100 Years Ago - Battle of Cambrai 2

A WIRING PARTY RETURNING

IN MEMORIAM

A GAS MASK PARADE.

The Sergeant is examining the masks to see that they fit· and are in good order

A STRANDED TANK


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-german-counter-thrust-m2wtmhjhg?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_December%2020,%202017&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2676383_118

The German counter-thrust

The only notable success which was obtained by the Germans was at the southern end of the salient, where it must be admitted that for a time they made swift progress

December 4, 1917

The first organized attempt of the Germans to recover the great salient torn out of their line before Cambrai was made on Friday, and it is possible now to estimate its results. The attack was formidable, but though it has led to the loss of a portion of the fringe of the salient it failed in its broader purpose. The bulk of the valuable ground won by Sir Julian Byng is still in our possession, and we continue to hold the height crowned by the Bourlon Wood. The onslaught of the enemy was repulsed by our troops with the greatest heroism; perhaps they have never fought with more devoted courage than on Friday and again on Saturday.
It was not, of course, to be expected that the Germans would sit down lightly under their defeat on November 20 and the subsequent days. They had been hurrying up reinforcements and guns to the Cambrai battlefield, and an order by General von der Marwitz, found upon a prisoner, discloses the plan they followed. They aimed at delivering “an encircling counter-attack,” but their greatest strength was thrown at the two flanks of the salient, where it joined our old line. There they advanced in masses in the now familiar Verdun manner, and Sir Douglas Haig remarks that they tried “to break through our defences by weight of numbers.”

It is clear that their chief thrust failed completely. It was delivered from the neighbourhood of Moeuvres, and from the area east of Anneux and Castaing, and its object plainly was to cut off the troops holding the Bourlon Wood. Wave after wave of Germans swept forward between Moeuvres and the wood, and at one moment the advancing line reached the sugar factory on the main road from Bapaume to Cambrai. The attack was driven back, and the positions are said to have been completely restored. At some points the Germans were caught by the point-blank fire of our artillery, and the ground was strewn with their dead. The wood still forms a somewhat sharp salient, but it is firmly held. To the south-east, in ihe centre of the salient, an equally fierce attack was made upon the village of Masnieres, which for some days has been an exposed spot. The fiercest hand-to-hand fighting occurred at this point, for the Germans again adopted mass tactics, and were killed in heaps. Their losses in Masnieres are said to have been heavier than ever before in so narrow a spot. They obtained a temporary lodgment in the adjacent hamlet of Les Rues Vertes, across the Scheldt, but were summarily ejected. Though they were entirely unable to make good their attack on Masnieres, the place was evacuated on Saturday night owing to what had happened farther south. Long after our troops had gone the enemy were still shelling the ruins.
The only notable success which was obtained by the Germans was at the southern end of the salient, where it must be admitted that for a time they made swift progress. Advancing from Banteux and Honnecourt, and also from the direction of Vendhuille, they attacked without any artillery preparation at the villages of Gonnelieu and Villers-Guislain, which are just within the line we have held since the German retreat in the spring. There is no doubt that at Villers-Guislain they effected a surprise, just as we ourselves did the other day. They swept through the village, and also through Gonnelieu, while farther north they reached the vicinity of La Vacquerie. Their attack then passed across the slopes and woods beyond, and converged upon the important village of Gouzeaucourt, which is about two a miles inside the line we have held since the spring. The advance of the enemy upon Gouzeaucourt was so rapid that their approach appears to have been entirely unexpected, and they were able to seize the whole place, though most of the troops stationed there managed to escape. It was plain, however, that their attack had lost momentum - indeed, the really surprising thing about the whole episode is that the Germans made so little of their temporary advantage. They have never before accomplished such a thrust on such a scale, and they do not seem to have known what to do with it.
The British line was rallied with commendable vigour and the German tenure of Gouzeaucourt lasted only four hours. Our counter-attack was organized very early in the afternoon. The Guards marched on Gouzeaucourt in two coq imns, from Trescault on the north and from Metz-en-Couture on the west. They were aided by dismounted cavalry and by Tanks. The enemy had managed to get a large number of machine-guns into Gouzeaucourt, and they operated a withering fire. But the Guards would not be denied, and all the accounts suggest that their recovery of the village was one of the finest exploits of the war. Some of the Germans ran, but others fought stoutly, and the place had to be cleaned house by house. Our counter-attack pasted 1tar beyond Gouzeaucourt, and we recovered Gonnelieu across the valley, but the enemy are back at Gonnelieu again and its possession is still being contested. Villers-Guislain, to the south, appears to be still in German hands, while to the north the enemy are still close to La Vacquerie. Away to the north-east they have crossed the Scheldt and got into the Lateau Wood, the seizure of which was the immediate cause of the evacuation of Masnieres.

The net result of the first stages of the whole attack is that the stroke at the Bourlon Wood, and the entire northern part of the operation, met with a failure which must be pronounced disastrous, in view of the cumulative evidence of the heavy losses of the enemy. From a point near Marcoing southwards the Germans have regained a relatively narrow strip of the salient. Villers-Guislain and Masnieres define the sum total of their gains, though the fluctuations of the battle are only reckoned in villages as a convenient method of indicating topography. We have lost a number of prisoners and guns, though not to the extent the Germans claim, and in the single month of November we took many thousand more prisoners than they did on Friday. The battle is still continuing, though our Special Correspondent says it is now raging only at the southern end of the salient. He warns us, however, that it has “assumed immense proportions,” and he mentions the computation that the enemy are now employing two hundred thousand infantry in their efforts to deprive Sir Julian Byng of the fruits of his victory.
It is even said that Hindenburg himself has hurried to the scene of the conflict, accompanied by the faithful Ludendorff. Our Correspondent further says that captured plans indicate the magnitude of the original German aims, and also, it may be added, the extent to which they have so far failed. The impression seems to be that one of the greatest battles of the war is developing, and that the enemy are staking much upon the issue. All the more need, therefore, for the better co-ordination of the military effort of the Allies. It is a welcome coincidence that the first meeting of the Allied War Council was held at Versailles on the day after the Germans began their counter-stroke.

