Unseen World War I Photos: German Trenches

boingboing ^ | Dean Putney

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I read that 50,000 British were killed in ONE DAY during WW1

First day of the Somme Offensive in 1916. 57,000 British casualties, of which a little over 19,000 were killed.

There are descriptions of the men climbing out of the trenches and advancing into the machine gun fire. They leaned forward, like men walking into a heavy rain.

[kearnyirish2]

“I read that 50,000 British were killed in ONE DAY during WWI, not with firebombings or an A-bomb, but with shells and bullets - and generally, they had their officers (i.e., the upper class) at the front of the line, not the back.”

It was the beginning of the battle of the Somme in 1916; they lost 60,000 killed and wounded on the first day. The officers that led were low-ranking officers (one was kicking a soccer ball as he led them out of the trench); the senior officers knew it was a deliberate sacrifice to draw German troops away from the French fortress at Verdun (which was close to collapsing). It worked, but the price was horrific; supposedly by the end of the first day British troops weren’t even running for the German trenches anymore. They’d walk towards them until they were shot.

The attack was bungled from the start; a mine that was supposed to explode under the German trenches as the British troops approached blew up before they left their own trenches; this alerted the Germans and let them move up additional machine guns.

[kearnyirish2]

“European culture has never been the same since WW I...And for what and why?”

Europe had turned its back on its Christian roots; after WWI fascist (not Nazi) states tried to re-claim them, but only Spain and Portugal were really successful (until the 1970s).

Anyone who is familiar with the world wars and still enlists is naive; too many of our servicemen today were alive when BJ Clinton attacked Serbia to keep his sexual trysts out of the news. People in Serbia were killed - for nothing. A friend has a son serving now; he took comfort in the fact that he wasn’t in a bad place and he’d be OK. I told him I’d be just as concerned that he might kill people who’d done nothing wrong.

[kearnyirish2]

“I interpreted his meaning the Iron Crosses awarded in “The Great War” were untainted compared to those awarded in WW2 to those soldiers who no doubt ranked an such an honor but were done in association with horrible war crimes.”

Hitler went so far as to exempt Jews who’d received the Iron Cross in WWI from persecution; while he thought they were foreigners, he respected that they felt and thought of themselves as Germans (and proved it in combat).

[Lx]

Hitler earned his iron crosses in WWI where by all accounts he was a brave soldier. Or nuts and not worried about the danger. I vote for nuts.

[american_ranger]

You are exactly right.

He was saying his Iron Cross was won by his sacrifices for his country.

WWII’s Iron Crosses were given out for sacrifices for the NAZI party and Hitler.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Very interesting about ol’ Walter. It’s been a long time, but now that you mention it I seem to recall something similar from my old golfing buddies. Or perhaps it’s just the power of suggestion. Anyway, thanks for that.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks nickcarraway, very unusual!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Bubba Ho-Tep.

Comprising the main Allied attack on the Western Front during 1916, the Battle of the Somme is famous chiefly on account of the loss of 58,000 British troops (one third of them killed) on the first day of the battle, 1 July 1916, which to this day remains a one-day record. The attack was launched upon a 30 kilometre front, from north of the Somme river between Arras and Albert, and ran from 1 July until 18 November, at which point it was called off.

The offensive was planned late in 1915 and was intended as a joint French-British attack. The French Commander in Chief, Joffre, conceived the idea as a battle of attrition, the aim being to drain the German forces of reserves, although territorial gain was a secondary aim.

The plan was agreed upon by the new British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, although Haig would have preferred an offensive among the open ground of Flanders. [http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm]

An Allied myth that persists to this day is that the Germans were "running out of men" -- basically British and French propaganda that was nevertheless believed by both the civilian populations (who otherwise might have balked by 1916) and all the way up the chain of command. The Somme Offensive was just feeding the flower of British manpower into the German guns until the BEF was wrecked. Call-ups for more men -- because the Germans were running out of men -- went not only to Canada, but throughout the British Empire.

