Articles from 1919
Being the story of the second of the three splendid achievements of the United States Navy in the World War: the laying of the greatest submarine mine barrier in all history, which effectually prevented the Kaiser’s U-boats from leaving their secret bases for the steamer lanes of the Atlantic.
It was Lt. Commander Norman Wilkinson (1878 – 1971) of the Royal Navy who deduced that white (reflecting blue at night) was a suitable base color for naval camouflage. Wilkinson based his reasoning on the snow-capped iceberg that made such quick work of TITANIC, remembering all the while that seagulls are white, as are pelicans and the Antarctic Petrels. When the war broke out, his findings were presented to the Admiralty and it was concluded that elements of the North Atlantic fleet should be so painted. They added the black in order that the ships appear gray on the horizon.
This paragraph was lifted from a longer article regarding the battle-savvy Native Americans of World War One and it supports the claims made in 1918 by a number of anonymous allied POW’s who reported seeing female soldiers in German machine gun crews toward the close of the war. The article appeared after the Armistice and this was a time when The Stars and Stripes editors were most likely to abstain from printing patriotic hooey.
If you would like to read another article about women combatants in W.W. II, click here.
A spirited commentary concerning how the African-American Doughboys came to see France, rather than their own homeland, as the land of equality and liberty. It was written by Oscelo E. McKaine, who was serving as a second lieutenant in the all-black 92nd Division. In later life he would play an important roll in the South Carolina civil rights movement.
Read an article about racial integration in the U.S. military.
An excellent cartoon that serves to illustrate the difficulty that the American suffragettes had to overcome in post World War I America. Following the demobilization of so many women who played vital roles during the course of the war, the next task at hand was to see to it that her fathers, brothers and uncles understood that these veterans of the war expected greater opportunity and would not reside gladly in the same world of low-expectations that saw them off at the docks in 1917
The three great military monarchies which have lately fallen to pieces – Russian, Austro-Hungarian and German – were all based upon an aristocracy of large landed properties, whereas the other European countries had become parliamentary and democratic states. Europe was thus divided between two political orders, founded on two social orders, in fact, into two different worlds between which the river Elbe was approximately the boundary…
The war proved a decisive test of the stability of the two social orders; the democratic states went through it without flinching, the monarchies which had which had engendered the war in the hope of strengthening their position have gone under; from their defeat has sprung the revolution, which is overthrowing all aristocracies.
Click here to read a 1916 VANITY FAIR article about how the war had affected the British upper class.
This article in a 1919 issue of THE NEW YORK TIMES that told the history of Negro infantry units during the First World War. It concerns the combat record of the American 92nd and 93rd Divisions – units that were dubbed ‘Schwartz Teufel’ (black devils) by the luckless Germans who stood in the opposite trenches.
The negro soldiers of the United States arrived late on the field of battle, but in more than sufficient time to make Germany feel the strength of their arm. In all 83,000 Negroes were drafted for service in the National Army sent overseas. More than 626 of the 1,250 colored men who completed their course of training were commissioned as officers in the United States Army; nearly 100 negro physicians and surgeons received commissions as officers in the Medical Reserve Corps and a full 30,000 men constituted the 92nd Division detailed for duty in France under General Pershing. The total number of Negro combat troops was 42,000.
Click here to read an article about the African soldiers of the French Colonial Army.
One of the most romantic figures of the entire war was Thomas Lawrence, a young Oxford graduate who had specialized in archeology… To Colonel Lawrence more than any other man was due the efficient organization of the Hejaz Army. He worked in perfect harmony with King Hussein and Prince Faisal, to whom he was second in command.
The Germans and Turks alike soon discovered the presence of this young Englishman among their Arabic opponents in the desert and, realizing the menace of his mysterious and amazing successes, put a price of $5000,000 upon his head.
Blonde as a Viking, he walked about the streets of Jerusalem or other cities, in full panoply of Arab royal costume, plunged in some inner dream.
Read other articles from 1919.
At the time this magazine profile first appeared in 1919, P.G. Wodehouse
Click here to read magazine articles about D.W. Griffith.
Here is another account from The Enemy Order of Battle report (1919) – on this page two experienced German veterans recalled their unit’s battles with the American infantry:
American soldiers took big chances and [did so] irrespective of any danger.