100 Years Ago

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/our-aims-and-their-price-gfcnpb5rd

december 21, 1917

Our aims and their price

The most important feature in the Prime Minister’s broad survey yesterday was his treatment of the fundamental question of “war aims”. The aims he put before the nation have been the aims of all responsible statesmen from the day when German treachery and violence towards defenceless Belgium drove the nation into war. They are, as ever, restitution, reparation, and guarantees. But the main demand involves, as it always has done, the complete overthrow of Prussian “militarism”. The Prime Minister does not attempt to disguise our disappointment at the results of the year’s campaign. Our troops have done wonderful things on the Western front, even though their most striking victory was afterwards impaired by a serious counter-stroke. But the initial defeat of the Italians, and the fact that Russia is now actually negotiating a peace, have made the situation “undoubtedly more menacing”. There are brilliant compensations in the East, of which Mr Lloyd George made the most, but they hardly diminish the gravity of the immediate position. The next few months, in short, are likely to be the worst of the war. We must all make up our minds to fresh sacrifices, and, first of all, to fresh sacrifices of manpower. The defection of Russia and the demands of the Italian campaign impose a fresh drain upon our Armies. Are we going to meet it? The answer rests very largely with the trade unions. Mr Lloyd George took to himself the fullest share of responsibility for the pledges given to them early in the war. But they were not, and could not be, absolute pledges. Conditions might arise in which every man must come out to defend it.

The need of men is imperious. Russia has gone out of the war and America is not yet well in it. We hold the gap. We have been sending back men to hold it who have been seriously wounded two or three times over. That is a deplorable necessity, in flagrant contradiction to the whole theory of “equal sacrifice”. But it must continue and extend, unless Labour is ready to give its fellows in the lines the support essential to their safety and to ours. The Government have resolved, wisely as we consider, to take the trade unions into their confidence before they ask the House of Commons for fresh powers.

Charles Saatchi's Great Masterpieces: how Millet's heavenly peasants inspired Van Gogh

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/charles-saatchis-great-masterpieces-millets-heavenly-peasants/

Detail of 'The Angelus' (1857-1859) by Jean-François Millet

Jean-François Millet painted peasants, which did not prove popular with the art world establishment. He presented farm labourers and shepherds as the principal subjects of his pictures, occupying a centre stage that was usually the preserve of exalted biblical, historical or mythological figures.

A humble man, who lived most of his days on the edges of bleak poverty, Millet saw profound Christian values in physical toil, and his paintings frequently appeared to be accompanied by a religious subtext. However, his celebration of the nobility of the peasant class was perceived as bordering on Left-wing propaganda in the deeply status-conscious France of the mid-18th century.
In reality, Millet felt uncomfortable in the presence of the aristocracy or in the drawing rooms of wealthy potential clients. Even so, he was never swayed from his preference for depicting the ceaseless, gruelling labour that was required of the lower members of society, wanting to paint only what he was intimately familiar with. As he once stated: “A peasant I was born and a peasant I will die.”
In The Angelus, painted 1857-59, male and female farmworkers stand alone, their heads bowed in prayer. The man has removed his hat, and the woman clasps her hands together, beside the small cart of potatoes she has gathered. The sun is setting on the panoramic vista behind them and, in the distance, a church steeple is just visible. It must be 6pm, because at that time church bells would ring for the Angelus prayer, and they would both have taken a moment for a simple act of devotion in the fields.
Millet’s sculptural rendering of the figures evokes a quiet dignity, despite their worn clothes and their stooped shoulders. As dusk gathers, we witness their piety, as they utter a prayer for deliverance. On the horizon, the sky is still lit by the fading sun. The steeple represents the connection between heaven and earth at the heart of their faith.
This exquisite painting was a commission Millet had managed to secure from a Boston art collector. Originally titled Prayer for the Potato Crop, Millet changed its name when the collector decided he didn’t want it after all. The painting would later influence Van Gogh’s Potato Eaters of 1885. In fact, Van Gogh was so moved by seeing Millet’s Angelus, that he was inspired to return to painting after a period of bleak desperation.

100 Years Ago - Russia and Ukraine

This Week in History - The first flight of the V1 Bomb (24 December)

https://ospreypublishing.com/thisweekhistory/

On this day, the V1 bomb first took to the skies over Germany at the start of a career of violence that would cause over 6000 casualties in Britain between 1944 and 1945. Designed as the first of Hitler’s V or ‘vengeance’ weapons, the V1 was a small pilotless flying bomb that was the fore-runner of the modern cruise missile. Its engine had a characteristic sound that led the British to christen it the ‘Doodlebug’. The bomb had fuel for a set distance and when this was finished, the engine on the early versions would cut out, giving the frightened civilians below a few seconds to realize that the fearsome weapon was about to fall to earth and explode. The V1 contained 2000lb of explosive and caused catastrophic damage. This extract from Fortress 20: British Home Defences 1940-45 gives more detail about the sinister weapon and the measures taken to counter it.

 

This Week in History - Fort Niagara (19 December)

https://ospreypublishing.com/thisweekhistory/

By the end of 1813 the majority of US regulars had been drawn away from the Niagara frontier for Major General James Wilkinson’s expedition to capture Montreal. Efforts by Brigadier General George McClure to entice militia from New York State to reinforce US positions on the Canadian side of the Niagara river had been met with disinterest. With British pickets pressing closer and closer, McClure in early December saw little choice but to abandon his footing in Canada and retreat across the river to the United States. Before leaving McClure had to fulfill one order from the Secretary at War John Armstrong: burn the town of Niagara...

