1917 – Page 10 – Old Magazine Articles

The German Blockhouse
(L’Illustration, 1917)

Here is an architectural plan and a photograph of a German blockhouse that was constructed in Flanders during 1917. The Historian John Laffin is very informative on this subject when he refers to it in his 1997 book, The Western Front Companion:

Blockhouses generally measured 30 ft. along the front, with a width of 10 ft. They were sunk three feet into the ground and stood 7 feet above it. The front was up to 30 inches thick. Massively strong, a blockhouse was virtually impervious to shell-fire; even a heavy shell would merely knock a large chip off the edge.

This article appears on this site by way of a special agreement with L’Illustration.

World War I Zeppelins at War
(L’Illustration, 1917)

Attached are two wartime illustrations from a French magazine that depict the artist’s understanding of the frantic life on board a zeppelin that is under attack from enemy aircraft.

The Interior of a Zeppelin’s Gondola
(L’Illustration, 1917)

A black and white photograph depicting the gondola interior of the German zeppelin 49, that was brought down over Bourbonne-les-Bains, France in 1917. At the center of the image is the pilot’s wheel and off to the right sits the zeppelin’s bombsite.

The Army Insignia of the World War I French Army
(1917)

A New Propaganda Delivery Sysytem
(Literary Digest, 1917)

Photographs of a small, hand-held helium balloon being loaded with German translations of President Wilson’s April (1917) war address in order that they might be released over the German trenches. This small notice makes clear that this particular method of persuasion resulted in fifty Germans surrendering.

Germany Introduces the Leather Gas Mask
(Popular Mechanics, 1917)

A year and a half before the end of World War I, the German Army introduced the Lederschutzmasken, a leather gas mask made of specially treated Bavarian sheepskin with removable lenses. Designed to replace the rubberized cloth gas masks, the 1917 respirators proved to be far more effective against phosgene gas than the 1915 masks. The Allied powers dismissed the new design as evidence that material shortages on the German home front were forcing changes.

Click here to read about the celebrations that took place in Paris the day World War One ended.

Belva Ann Lockwood: Pioneer Sufragette
(The Literary Digest
(1917)

Attached herein is the obituary of a remarkable woman and early feminist: Belva Lockwood (1830 – 1917) was the first woman lawyer to argue a case before the United States Supreme Court. A graduate of Genesee College, she was the nominee from the Equal Rights Party of the Pacific to run for President during the 1884 U.S. election.

British Officer’s Uniform Insignia
(Bovril Booklet, 1917)

Attached you will find five black and white drawings illustrating the British Army sleeve insignia worn throughout the First World War.

Czarevitch Alexis
(The Atlanta Georgian, 1917)

Here is a terribly unflattering and premature report concerning the death of the Romanov heir, Czarevitch Alexis (1904 – 1918). Although he would not actually be murdered until the July of 1918, this article reports that his death was entirely due to poor health.

The Elsie Janis Cocktail
(Vanity Fair, 1917)

Anticipating the onslaught of prohibition, the actress Elsie Janis (1889 – 1956; also known as, The Sweetheart of the A.E.F) understood that, even with the absence of alcohol in the United States, boys and girls, men and women would continue their pursuit of love, marriage and divorce.