager gifts they could find - food, drink, cigarettes - and sang carols. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE] (the-trades.com)
The First World War (August 1914 to November 1918) is also known as the Great War, The War to End All Wars, World War I and WW1.
Many of the bloodiest battles in military history occurred during the First World War. In trench warfare hundreds of soldiers died for each yard of land captured. Artillery with fragmentation shells caused the most casualties and made massed infantry attacks futile.