An extract from Essential Histories 41
There was one more outbreak of fighting along the Canadian border before the close of 1813. With the movement of US troops east to attack Montreal, and the expiration of many militiamen’s terms of service, the American garrison at Fort George dropped to less than 600 men by early December. At that point, and with the passing of Harrison’s threat to Burlington, the British resolved to recapture the post; their opponents, suffering steady harassment, decided to consolidate their forces on their own side of the border. Before withdrawing, the American commander, Brigadier-General John McClure, turned the people of the town of Niagara out of their houses on a frigid December day and burned down their homes, ostensibly to prevent the British from quartering their troops there over the winter and to improve Fort Niagara’s defensibility. The next day, American artillery at Lewiston destroyed part of the village of Queenston by firing red-hot shot (heated canon balls) to set its buildings on fire. The new British commander in Upper Canada, Lieutenant-General Gordon Drummond, arrived on the peninsula soon afterward, determined to avenge the destruction of these settlements.

Drummond’s men crossed the Niagara River and made a surprise night assault on the sleeping garrison of Fort Niagara on 19 December. After a short, sharp fight, the fort fell. The British seized vast quantities of supplies, and killed, wounded, or captured over 400 Americans, losing only 11 of their own. Drummond then cleared the Americans out of the region completely: over the next few days, the settlements along the New York side of the river fell to the torch and the Americans and their native allies suffered a series of small defeats. Once he had captured Buffalo (and destroyed four vessels of the US Lake Erie squadron wintering there), Drummond thought he might continue westward, make a surprise attack on the rest of the American Lake Erie squadron, destroy it, and perhaps even retake Detroit. However, a January thaw melted the ice on the rivers he needed for a quick strike, so Drummond abandoned the idea and retired to the Canadian side of the river, maintaining a garrison on American territory only at Fort Niagara, which the British retained until the return of peace, in 1815.

The United States emerged from the second year of the war in a better position than they had had in 1812. With a number of victories behind them, they had also regained most of the lost territory in the west, occupied a small part of south-western Upper Canada, and seemed to have killed off the possibility of an aboriginal homeland being created at their expense in the Old Northwest. However, their main objective — the conquest of at least all of Upper Canada — had not been accomplished. The British, Canadians, and natives had performed well, despite the odds against them. This had bought the colony another year’s grace, but the question now was what would happen with the coming of spring.


Further reading
Essential Histories 41: The War of 1812 places this episode amongst other key events in a comprehensive, but succinct, examination of the three year war. The book explores what led to America’s decision to take up arms against Great Britain, assesses the three terrible years of fighting that followed on land and sea, details stories of both famous and forgotten individuals caught up in the strife and looks at the ways of war of the First Nations, American, and British combatants.
Men-at-Arms 226: The American War 1812-1814 details the history, uniforms and equipment of the British, American and Militia forces which fought in the American war.

100 Years Ago - Russia and Italy

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/trotsky-against-the-cadets-83rpcsn28

december 18, 1917

Trotsky against the cadets

The Petrograd Soviet has passed a resolution demanding the immediate promulgation of a decree quashing the elections of all Cadet Deputies. Receiving a military deputation at the Smolny Institute, Trotsky declared that the People’s Commissioners were engaged in a merciless and decisive struggle against the Cadet Party, and would stop at nothing in the prosecution of class warfare. ln a speech to the Executive Committee of the Soviets he went even further. Replying to some speakers who disapproved of violence being offered to members of the Constituent Assembly, Trotsky said: “You are shocked at the mild form of terror we exercise against our class enemies, but take notice that not more than a month hence that terror will assume a more terrible form, on the model of that of the great French Revolution. No prison but the guillotine for our enemies. It is not immoral for a democracy to crush another class. That is its right.”

There is little prospect of an early meeting of the Constituent Assembly. Yesterday the committee charged with the superintendence of the elections endeavoured to hold a meeting in the Tauris Palace, but was prevented from doing so by the soldiers. A separate sitting of the Ukraine Deputies has been held at Kieff. About 150 members were present, all except 12 of whom were Revolutionary Socialists.
Numerous cases of robbery, with house-breaking and violence, have been reported in the last few days. In some instances large sums of money have been carried away by armed bands. The plundering of wine cellars continues, notwithstanding exhortations to sobriety on the part of the “Government”. Many formerly quiet neighbourhoods are nightly disturbed by Bacchanalian orgies, with reports of firearms. The troops whose sentiments are uncertain are being removed from the city, and their place taken by “Red Guards.”
The People’s Commissioners are credited with the intention of cancelling all foreign loans when it has been definitely ascertained that the Allies refuse to participate in peace negotiations. Such a measure would, above all things, involve the ruin of the small French peasant investor, on the fruits of whose industry Russia has lived and prospered for many years.

100 Years Ago - Russia and Italy

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/purging-the-russian-assembly-6jj9z8jph

december 15, 1917

Purging the Russian assembly

The attitude of the Bolshevists in regard to the Constituent Assembly is the question of the hour, and interests the world here more than the renewal of negotiations at the front or the Civil War in Southern Russia. The Bolshevist leaders are by no means unanimous. Sharp differences have already manifested themselves in the Council of the People’s Commissioners. Lenin, Trotsky, Zinovieff, and the more militant members are said to advocate thoroughgoing measures, such as the withdrawal of all Bolshevist members. Such a step would practically put an end to the Assembly, while the formal act of dissolution, which would be highly unpopular with the country, would be avoided. Others have protested strongly against such a course, declaring that the mass of the nation, and especially the peasants, would never forgive the Bolshevists for doing violence to a body elected by universal suffrage.

Everything has been done to intimidate the Deputies. The Tauris Palace was filled with armed “Red Guards” and soldiers and sailors, who raised every impediment in the way of the Deputies, but stopped short of actual violence. One Deputy, addressing some soldiers who glared savagely at him, asked the cause of their hostility. “You Deputies and intellectuals,” the man replied,” can do nothing but talk, talk, talk. When two of you meet you talk for hours. When you are 400 you will talk for ever. You will not convince each other, or take wise decisions. Then bayonets will be employed for the good of the country. We will drive out the talkers and make reason prevail by force.”
Today the rule of bayonets was inaugurated — rather sooner than the soldier anticipated. When the Committee of the Assembly met this afternoon Lieutenant Blagonravoff, Commandant of the Tauris Palace, entered the Committee room at the head of an armed posse of Red Guards and compelled them to disperse. This proceeding would seem to indicate that, as usual, the militant extremists have gained the mastery in the Bolshevist camp. So far the tactics of the Government have been to concentrate public hostility on the Cadet Party rather than the Assembly. Now, however, the Assembly itself has felt “the revolutionary mailed fist”.

