Minor groups and Areas - First World War

Category: Minor groups and Areas --- See Latest World War I news here. See also 'World War I Archives', 'WWI Militaria', 'Tank of First World War'.

Tip & Run: The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa
"Tip & Run: The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa" by Edward Paice Phoenix challenges our focus on Europe as the main theatre of the First World War. The first British shots of the Great War were fired "by a regimental sergeant-major of the West African Frontier Force in Togoland, as Britain moved to neutralise the threat to shipping lanes posed by ... Germany's African colonies." The war as fought in Africa has been the theme of such fiction as William Boyd's An Ice-Cream War. But Paice is the first historian to devote the subject full attention with colossal research. [ timesonline :: 2008-02-23 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

They Came to Fight: African Americans and the Great World War
Members of the UMKC community gathered to recall and honor local and national contributions of African Americans during "the war to end all wars." The exhibition "They Came to Fight: African Americans and the Great World War" was put together by assistant professor of history Pellom McDaniels III. The exhibition covers both local Kansas City and national contributions of African Americans. Local historians Joelouis Mattox and Delbert White spoke with great respect to the memory of Private Wayne Miner - the last American soldier to die in World War I. He died a brave death by volunteering for a dangerous mission when no one else would. [ unews.com :: 2008-02-06 :: United States of America ]

The Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919: The Forgotten Revolution
On March 21st, 1919, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed. 133 days later, this chapter in the history of the Hungarian working class was brought to a close with the entry of the White Rumanian army into Budapest. Had the Hungarian proletariat succeeded, the isolation of the Russian Workers' Republic would have been brought to an end. Had the Hungarian workers' state managed to consolidate itself for just a few months longer, the flames of revolution would have engulfed Vienna and Berlin, where the working class was in a state of revolutionary ferment. The triumph of the German revolution would have changed the whole course of history. [ libcom :: 2007-09-05 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Choctaw Code Talkers to be Honored by TX Military Forces
The Texas Military Forces will honor the Choctaw "code talkers" of World War I during events on Camp Mabry Sept. 16. Less well known than the Navaho code talkers in World War II, The Choctaws pioneered the U.S. military's use of a Native American language to baffle enemy code-breakers. Lt. Gen. Charles G. Rodriguez, Adjutant General of Texas, will present 18 Lone Star Medals of Valor to the families of the Choctaw code talkers Sept. 16. During WWI, Choctaw Soldiers were organized into Company E of the 142nd Infantry Division, part of the Texas National Guard's 36th Infantry Division. [ kten :: 2007-08-16 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