The British and French used that "running out of men" argument to bring Italy and Romania into the war -- Romania lasted about four weeks, Italy seemed to make headway, then experienced the same kind of counterattacks suffered by the other Allies, and they were driven back to their start line and beyond, and hollered for help. The British had to shift manpower into the Italian front, the reverse of what they wanted or expected.

In the 1890s the German military thinkers had realized that, if another war broke out, the likelihood was that they'd be fighting on at least two fronts and outnumbered something like 4:1, and both of those turned out to be spot on. To prepare against this eventuality, they'd modernized field guns and built them in what was then incredible numbers; one-man weapons were improved and standardized, and instead of sending men to the front laden with food and utensils, sent them with burdens of ammo, overwhelming superior enemy numbers with firepower, and cycling their troops out of the battle line for rest, meals, and sleep.

Only when the US entered the war did Germany casualty rates rise to the levels suffered by the Allies; the collapse of the Russian Empire led to a massive reinforcement of the west, but morale sagged as the years of war went on, and the very successful tactics looked too much like "paying for the same real estate twice".

A quick look at the rapidity of mobilization and rearmament of Germany leading into World War II -- and the huge army the country managed to raise -- shows that German losses had quite obviously not been nearly as bad as their adversaries'.

Google image search Battle of the Somme

[Yorlik803]

For all his faults, Hitler earned those awards and after he was “Elected” chancellor didnt award himself any other medals.
The German military was very strict about who was given the Iron Cross at the beginning of the war. It was a high honor.

[Flag_This]

"For all his faults, Hitler earned those awards and after he was “Elected” chancellor didnt award himself any other medals."

I always wondered how he only made it to corporeal after four years of combat.

[Skooz]

bump for later

[Yorlik803]

Don’t know...He volunteered to be a runner and that job wasn’t very healthy.

[Flag_This]

"Don’t know...He volunteered to be a runner and that job wasn’t very healthy."

Exactly - so there should have been plenty of attrition in his unit leading to his necessary advancement. It is odd that he did not advance.

I remember reading a book several years ago and, if I remember correctly, one of the guys in his unit moved to the United States after WWI and this guy eventually supplied info to U.S. intelligence to help them try and build a profile of Hitler. This man related that Hitler would have had no problem fitting into obama's new military.

[Yorlik803]

I have read that Hitler wasn’t really too popular with his comrades in arms.
I think Hitler’s nephew also provided intel on his uncle.
As for Hitler fitting in with Obamas regime, I don’t know. Hitler was big on military spending and was anti-gay.

[Flag_This]

"Hitler was big on military spending and was anti-gay."

That was the allegation made against him - that he had been caught cuddled up with another soldier. During the "Night of the Long Knives" there were several people who were killed that were not S.A. or military. One of those people was an innkeeper who owned an inn that Hitler used to frequent. It was speculated that he may have seen too much.

[Yorlik803]

Wow.....So Hitler and Obama have a lot in common then.
Both are ass pirates.

[TheRhinelander]

Yeah, many of the main battles that were supposedly “won” by the allies, the Germans lost less men.

The BEF was decimated fairly early in the war.

[blam]

Thanks.

Please, put me on your ping list if you have more of these coming.

[RedMonqey]

Hitler went so far as to exempt Jews who’d received the Iron Cross in WWI from persecution;

"Exempt masy be too strong a word.

At best it bought Jewish heroes time

IIRC, the German army, of which the officer corp were largely "Prussians" and saw itself as professionals and above party politics, objected to many of mad ideas of Hitler's Brownshirt boys, and I believe it was more of appeasement to keep the Army at least not activelky against his plans.

In the end, an iron cross was no protection against being sent to the ovens.

Little known fact: There were not a few "Jewish" Nazis.

German Jews, which no doubt include Iron Cross medalists, joined the Nazi party because they thought of themselves as German first and Jews second, they were middleclass and saw the current government as weak and the Nazis were seen as an bulwark against Communisn, just as much of Germany did...