100 Years Ago - Verdun 1917

HILL 304: THE DEMI.LUNE TRENCH, THE FARTHEST POINT OF THE

FRENCH ADVANCE

HILL 304: TRENCHES OF THE ZOUAVES; OFFICERS WATCHING THE

SECOND WAVE OF TUE ATTACK

THE CROWN PRINCE TUNNEL.

French troops in occupation after clearing out the Germans.

LOOK-OUT IN A TRENCH ON THE VERDUN FRONT


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-crown-princes-defeat-at-verdun-57tjnfz8g?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_December%2013,%202017&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2647515_118

The Crown Prince’s defeat at Verdun

Three entire batteries were asphyxiated by the explosion of a store of their own gas shells, caused by a French shell which fell plumb in the middle of it

August 24, 1917

The moral and strategical value of the French advance in front of Verdun becomes more and more evident as one is able to review quietly what has been done. In very many cases among the thousands of prisoners, not only the men, but the officers - there are nearly 200 of them - are undisguisedly glad to have been taken. The accuracy and the tremendous volume of our bombardment and barrage-fire have purged them of their war lust. In one Division the whole of three regiments are either dead or prisoners. Three entire batteries were asphyxiated by the explosion of a store of their own gas shells, caused by a French shell which fell plumb in the middle of it.
But the most vital fact to be considered in reckoning up the enemy’s losses is that they were not confined to the troops in the front lines. In anticipation of the attack and with a view to prompt counter-attack the German commanders had brought up unusually numerous reserves, and the French directed a considerable part of their preliminary fire on points where these forces were assembled, as well as on the positions to be taken. A battalion in process of being relieved lost two-thirds of its effectives and farther back behind the lines the casualties were so heavy that no counter- attack on the scale which was to be expected has as yet been attempted.

Another point to be noted is that two-thirds of the prisoners were taken on the left bank of the Meuse. The positions there were so valuable to the Germans that they posted an unusually large number of men in the front trenches in the hope of being able to hold them, contrary to their regular custom nowadays, which is to leave as few troops as possible in ground necessarily exposed to the main force of a bombardment preparatory to a big attack, to say nothing of the attack itself.
But if the positions on the left bank were of such importance to the enemy it is obvious that they are likely to be at least as useful to the French, by whom they are now held. And that is undoubtedly the case. If the strategical value of the heights of the Mort Homme, Cunmieres, Cote de l’Oie, and Regneville was worth four points to the enemy, then, in Parliamentary language, they certainly count now eight on a division to General Petain. On the front of attack of these three days the Crown Prince’s forces have been driven back, so that they are nowhere less than seven miles from Verdun and at the same time they have lost the advantage of most of the commanding heights surrounding the city and its forts, and been compelled, willy-nilly, to resign it, and all that may go with it, to their opponents.

100 Years Ago - Jerusalem and Russia

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/the-military-situation-a-brief-review-bn53td978

december 14, 1917

The military situation: a brief review

(By our Military Correspondent) Everyone is well aware that owing to the disintegration of Russia and the Italian defeats the enemy has the power to assemble on the front in France larger forces than ever. There are now some 150 German divisions in the West and 79 in the East, but from the latter there are being withdrawn all men of 19 to 35 years of age for service on the Franco-British front. A garrison of second-grade troops may be retained on the Russian front, while all the German forces fit to fight are concentrated in the West for a decisive blow.
It will be during the next six months that our danger will be greatest. We must expect half a million fresh fighters at least, and many more guns, with aircraft to match. Such reinforcements would not be enough to make sure of victory, but they would demand on our part corresponding measures. We cannot safely reckon on a need of less than a million men for maintaining our existing forces in the field during 1918, assuming that future losses and waste equal those of the past two years. The sources open to us other than the annual class of youths of 18 are, first of all, Ireland; the second is an extension of the age limit to 50; the third, and most important, is the withdrawal from non-essential and even some essential, industries of the younger men, and the fourth is the dispatch to the front of youths of 18.

By a vigorous application of all these, recruiting means we can carry on until the United States presents her Armies in force. In round figures, we have roughly two million men in France and one million in other theatres of war. When we add our bayonets and guns in France to those of the French, Americans, Belgians, and Portuguese, the resulting fighting strength, compared with that of the enemy, is not adequate to promise victory. It never has been. Our victories in Palestine and Mesopotamia have been due to the fact that we have given to two brilliant commanders the forces, superior to the enemy, necessary for victory. Our forces in France have never had this. In sending so many troops to these distant theatres, we have made a bad use of force.
A reconsideration is necessary now. It avails us nothing to occupy Jerusalem and Baghdad, if in the main theatre we are not successful.

Charles Saatchi's Great Masterpieces: Umberto Boccioni reinvented how we see the city

Detail of The Street Enters the House by Umberto Boccioni


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/charles-saatchis-great-masterpiecesumberto-boccioni-reinvented/

This is how Umberto Boccioni interpreted the view from the balcony of his mother's top-floor apartment in Milan, in 1911.

She stands at the railing, taking in the sprawl of the city. The riotous shards of colour and dynamic shifts in perspective create the sensation of a noisy, bustling town rushing up towards you.
When it was exhibited the following year, this startling painting signalled the radical new futurist movement. Its geometric elements and distorted panorama demonstrate the deep influence that expressionism and cubism had on Boccioni. The Street Enters the House was his first depiction of Milan from a futurist perspective; the title refers not only to the enveloping nature of urbanisation, but also to the drama of widespread expansion.
As you look more closely, it becomes clear that the scene below mainly consists of a large construction site, indicating the rapid modernisation taking place. There are labourers hard at work, and other women lean from their balconies to watch the activity – even the surrounding buildings are leaning into the scene.
Light descends on the busy view, and the painting's geometric forms and intense colour palette are in perpetual interplay. The clamour and vibrancy draw in the viewer into a vortex of energy, and some observers pointed out that the extraordinary picture even suggested "painted sounds".

