A World Undone
Page 80
“Shall I live till morning”: Macdonald, Somme, 49.
Nearly seven thousand of them died: Tim Travers, “July 1, 1916: The Reason Why,” in Cowley, 327.
“The ground where I stood”: Johnson, 67.
“The attack must be made in waves”: Travers, “July 1,” in Cowley, 329.
“Fancy advancing against heavy fire”: Ibid, 321.
“We were surprised to see them walking”: Mosier, 235.
“The infantry rushed forward”Lewis, 215.
the Thirty-fourth Division: Middlebrook, 248.
At Beaumont-Hamel: Casualty figures are in Travers, “July 1,” in Cowley, 326.
The number of casualties: Numbers are in Middlebrook, 244. The following casualty figures from Waterloo and Normandy are in Middlebrook, 246.
German losses for the first day: Travers, “July 1,” in Cowley, 327.
It had torn open the defenses: Ibid., 324.
“speed, dash and tactical brains”: Falls, 200.
“no serious advance is to be made”: Johnson, 63.
“Tsar of the land of Russia”: Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra, 374.
“Whatever pride I had”: Cowley, 354.
On July 2 Haig: Middlebrook, 225.
Evert had a thousand guns: Artillery numbers and the Russian and German casualties that follow are in Stone, 260-61.
In four days he took: Ibid., 261.
On July 10, in a final lunge: Horne, Price, 296.
“Those who went outside were killed”: Austin, 4: 247.
His plan this time was to send: The size of Rawlinson’s attack force and the German defense is in Liddell Hart, Real War, 240.
“Although most Australian soldiers were optimists”: Ibid., 244.
He struck at the Turkish Third Army: Falls, 248.
Three months earlier the Germans: Numbers of German divisions in the East and West in May and August 1916 are in Mosier, 252.
The Austrians were on the defensive: Casualties for the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo are in Banks, 201.
To complete the picture, French General Sarrail: Mosier, 255.
On August 27 Romania issued a declaration: The size of the Romanian force invading Transylvania and of the Austrian forces defending is in Stone, 274, and Liddell Hart, Real War, 264.
The addition to the Entente of Romania: The size of Romania’s military forces is in Mosier, 254. Stone, 264, says Romania had six hundred and twenty thousand soldiers.
It was untrained and disorganized: The Romanian makeup order is in Stone, 265.
Whole armies were being hurried: Train numbers are in ibid.
The commander of this fortress: The Turtukai episode is in ibid., 276.
“this will be our Verdun”: Ibid., 277.
Only sixty of the new machines: Liddell Hart, Real War, 245.
“My poor ‘land battleships’ ”: Gilbert, Churchill, 3: 810.
The Guards, a hundred and thirty-four thousand of the best: Details of the Kovel offensive are in Rutherford, 213-15, and Stone, 261-63.
It burned out of control: the Tavannes Tunnel disaster and its casualties are in Horne, Price, 305-7.
Again Haig used his tanks: Neillands, 285.
On October 19, satisfied: French artillery preparations are in Horne, Price, 308 and 314.
Nor was Haig quite finished: Isonzo casualties for 1917 are in Banks, 201.
On November 13 the British detonated: The number of British divisions is in Liddell Hart, Real War, 247; the number of German prisoners is in Falls, 206.
Casualties on the Somme totaled: The facts about British, French, and German casualties are explored at length in Mosier, 241.
“The first principle in position warfare”: Cowley, 350.
Since their government’s declaration: Casualties of the Romanian campaign are in Mosier, 260.
Over the next year and a half: Amounts of materials extracted from Romania in 1917 and 1918 are in Stone, 265.
Meaningless as it was: The story of the bleating French troops is in Horne, Price, 318.
PART FIVE
1917: Things Fall Apart
Three books with suggestively divergent subtitles--Ludendorff, Genius of World War I by D. J. Goodspeed, Ludendorff, The Tragedy of a Military Mind by Karl Tschuppik, and Tormented Warrior: Ludendorff and the Supreme Command by Roger Parkinson--become increasingly valuable as the war enters 1917 and their subject emerges as something very like a military dictator of Germany. In dealing with the Western Front in 1917, the author found much of value in The Defeat of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 by Rod Paschall and In Flanders Fields: The 1917 Campaign by Leon Wolff. Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-1918 by Anthony Clayton is a helpful guide to its subject at this stage in the war, The War to End All Wars by Edward M. Coffman and Illusion of Victory by Thomas Fleming to America’s entry into the conflict.
