Articles from 1919
Attached herein are diagrams of three World War I shrapnel artillery shells designed for use on land. The illustrator provided precise details concerning the mechanism of each – the precise operation of the percussion fuse, the time ring, the location of the acid and the essential shrapnel projectiles.
Shrapnel Shells (Freedom’s Triumph, 1919) Read More »
It is often believed that the Germans were the first to use chemical weapons during the Great War, but historians like to point out that they were second to the French in this matter: in August of 1914, French infantry fired tear-gas grenades and in October, the Germans one-upped them with chemical artillery shells during the battle of Neuve Chapelle. However, the Germans are properly credited for being the first of the combatants to use chemical artillery with the most devastating effect. On April 22, 1915, the German Army hurled 520 gas shells at British and Canadian units in Belgium, killing five thousand and incapacitating ten thousand more. Following this historic incident, both sides began producing large amounts of gas shells and, of course, gas masks. The following is a black and white diagram depicting five different German gas artillery shells that were manufactured to be fired from a number of different guns of varying calibers.
W.W. I Gas Shells of the German Army (Almanach Hachette, 1919) Read More »
Attached is a remembrance that was written by a Canadian infantryman who participated in the capture of a German sniper in Flanders:
We wasted no time on the return journey but hustled Fritz along at a brisk pace…Like most of his breed there was a wide ‘yellow streak’ in this baby-killer and he cried ‘Kamerad’ instantly. By the time the lieutenant had secured his prisoner’s rifle our barrage was falling and, under its protection, he began his march back with the prisoner, and met us before he had gone twenty-five yards…The prisoner expected to be killed at once and begged piteously for his life, saying ‘he had a wife and three children.’ One of the men replied that if he had his way he would make it a ‘widow and three orphans.’
A German Sniper Captured (What the Boys Did Over There, 1919) Read More »
A short news item named the three American officers who served over there long enough to be granted the adornment of a fourth overseas chevron. Each gold wire chevron, worn on the lower left cuff, represented a single six month period served in theater; the vast majority of A.E.F. uniforms had anywhere between one and three sewn in place.
A Fourth Overseas Chevron for Some (The Stars and Stripes, 1919) Read More »
The production of the overseas cap for the American Expeditionary Forces was likewise an extensive undertaking. When the requisition for overseas caps came from France, it was not possible to design one here because of a lack of knowledge as to what was required… As soon as [a] sample was received a meeting of cap makers was called in New York, and 100 manufacturers attended. One and all agreed to turn over their factories to the exclusive production of overseas caps until all requirements were met. It took these cap makers only two weeks to to turn out the first order. In all 4,972,000 caps were delivered.
The concluding paragraph contains more venomous comments as to what these American milliners thought of the lid.
From Amazon: America’s Munitions, 1917-1918
Manufacturing the Overseas Cap (America’s Munitions, 1919) Read More »
The production of the overseas cap for the American Expeditionary Forces was likewise an extensive undertaking. When the requisition for overseas caps came from France, it was not possible to design one here because of a lack of knowledge as to what was required… As soon as [a] sample was received a meeting of cap makers was called in New York, and 100 manufacturers attended. One and all agreed to turn over their factories to the exclusive production of overseas caps until all requirements were met. It took these cap makers only two weeks to to turn out the first order. In all 4,972,000 caps were delivered.
The concluding paragraph contains more venomous comments as to what these American milliners thought of the lid.
From Amazon: America’s Munitions, 1917-1918
Manufacturing the Overseas Cap (America’s Munitions, 1919) Read More »
London’s post-World War I art world was rocked by a scandal involving a number forged drawings which were misleadingly signed with the name Aubrey Beardsley (1872 – 1898). This piece captures that moment.
Art Sacandal: Aubrey Beardsley Forged (Vanity Fair, 1919) Read More »
This advertisement was placed in an American veteran’s magazine as an attempt to produce some profit from the vast surplus of uniform items that remained in all the combatant nations at war’s end. Puttees, unlike other uniform items, enjoyed a brief moment in fashion’s spotlight during the late teens and much the twenties as an accessory for those who enjoyed camping and hunting (or simply wished to affect the look).
Also included is a fashion photograph of puttees from a VANITY FAIR fashion editorial from 1917
A Puttee Advertisement (The American Legion Weekly, 1919) Read More »
Fashion, like all empires, has it’s slaves. The slaves are treated cruelly but, strangely, they never seem to mind; they do what ever is required of them. Many are the examples of fashion’s tyranny: in the past it has demanded that it’s slaves wear cowboy boots, although none could rope a steer, and it has demanded of it’s slaves that they wear uniforms, although none could fight. In fashion’s name the slaves have removed ribs and teeth, reduced or enlarged body parts, dyed hair cross-dressed and tattooed themselves like jail-birds. The slaves do it all and there seems to be no limit to fashion’s fickle whims that will ever make them say, no.
To illustrate this point, you can read this beautifully illustrated Vogue magazine article from 1919 in which the beast demands perfectly healthy young women to walk with canes.
Paris Puts a Stick in the Mode…(Vogue Magazine, 1919) Read More »
A thumbnail history of the United States Army Ambulance Service, which first arrived in June of 1917.
All through the hard French fighting of 1917 the 6,000 American ambulance drivers kept steadily at work in every sector of the French front. It was not until March, 1918, that the first sections of the service found themselves helping in battles with the fighting regiments of their own Army.
Many of the volunteers were college men, such as the poet E.E. Cummings, who wrote an interesting account of his days as an ambulance driver during the war.
American Ambulance Volunteers in the Service of France (The Stars and Stripes, 1919) Read More »