It was a contentious time for the Milanese and residents of other expanding cities whose lives were being invaded by disruption and upheaval. However, Boccioni felt strongly that this was an inevitable process needed to help propel Italy into the modern world.

100 Years Ago - Jerusalem and Russia

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/the-capture-of-jerusalem-br6xl8wc0

december 11, 1917

The Capture of Jerusalem

The deliverance of Jerusalem, though its influence on the war may be relatively remote, must remain for all time a memorable event in the history of Christendom. Wherever the Gospel has been preached it has been in all ages the most sacred spot upon earth to countless millions. There the Divine Author of their faith taught the great truths which are the wellspring of all that is holiest, and there He suffered and died. For well-nigh 13 centuries it has remained, with relatively brief intervals, in Musulman hands, and for 400 years Turkish Sultans have been its lords. To Moslem, too, it is a holy place, though the tradition of its sanctity is no longer a living force among them in India and in the outer world. For the Jews, whatever may be the land of their exile, its memories are imperishable. To them it has always remained their providential home and the earthly centre of their ancient religion.

To-day General Allenby makes his entry into the city, and his entry means that the yoke of the Turk is broken for ever. The Sultan will dominate the Holy Places no more; the scattered Jews will have a prospect of returning as a free people to their national home, and a new order will be established, founded upon the ideals of righteousness and of justice.
Whilst the Germans have wantonly destroyed the noblest of Christian churches on the false plea of military necessity, the British General has delayed his operations to save the sacred places in and about Jerusalem from accidental hurt. That is a warrant of the care which will certainly be taken to safeguard the rights and to respect the susceptibilities of every faith.
The great Mosque of Omar and the other sites most intimately associated with the traditions of Islam will, doubtless, be safeguarded and left in Moslem keeping, and the priests and ministers of all communions who are not alien enemies may confidently rely upon the countenance of the conquerors.
The fall of Jerusalem, whatever its military importance, marks the latest stage in a brilliant campaign. It is a sign that the tyranny of the Turk is doomed and that the dawn of a new freedom is rising over his dominions. To all whom he oppresses — Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, Jews and Syrians — it is an augury of deliverance.

Розсмикані думки №№

Мій тезко дяк Кураєв останнім часом досить таки наполегливо згадує про те, що російська православна церква швидко запозичає не найкращі риси старого католицизму - як-от жорстка єрархія, думка про непогрішимість предстоятеля і таке інше. Але мені раптом подумалося, що від старого (і то дуже старого) католицизму дещо запозичила і інша, державна релігія східного сусіди - поганство, іноді недоброзичливо номіноване "побєдобєсієм". Я власне про ідею, з боротьби з якою почався той всесвітньоісторично-значимий рух, чиє півтисячоліття відзначається в цьому році.
Угу, шановний читачу. Ти ерудований та метикуватий, тож зрозумів, що мова йде про а) індульгенції та б) Реформацію.
Бо Лютер прибив (чи може й ні, є різні думки) свої тези на двері церкви п'ятсот років тому, бо хотів обговорити саме своє занепокоєння проблемою продажу індульгенцій. Власне, з теоретичної точки зору воно було набагато складніше ніж та картинка в підручнику історіх середніх віків для 6 класу середньої школи (ну чи в Дитячій енциклопедії) - в свою чергу творче переосмислення гравюр з протестантських памфлетів часів Реформації, до речі: розбійник купує в ченця індульгенцію на майбутні гріхи, і тут же грабує монаха, бо вже має цей гріх відпущеним. Хоча треба сказати, що реальні папські емісари, збираючи гроші на нанішній Собор Св Петра у Ватікані, у своїх помовах до простого люду спрощували ситуацію до дуже близької ідеї - заплати, і можеш не турбуватися про свої гріхи (чи своїх рідних - можна було індульгенції купувати й за померлих)
Варто згадати, що "простому люду" (категорія не є соціальною, скоріше інтелектуальною в даному конкретному дописі - ба навіть снобською) й досі притаманне саме таки сприяття церковних ритуалів. Поставив свічку - гріхів позбувся. Але це все в дужках, a little aside так би мовити.
Так от. Насправді думка за офіційною церковною доктриною щодо індульгенцій була складнішою. Після того, як богослови додумалися до того, що окрім раю та пекла має бути ще чистилище, де перебувають ті, хто не заслужив на рай через свої гріхи, і мають "відмотати строк" щоб увійти до раю "з чистою совістю" та спокутими гріхами, треба було вирішити, що ж з цим робити, чи можна якось полегшити - зменшити чи скоротити - страждання грішників у чистилищі. Тут, до речі, варто сказати, що грішниками відчували себе всі. Всі абсолютно - бо кожен, чесний сам із собою, не може не знати про всі власні гріхи, малі й великі - "дією, словом чи думкою", що роблять його недостойним предстати перед очі Господа що є Абсолютне Добро. Септуагінта в книзі Маккавеїв (першій здається, але точно не скажу) згадує, що можна молитися за померлих (масоретський текст не включає в себе цих книг, тож протестанти не вважають його канонічним, а разом з тим і молитви за померлих - але то таке). Але можна (як думали богослови) скоротити майбутній строк і іншим чином - добрі діла мають йти "в зачот" проти справ не дуже добрих.
О! Гарна думка. І далі пішов її логічний розвиток. Добрі справи робити довго й клопітно - годувати голодних, навідуватися до в'язнів і так далі, що там ще рекомендував Ісус? Можна допомогти - монетарно, ага - організації, що саме як раз і займається всім оцим - бо ж сама є Тілом Христовим на землі. Це церква тобто. Як інституція, а не будівля. Хоча й на будівлю гроші не завадять. І тоді церква своєю владою може забезпечити полегшення мук у чистилищі. Тут треба зразу сказати, що офіційно все це стосувалося лише гріхів звичайних, не смертних, за які нерозкаяному грішникові була прямісінька дорога до пекла (а перелік смертних гріхів, як кому цікаво, є у "Тілі Уленшпігелі", наприклад, звідки більша частина ботаніків колись набиралася знань про і католицьку церкву, і про Реформацію, і про війну в Нідерландах - "Капітана Алатрісте" тоді ще на полицях книгарень не було)
Виникало питання, а як саме, за рахунок чого може Церква давати таке послаблення? І богослови цілком логічно прийшли до ось якого висновку. Церква має нескінченну кількість Божественної благодаті, заробленої в перші віки існування Церкви першими християнськими мучениками та праведниками. І от саме цією благодаттю вона й ділиться із своїми заблудшими дітьми - і саме нею полегшує/скорочує страждання в чистилищі.
Власне, Лютер виступив саме проти цього. На його думку, ніякі наші зусилля не можуть зробити нас достатньо чистими перед лицем Господа, і потрапити до раю душа може лише отримавши милість Господню безпосередньо від Бога, незаслужену, подаровану від Божої любови. Індульгенції ж (а надто у вульгаризованому їх розумінні) були як мінімум нічого не варті, а то й згубні, бо вводили людей у велику оману і у гріх, і віддалювали від Бога...
Далі можна багато всякого цікавого розказувати - але ця лютерова ідея призвела до створення нового - сучасного - світу (через багато кроків - і до речі, до оновлення і католицької церкви). Але повернемося до наших баранів. Чи орків.
У західній літературі, коли розмірковується про відмінність Росії як цивілізації від Заходу (як цивілілзації ж), часто згадується, що Росія не пройшла крізь Реформацію (що до речі невірно щодо України - Реформація в Республіці Обох Народів йшла дуже активно й цікаво - і це не торкаючись пізнішого великого успіху протестантських церков на наших теренах)
Але повертаючись до офіційного державного поганства - схоже що непройдена Реформація дала несподіваний метастаз. Із висловлювань можновладців східного сусіди можна зробити висновок, що там свідомо чи підсвідомо вважається, що ті, хто загинув воюючи проти Німеччини (і всіх, поти кого сталінська верхівка наказувала воювати) своєю пожертвою створили оте саме джерело благодаті, з якого тепер Росії відпускаються всі гріхи минулі і майбутні. Іноді цей догмат практично висловлюється мало не дослівно. Як і півтисячоліття тому, "прості люди" в це щиро вірять, а понтіфекс максимус і його аколити вміло користуються цим народним забобоном. От тільки з аналогом собору Св Петра якось напружено. Все більше яхти та приватні палаци. Але Лютер прийде й туди.