“victory over the military powers”: Gleichen, 117.
“put our trust rather”: Gilbert, First World War, 303.
“economic, military and political”: Parkinson, 114.
“a likeness between the two”: Gleichen, 278.
“the reorganization of Europe”: Woodward, 237.
“Our position was extremely difficult”: Ludendorff’s words are in Tschuppik, 66.
Almost the only general inconvenience: Data on lost coal production are in Ferguson, 250.
Problems had arisen, inevitably: Heyman, 199.
The situation was worse in Britain: Ibid, 197.
A decline in nutrition manifested itself: Tuberculosis data are in Ferguson, 277.
Russia was increasingly unsuccessful: Refugee numbers are in Stevenson, Cataclysm, 234.
The infant mortality rate doubled: Hours spent by women working and standing in line, and the numbers that follow on strikes in January and February 1917, are in ibid, 249.
As early as October 1914 ten thousand horses: Herwig, 274.
Nine million animals perished: Ferguson, 276.
Before the war Germany had been importing: Herwig, 272.
As this input dwindled: The decline in German grain production is in Ferguson, 251.
Food prices rose 130 percent: The Berlin percentage increase is in Herwig, 286, the Vienna increase in Herwig, 276.
Even for industrial workers: German wage increase percentage is in Stevenson, Cataclysm, 305.
The chief physician at one of Berlin’s: The doctor’s estimate is in a report by an American journalist excerpted in Thoumin, 274.
The average daily adult intake: Asprey, German High Command, 314.
Deaths from lung disease increased: Ferguson, 277.
“One of the most terrible”: Wolff, 22.
A German who was a schoolboy: Arthur, 200.
Even the expected bounty: Percentage increase from Romanian exports is in Wolff, 251.
“I will give Your Majesty my word”: Gilbert, First World War, 306.
“the only means of carrying the war”: Parkinson, 123.
“I declared myself incompetent”: Tschuppik, 87.
Holtzendorff estimated that the submarines: Stevenson, Cataclysm, 213.
Even in January, while still allowing: Gilbert, First World War, 306.
The lifting of restrictions became effective: Tons of merchant shipping sunk February through June 1917 are in Stevenson, Cataclysm, 264.
Under prodding from Erich Ludendorff: Details of the Auxiliary Service Law are in Herwig, 263;the increases in gunpowder and weapons production are in the same work, 260.
“not fighting, but famine”: Ferguson, 9.
“socially and economically futile”: Angell, 72.
“As long as there are goods and labor”: Keynes’s words are in Strachan, First World War, 817.
By 1917 the German government’s expenditures: British, French, and German government spending as a percent of net national product is in Stevenson, Cataclysm, 179.The percentages of Britain’s and the German federal government’s budgets covered by tax revenues are in Catacl
ysm, 180.
Eventually it borrowed £568 million: Strachan, First World War, 956.
This accomplished nothing: The percentage of Russia’s prewar tax revenue provided by the vodka monopoly is in Stevenson, Cataclysm, 181.
Germany issued war bonds twice: Ibid., 182.
By April 1917 the British were spending: Strachan, First World War, 975.
It is estimated that the war ultimately cost: numbers are in Stevenson, Cataclysm, 183.
Though the extent of the withdrawal: The dimensions of the withdrawal are in Johnson, 96, and Parkinson, 126.
Three hundred and seventy thousand men: The numbers of men and trains used to construct the new line are in Herwig, 250.
“The decision to retreat”: Parkinson, 127.
The army itself was restructured: The number of newly created divisions is in Mosier, 269.
The Hindenburg Line would be twenty-five miles: The number of miles the front was shortened is in Johnson, 96; the number of divisions and batteries freed is in Herwig, 250.
At the start of 1917 the Germans had: The number of men is in Liddell Hart, Real War, 298; the number of divisions in Herwig, 247.