East African - One of the fiercest, and most ignored, WWI theatres
Article no longer available from the original source.
"Seventeen letters to Tatham: A WW1 surgeon in East Africa" captures aspects of the World War I in East Africa which had been ignored by war historians. Ann Crichton-Harris - a granddaughter of a surgeon Dr Edward Temple Harris who served in the WW1 British army - has reconstructed the events that unfolded in the war. Dr Harris was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his contribution to the war effort, particularly during the first battle of Tanga Nov 1-5, 1914. Fascinated by some of the details in his letters, she embarked on a mission of recreating the WWI events in German East Africa that her grandfather had witnessed. [ allafrica :: 2007-06-12 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Honoured at last: Aboriginal war heroes
A rare ceremony to honour Aboriginal war veterans was held in Sydney, reviving memories of how shabbily they were treated after fighting for their country. 500 Aborigines volunteered for WW1: a large number, given the black population of 80,000. Up to 5,000 joined up for WW2. They included 4 brothers who fought in both world wars: and who were from a family recognised as having a service record unrivalled throughout the Commonwealth. The Aboriginal contribution to Australian military history is still not fully acknowledged. On Anzac Day indigenous veterans staged their own march through Redfern in protest at being ignored by veterans' groups. [ independent.co.uk :: 2007-06-02 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Cyprus Party Calls on EU to Recognise Pontic Greek Genocide
The Democratic Rally of Cyprus party (DISY) called on the EU and the international community to recognise the Pontian Greek Genocide of 1916-1923. "Historic events such as these must always remain in our memory." May 19, is Pontic Greek Genocide Day - term used to refer to the fate of Pontic Greeks during and in the aftermath of WWI. The term is used to refer to the massacres and death marches of Pontian Greek populations in the southeastern Black Sea provinces of the Ottoman Enpire. Greece and the Republic of Cyprus recognise it as a genocide. The US states of South Carolina, New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Illinois also recognise the events. [ aina :: 2007-05-26 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Australia's Aboriginals demand Anzac day equality
Australians marked their national holiday in memory of fallen soldiers as Aboriginal veterans broke with tradition to hold a rival service and demand equality for "coloured" warriors. But as medal-wearing veterans turned out for parades in cities, 300 Aboriginal veterans staged a separate "Coloured Diggers March" in Sydney. "Over there in the heat of the battle we were one, we were brothers. When a lot of our men came back from the war, they came back under the white Australia policy and they did not get the benefits of land grants or war pensions. It's those kinds of issues that are stored in our hearts." About 500 Aboriginals fought in WW1. [ news.com.au :: 2007-04-26 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Muslim graves vandalised in French Wrold War I military cemetery
Nazi inscriptions and swastikas have been daubed on 50 graves in the Muslim section of a military cemetery near Arras in France. The Notre-Dame de Lorette cemetery in Ablain Saint-Nazaire is one of France's biggest World War 1 military cemeteries and was built on the site of a battlefield where many French and German soldiers died between Oct 1914 and Oct 1915. None of the tombs were destroyed. During World War One, France mobilised 600,000 colonial subjects, including many Muslims from Algeria and Tunisia, of whom 78,000 were killed. [ tiscali :: 2007-04-20 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Black troops aboard ill-fated vessel in 1917 honoured
It took less time for the SS Mendi to sink during World War 1 in 1917 than it took to hold a memorial service for the 607 black troops on board the Mendi. The year 1917 marked South Africa's worst marine disaster. While sailing through fog on Feb 21, 1917, the troopship SS Mendi collided with the liner SS Darro in the English Channel. The Mendi sank in 20 minutes. Of the 802 members of the South African Native Labour Contingent, more than 600 drowned. The bravery showed under the Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dhyoba has been remembered through the years. The Darro, which despite the fog and not emitting warning signals, had been sailing at maximum speed. [ theherald :: 2007-02-20 :: Navy - Naval Forces & Battles ]

The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa
For the commander of the German army in east Africa, Major-General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the armistice of Nov 11 1918 did not come as a surprise. It did not come as anything at all, since von Lettow-Vorbeck, who unlike pretty well any other commander had succeeded in getting through that bloodbath undefeated, didn't believe the news. If the war was over then the result would have been favourable to Germany, he reasoned. When told by one Hector Croad, that the Kaiser had fled to Holland and Germany was a republic, the "Hindenburg of Africa" dismissed these as clearly outlandish propositions. [ guardian :: 2007-01-27 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Documentary Halfmoon Files: Voices of WW1 Indian soldiers
Somewhere in the archives of Berlin Humboldt University lie stacked sound recordings of Indian soldiers, who died lusting for a glimpse of their villages. Taken POWs in World War I by German troops and detained at the Halfmoon Camp at Wunsdorf, these soldiers could never come back. But 90 years after the voices of 3 Indian soldiers are back to search for their roots. Helping the ghost voices find a body is filmmaker Philip Scheffner, who has embarked upon a historic documentary titled 'The Halfmoon Files'. The film is trying to find more about soldiers who served in the Indian Army during WWI and were detained at the Halfmoon Camp. [ -tribuneindia :: 2006-11-20 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Bulgarian participation in World War One
It has been argued that the Bulgarian participation in the war on Oct 1 1915 after a year of weighing the pros and cons of either side was a continuation of the Balkan Wars and a hope to remain left alone by the great powers. The plan of PM Vasil Radoslavov was to make an alliance that would involve as little fighting and would yield as much land as possible. Catching the Entente by surprise, Bulgarian forces pushed the Serbs out of Macedonia and occupied part of Greek Macedonia by mid-1916. 500 000 allied troops from other fronts landed at Thessaloniki and halted the advance. [ sofiaecho :: 2006-11-18 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

The sacrifice of Sikh soldiers during the world war 1
Sikhs will gather in the Belgian town of Ypres on Nov 11, which marks the 88th anniversary of the end of the World War I, to commemorate the sacrifice of Sikh soldiers during the war. Around 80,000 Sikh troops fought in Belgium and France during World War 1. More than a quarter of these soldiers became casualties. In 1914 a platoon of Sikhs died fighting to the last man. [ yuku.com :: 2006-11-08 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