100 Years Ago - Caporetto

AUSTRIAN BRIDGE ON THE OLD PIAVE

 The last stand of a group of Italian gunners

BRITISH TROOPS POSTED IN A WATERCOURSE ON THE ITALIAN FRONT

ITALIANS TAKING UP POSITIONS ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE PIAVE

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-german-blow-at-italy-qs9zrjsnj?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_December%2006,%202017&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2619713_118

The German blow at Italy

Should Germany gain military successes on the Isonzo, as she is doing, she may be able to revive the moral of the Austrian Army and the spirits of the people of Vienna and Budapest

October 27, 1917

The news from all other theatres of war is eclipsed by the reports which are arriving from Italy. On the Middle and Upper Isonzo the Germans and Austrians have massed huge fresh forces and have compelled the Italians to retire on a front of between twenty-five and thirty miles. The enemy claim to have taken 30,000 prisoners, “of whom 700 are officers”, and more than 300 guns, “including many heavy guns”.
The dispatches we publish today contain grave warnings. The Germans have not hitherto taken part in the operations on the Italian front, but our Military Correspondent stated in an article published yesterday that they have now formed a 14th Army for this special purpose, and have placed in it “a number of good divisions of the Active Army”. The correspondents on the Isonzo say that the enemy seem to have transferred “the whole of their Russian front here,” and though the statement need not be taken very literally, it is clear that the inactivity of the Russian Army is the true cause of the Austro-German advance.

We are told quite frankly that the enemy aim at far more than the recovery of the ground won from Austria on the Isonzo. They intend to invade the Italian plains, if they can, and already they claim to be across the italian frontier “at many points”. They have struck with shrewd insight into the military situation. The Italians have never been able to accomplish on the Middle Isonzo advances corresponding to their brilliant successes farther south. They therefore did not hold their line above Tolmino with a strength such as they have maintained on the Carso and beyond Gorizia. The enemy evidently chose to attack on the Middle Isonzo because victory there might compel an Italian retirement in the Gorizia sector, and still more because it offered the shortest way to the plains.
The reasons which have led the Germans to launch this swift blow are presumably both military and political. The military possibilities are obvious. The political reasons are twofold, and relate both to Italy and to Austria. The Austrian Army on the Italian front has never been under direct German control, and Germany may have had reasons to think a continuance of its autonomy undesirable. The civil population in Austria is exceedingly dispirited, and the internal economic conditions are bad. Should Germany gain military successes on the Isonzo, as she is doing, she may be able to revive the moral of the Austrian Army and the spirits of the people of Vienna and Budapest.
With regard to Italy, the German object doubtless is to intensify and deepen the internal political difference which, by a coincidence, led to the defeat of the Italian Ministry on Thursday. In this respect German calculations are unquestionably at fault, as is so often the case. The opposition to Signor Boselli’s Government appears to be due to a widespread conviction that war problems have not been handled with sufficient firmness and promptitude. The predominant desire of the critics of Signor Boselli is to create a more vigorous War Government The menace of invasion will probably strengthen their aspirations, with results which Germany is not likely to appreciate. She thought to weaken Italy, but she will doubtless quickly find that her attack has had the reverse effect.