It was to be yet another massive offensive: The number of divisions planned for the Entente attack is in Paschall, 29.
This trench was almost ten feet deep: a physical description of the new defenses is in Herwig, 251.
They also agreed that they would wait until May: British generals (most importantly Haig and Robertson) would later claim that the plan approved at Chantilly called for the attack to begin in February 1917, which would have made the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line impossible and allowed the subsequent Flanders attack to take place before the onset of seasonal rains. This version of events has been accepted by historians ever since. Denis Winter, however, using documents not available until half a century after the war, offers persuasive evidence that the Chantilly conference ended in agreement to launch the joint offensives in May. The examination of this issue is in Winter, Haig’s Command, 70-84.
“legacy of inevitable disaster”: Lloyd George’s words are in Wolff, 37.
“cur”: Ibid., 40.
The death blow would be delivered: The number of divisions planned for Nivelle’s Mass of Maneuver is in Johnson, 92.
The only difficulty was the question of timing: The difficulties over when to start the Nivelle offensive, and the final compromise, are in Winter, Haig’s Command, 76.
“The French put forward a terrible scheme”: Ibid., 83. Haig’s letters are important as one part of Winter’s demonstration that Lloyd George did not propose the appointment of a French supreme commander as Haig would later claim.
“This is a plan for the army”: Clayton, 125.
“However the world pretends”: Haste, 81.
London alone had sixteen daily papers: Ibid., 29.
Germany had four thousand: Welch, 29.
“a war in which we risk everything”: Ferguson, 216.
“an anti-German frame of mind”: Haste, 5.
“of such a nature as is calculated”: Ibid., 83.
“the new philosophy of Germany”: Ibid.
The unprecedented sum of £240,000: Ibid., 40.
“Good propaganda must keep well ahead”: Welch, 195.
When Joffre fell and was succeeded: The number of Russian divisions to be involved in the 1917 joint offensive is in Rutherford, 235.
General Sir Henry Wilson, a senior member: Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra, 388.
“by terrorist methods if there is”: Taylor, Dynasties, 257.
“Lovy, be firm”: Radzinsky, 174.
“I order that the disorders”: Nicholas’s message is in Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra, 400.
He showed concern only for his wife: The size of the rebelling garrison is in Radzinsky, 180.
“whoever now dreams of peace”: Taylor, Dynasties, 290.
“God in heaven, it’s like”: Palmer and Wallis, 290.
He set a quota of two hundred thousand transfers: The size of the quota, and the number of Belgians deported, are in Asprey, German High Command, 317.
The originators of the plan: The numbers are in Goodspeed, 197.
“All this is really no business of mine”: Parkinson, 119.
WE INTEND TO BEGIN UNRESTRICTED: Tuchman, Zimmermann Telegram, 146.
“I am finished with politics”: Ibid., 149.
The House approved a War Resolution: The vote totals are in Ferrell, 2.
“Age-old subduers and punishers”: Taylor, Dynasties, 262.
“love of freedom”: Tolstoy, 46.
The Germans meanwhile, aware: The number of German divisions is in Paschall, 46.
The offensive began on April 9: The number of attacking armies is in Clayton, 128.
Their dimensions are apparent in the details: The trainloads of rock are in Paschall, 33, and the number of guns and heavy mortars in Paschall, 38.
“We moved forward, but the conditions”: Arthur, 206.
Entente casualties had been fairly light: The average of four thousand per day is in Johnson, 119.
Haig had grounds for claiming success: Prisoner and captured gun numbers are in Wolff, 62.
By the time it all ended: Casualty figures are in Evans, Battles, 35.
“I had looked forward”: Parkinson, 129.
Nivelle had three armies that among them: Division and troop totals are in Herwig, 327.
But twenty-seven divisions were held back: The size of the Mass of Maneuver is in Paschall, 33, and the number of German line and reserve divisions in Paschall, 46.
One hundred and twenty-eight: Tank numbers are in Clayton, 129.
“A snow squall swept our position”: Lewis, 286.
“Peace!Down with war!”: Herwig, 329.
“What, you try to make me responsible”: Marshall, 211.