South Africans in WW1 -- Battle of the Delville Wood
The Delville Wood Battle was fought by South Africans. 90 years ago the South African brigade was called to capture Delville Wood in France. Thousands lost their lives in a fierce two-day battle in the woods dubbed by South African soldiers as the "Devil's Woods". "There were heavy casualties on the South African side, out of 3 153, only 705 South African soldiers came out of the woods. And out of that 705, 604 further were wounded … only 143 really came out unharmed out of the woods." [ sabcnews :: 2006-07-17 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Muslim dead of First World War -- Battle of Verdun
President Chirac has marked 90 years since the Battle of Verdun by unveiling a monument to Muslims who fell in the key WWI battle. The memorial is the first to Muslims who died in 300 days of clashes over the strategically located French town and in other World War I battles. France erected monuments in the 1930s to Jewish and Christian soldiers among the 300,000 who died at Verdun in 1916. Until now they have been honoured only by a small pillar dedicated to Africans who fought in the French army, and 592 graves in section of a war cemetery in the town of Douaumont near the battlefields. [ bbc :: 2006-06-26 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Neutrality of the Netherlands during 1914-1918 First World War
The challenges of a small country trying to protect itself from war are examined in a book by Dr Maartje Abbenhuis. The Art of Staying Neutral: The Netherlands in the First World War, 1914-1918, is the first in-depth study in English into the maintenance of neutrality by the Netherlands during World War I. "Despite their neutrality, the war had a big impact on the Dutch people, especially those living near the German or Belgian borders. They experienced the presence of troops, the constant threat of spies and smugglers, and barbed wire and electric fences which killed hundreds of people." [ auckland :: 2006-06-09 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

South African involvement in WW1 battles in East Africa
This year marks the 90th anniversary of South African involvement in WW1 in East Africa. It is hard to imagine the world of a century ago where Tanzania was German East Africa colony and Kenya was British East Africa. When war broke out in Europe in 1914, these two colonies found themselves at war. Neither the white settlers in either colony, nor the black people had any reason to attack one another. But at that time, loyalty to King or Kaiser was the only option. Black and white soldiers were shipped across the seas from India, Europe and from all over Africa. On the German side they were led by Von Lettow Vorbeck and on the Allied side by Jan Smuts. [ thestar :: 2006-05-19 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

West Indians who served in World Wars to be remembered
A special service to remember and honour the achievements of all West Indians who served during the two World Wars, will be held on May 21 in London. The service will be held at St Peters Church and will be followed by a reception at the West Indian Ex-Servicemen/Women Association (WIESA) headquarters, where a plaque will be unveiled in honour of 19 World War I servicemen whose graves were discovered in Seaford East, Sussex. It is estimated that more than 10,000 West Indian men and women served throughout the world in the British Forces during both World Wars. [ jamaicaobserver :: 2006-05-19 :: Minor groups and Areas ]

Czechoslovak legions formed in Russia, Italy and France
More than 100 graves and a mass grave with remains of Czechoslovak legionaires will be accessible to the public at the military cemetery in Vladivostok. Czechoslovak legions were formed in Russia, Italy and France during World War I. Their members were Czechs and Slovaks who were taken prisoner by the Allies or deserted the Austro-Hungarian forces. They became entangled in the civil war in Russia against their will. It is estimated that up to 50,000 Czechs and Slovaks passed through Russia in the years 1918-20. More than 4000 soldiers have never returned. [ praguemonitor :: 2006-05-12 :: Austro-Hungarian Empire ]

Sacred land of Ulster's brave
The government has given the Somme Association a grant to buy Thiepval Wood in France. The site is where members of the 36th Ulster Division fought during the Battle of the Somme. So why does this land mean so much to people from Northern Ireland? Thiepval Wood is sacred land and when you walk into this small forest you quickly get a sense of what life was like in 1916. This was home to the 36th Ulster Division and in eight decades it has remained largely untouched. Grenades, unexploded shells and bodies lie buried, hidden away. The trenches are visible - dozens of them criss-cross the forest floor. [ bbc :: 2003-07-02 :: Battle of the Somme ]

First World War in the News is an edited review of hand-picked World War I 1914-1918 articles.