The immediate military possibilities of the Austro-German offensive are of a character which Allies must instantly take into account. From Saga to a point just north of Canale, the Italians have withdrawn behind their own frontier, and they may therefore be compelled to sacrifice their brilliant gains on the Great Bainsizza plateau. They are being pressed on the slopes of Monte San Gabriele, and their positions beyond Gorizia may eventually be affected.
The weight of the thrust against General Cadorna is evidently heavy, but he is stanch of heart and deft of hand. He met and countered in the Trentino last year a peril which, at first, seemed almost equally menacing. We must await further developments before definitely measuring the full significance of the new stroke, but it must be said without delay that an extensive invasion of Italy at this juncture would affect the whole Allied cause. In that spirit measures must be taken should the necessity arise. We are entering another phase of violent fluctuations in the war, not all of which are to the enemy’s advantage.

100 Years Ago - Interview with Trotsky

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-12-06/register/an-interview-with-trotsky-sz7ksgkv5


From our Special Correspondent, Petrograd, Dec 2.
Today I had an interesting conversation with the People’s Commissioner for Foreign Affairs. Trotsky, who had previously met me in Bulgaria, began the conversation by stating that negotiations for an armistice would begin this evening. The Government desired, not a separate peace, but a general peace. On this point he dwelt strongly. At first, he said, there would be not an armistice but a suspension of hostilities, during which the Russian Army would maintain a combative attitude.
In reply to my question how he expected the Allies to associate themselves so soon with the negotiations, in consequence of the pressure of the masses on the Governments, he said: “There will be three stages in the pour-parlers: One, suspension of hostilities; two, armistice; three, peace negotiations. The Allies can join when they like. The first and second stages would be temporary and provisional, then would begin the negotiations for a general peace.”

He maintained with great emphasis that the Government has no idea whatever of a separate peace, but of a general peace negotiated in concert with the Allies. He hoped that during the interval afforded by these preliminary proceedings the various peoples would react on their Governments to dispose them to take part in the negotiations.
In reply to my observation that the Government by its procedure has left little time for the development of such a movement on the part of the various democracies, he said that he contemplated a suspension of hostilities for a week or a fortnight for the purpose of negotiating a formal armistice. This period, might be prolonged, perhaps considerably, until a basis could be reached, in the first instance for an armistice and eventually for a general peace.

What he and his friends hoped for was a democratic, not an imperialistic, peace. They were against imperialism in all countries, Great Britain included. There would, therefore, be no such thing as secret diplomacy in the coming negotiations, whether for an armistice or a general peace. All proceedings would be published de die in diem.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/trotskys-idea-of-peace-9hxpq0vc9

december 7, 1917

Trotsky’s idea of peace

Trotsky, in the further course of my conversation with him (reported in The Times of yesterday) repudiated all idea of negotiating for the advantage of the Kaiser or of German Imperialism. In reply to the question whether the doctrine of “no annexations” could be applied to Turkey, who has long misgoverned alien races such as the Armenians and Arabs, Trotsky declared himself in favour of creating independent States, or a confederation of States. He approved of the settlement of Jews in Palestine, but objected to appropriations of territory there by foreign Powers. He refrained from replying when I observed that the British occupation of Baghdad had been necessary to prevent its seizure by another Power. He opposed the idea of a protectorate. He showed me a telegram stating that some of the Mongolian tribes had asked for the protection of the new Russian “Government”, and said that he considered it a humiliation for any nation to ask protection of another, but that he was ready to accord support. On the delicate question of the repatriation of Russians interned in England, Trotsky said that the People’s Commissioners, considering the attitude of the British Government not convenable in refraining from meeting the request, decided to refuse permission for British subjects to leave Russia.

When I was taking my leave, Trotsky took occasion to express his profound admiration for the British nation, its love of liberty and illustrious history, and, above all, its literature.
Trotsky, who is still a young man, was born in Southern Russia, and educated at Odessa University. In 1901 he was exiled to Siberia for political agitation. In the following year he escaped and took up his residence at Geneva, where he renewed his political activity. During the revolutionary period in 1904 he returned to Russia and was elected to the Workmen’s Committee. Eventually he became President of the Moderate Revolutionary Party. By degrees he associated himself with the extremists under Lenin, and organized with him the movement of July 3 in Petrograd. He was arrested, but subsequently released. He played a leading part in the last revolution, was elected President of the Soviet, and subsequently became People’s Commissioner for Foreign Affairs.

100 Years Ago - Murder of general Dukhonin

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/failure-of-a-great-plan-b27s9n55s

december 5, 1917

Failure of a great plan

There have in these last few days been times of anxiety, and all credit must be given to the Germans for the formidable plan of their attack. They massed their troops, consisting of not less than six divisions on each side of our salient, quickly and secretly. They had no need to proclaim their presence by a preliminary artillery bombardment, because we had in our new positions no defensive works to destroy or wire to cut. The enemy could attack when he pleased. He chose for the first attack on the weakest point on the south side of the salient, the early morning hour, when our daybreak patrols would have come back reporting all quiet. Then he struck with all his weight. Two hours later, he flung in a second attack, with no fewer men, in even denser masses, against the north.

On the north the attacks were checked, with appalling losses. On the south, by the first surprise the Germans made gains, but only a small portion of what they aimed at. After two days’ interval they again flung against the south side, on an even wider base than before, an attack no less heavy and no less determined. Though the first shot had missed, it was still not too late, by winning a great success, to attain some measure of the original plan. Our victory might still have been so far neutralized as to be made to bear some resemblance to defeat. That attack has made even less gain than the first, and its cost has been as heavy. The Germans came on in dense waves, such as we never dream of using, over open ground, without concealment, and they paid a terrible price.
One gets astounding pictures of the fighting from men who were in it through those amazing hours of strain. One hears of machine-gunners working their guns till they got too hot and jammed, or till all the ammunition was used up, and then seizing rifles and turning in to shoot, shoot, shoot, till the rifles, too, were hot. One hears of men firing steadily hour after hour, using three or four rifles in the course of the day, till dusk came on and the strain relaxed, and they put their heads down on their rifle-butts and sobbed. One hears of field guns firing as fast as they could at point-blank range into the masses as they came on, until wave after wave of the enemy melted and disappeared.