By the time the offensive: French and German casualty figures are in Herwig, 329.
Within six weeks of its start: The words of the unnamed officer are in Clayton, 130.
Approximately five hundred of them: Various writers give exact but widely differing numbers.For example, Clayton, 134, says 499 were condemned and twenty-seven were executed; the corresponding numbers in Herwig are “between 500 and 600” and “perhaps as many as 75”.
“not forgetting the fact”: Clayton, 134.
The U-boat campaign was at its height: Tons of shipping sunk in April 1917 is in Herwig, 318.
“the most important and wide-ranging”: Hynes, 11.
“a purification, a liberation”: Tuchman, Guns of August, 311.
“this abyss of blood and darkness”: Ibid, 3.
“If I should die, think only this of me”: Silkin, 81.
“Let him who thinks that War is a glorious”: Hynes, 112.
“the patriotic sentiment was so revolting”: Ibid, 36.
“tremendous experiences”: Winter, Sites of Memory, 160.
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”: Ward, 21.
By late spring: Rutherford, 248.
“I have co-signed the protocol”: Feldman, 34.
“in complete accord”: Farrar, Divide and Conquer, 80.
“Congress will not permit”: Coffman, 8.
Until a gradual buildup was authorized: 1916 troop totals and the provisions of the National Defense Act are in Eisenhower, 22 and 23.
The nation’s distrust of military establishments: Ibid, 22.
Thirty-two training camps: Coffman, 30.
“It is evident that a force”: Ibid, 127.
“in Flanders the weather broke early”: Wolff, 81.
“You can fight in mountains”: Ibid, 79.
General Sir Herbert Plumer: Ypres as the scene of one-fourth of BEF casualties 1914-16 is in ibid, 83.
One of the mines was discovered: Paschall, 62, says five hundred tons of explosives were placed under the ridge. Herwig, 330, and Liddell Hart, Real War, 331, both put the total at six hundred tons. Johnson, 126, gives a
total of “nearly four hundred tons,” and Wolff, 90, gives a most improbable figure of one million tons.
“When I heard the first deep rumble”: Lewis, 292.
“We got out of the tank”: Arthur, 217.
Plumer’s infantry took possession: The number of Germans killed is estimated at ten thousand to twenty thousand in various sources. Mosier, 281, offers evidence that the total is not likely to have been as high as ten thousand.
“I shall name it to no one”: Bonham-Carter, 5.
“overrule the military and naval authorities”: Wolff, 118.
“Yesterday we saw heavy fighting”: Palmer and Wallis, 292.
Though not nearly as large as what: The numbers are in Rutherford, 250.
Russian casualties had been almost trivial: Ibid., 254.
“The Reichstag strives”: Feldman, 42.
“The danger of speaking out”: Bruun, 121.
“So long as victory is possible”: Jackson, Clemenceau, 120.
“One would have to be deliberately blind”: Bruun, 116.
“Home policy?”: Jackson, Clemenceau, 126.
Along fifteen miles of front: Evans, Battles, 40, and Wolff, 124, give 3,091 as the number of British guns. The comparison with the Somme is in Johnson, 139.
During the two weeks ending: The number of shells fired is in Evans, Battles, 40.
These shells had a total weight: The weight of the shells fired is in Paschall, 66, and the German casualties are in Paschall, 69.
“futile, fantastic and dangerous”: These words are actually General Sir Henry Wilson’s, in a diary entry presumably paraphrasing what Foch had said to him, in Wolff, 79.
Fourteen German divisions: Paschall, 69.
“My mind is quite at rest”: Wolff, 135.
“ask me for anything but time”: Ibid., 122.
“wholehearted support”: Ibid., 124.
The offensive went off: Division numbers are in Groom, 185.
They penetrated nearly two miles: Paschall, 67.
Of the fifty-two tanks: Ibid., 67.
Haig, not aware that twenty-three: Haig’s words are in ibid., 69.
But after two more days, with the rain: casualty figures are in ibid., 71.
“Inside it was only about five foot”: Arthur, 229.
There were twenty-three such divisions: Paschall, 71.
“Blood and mud”: Wolff, 165.