Charles Saatchi's Great Masterpieces: Bruegel's Dutch Proverbs turned clichés into high art

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/artists/charles-saatchis-great-masterpieces-bruegels-dutch-proverbs/

Despite portraits being a stalwart of Dutch and Flemish art in the 16th century, and a lucrative market for artists, Pieter Bruegel never painted any. He specialised in genre paintings portraying the lives of peasants – not a common subject matter at the time.
But humanist ideals were beginning to influence artists and scholars, and Italy was coming to the end of its High Renaissance of art and culture, making Bruegel an innovative pioneer in the Dutch Golden Age. He was to become increasingly influential.
He is sometimes referred to as “Peasant Bruegel”, in an attempt to distinguish him from the other painters in his family, including his remarkably gifted son, Pieter Bruegel the Younger. The epithet came about because it was believed that he must have come from humble origins, due to his emphasis on highlighting the routine working days of the lowly. But in more recent years, scholars have noted the intellectual sophistication of his work and thinking, and believe that he was a highly educated member of the gentry.
After his training, Bruegel travelled to Italy to see the works of the Italian masters. In 1555 he returned to Antwerp, working as a successful print designer for the main publisher at the time. It was only later in life that he concentrated purely on painting, and all of his great masterpieces were produced in little more than a decade. By then, his pictures had become much sought after by wealthy patrons and collectors.
In 1559 Bruegel painted one of his most exquisite works, the richly detailed and mesmerising Netherlandish Proverbs, which depicts literal visual representations of more than 90 Dutch sayings. Variants of a large number of the proverbs Bruegel illustrated are still used in modern Flemish, French, English and Dutch. To the people of 16th-century Flanders, proverbs were a familiar part of their vocabulary, and as the subject of an artwork, would have been recognisable as well as entertaining.

This Week in History - The Battle of Leuthen (4 December)

https://ospreypublishing.com/thisweekhistory/

 

 

 

 

By the autumn of 1757 Frederick the Great was beset by enemies on all sides. The French had invaded allied territory, an Austrian army 110,000-strong had marched into Silesia and even the Russians had moved against him. Then within a month Frederick transformed his fortunes. At Rossbach on 5 November he smashed the Franco-Imperial army in barely one-and-a-half hours. Force-marching to Silesia he won perhaps his greatest victory exactly a month later, crushing the Austrian army at Leuthen.

Further reading
Campaign 113: Rossbach and Leuthen 1757 examines these two battles and Essential Histories 6: The Seven Years' War reviews the grand strategies of the combatants and examines the differing styles of warfare used in the many campaigns.

100 Years Ago - Battle of Cambrai

IRISH TROOPS IN GERMAN TRENCHES BEFORE CAMBRAI

TANK CROSSING A TRENCH

A GERMAN AEROPLANE BROUGHT DOWN ON THE CAMBRAI FRONT

CAVALRY ON THE MOVE: A TANK IN THE. DISTANCE


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-swift-sudden-blow-3zf9gl2w2?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_November%2029,%202017&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2584853_118

A swift, sudden blow

There are tales of Tanks which chased the crews of 5.9 gun batteries round their own guns and captured the battery, and there is another tale of a Tank which fell into the Canal, and the commanding officer was surprised to find it did not float

November 22, 1917

We believe we have sprung today as sharp and bitter a surprise upon the Germans as they have ever experienced. When all attention was concentrated on the Flanders front, and the Passchendaele ridge in particular, we have suddenly struck at the main Hindenburg Line in the old Somme area, beyond Bapaume. There is every reason to believe the blow, when it fell, was completely unexpected by the enemy.
Next to the secrecy with which this attack was planned, the great feature of the operation was the overwhelming share played in the earlier stages of the advance by the Tanks. The condition of the ground here, which is little cut up by shell-holes and is dry, made their use possible, as it has not been possible of late in Flanders. His Majesty’s landships have at last had a real opportunity, and they seem to have made magnificent use of it. The strength of the positions selected for attack was enormous, what is known as the Hindenburg Line consisting, in effect, of three elaborate trench systems, each perfected with every detail known to German military science and defended witli tier after tier of the stoutest wire. That wire had not been cut, for there was no preliminary bombardment, or any warning to the enemy that an attack was impending. It was the Tanks’ first duty to roll out that wire, so that the infantry could get through, and they seem to have done it everywhere, and the infantry poured through after them.

Our line has been practically stationary all the summer, running some hundred yards northeast of the village of Trescault and about 1,000 yards on the same side of Beaucamp and Villers-Plouich. Thence it turned southwards to pass 300 yards on the cast side of Gonnelieu, and then on to nearly a mile on the east of Villers-Guislain. The first German line, or Hindenburg Advanced Line, has run roughly parallel to this at a distance of from 200 to 500 yards, the space growing wider to the south. The main Hindenburg Line, the strongest of the three, was, perhaps, 1,000 yards behind the advanced line, the village of La Vacquerie, for instance, being behind the advanced line, but in front of the main line. The third line, or Hindenburg Support Line, was about the same distance behind the main line. These three lines together made an enormously formidable obstacle, but, so far as we know now, our attack, led by the Tanks, seems to have penetrated it at many points. We hear joyous reports of Tanks, singly or in droves, romping about at all sorts of places in the neighbourhood of the support line, and showing the infantry the way towards various villages. But at this stage of the battle it would be useless to try to give punctilious details. We have gained initial success by an extraordinarily bold manoeuvre, and it is impossible to define the limits of that success today.
I have said that British cavalry has been taking part in the great coup, and it has been a brilliant part. In at least two places I know that cavalry have charged batteries, sabred gunners, and captured guns. I know that they have taken villages and, having dismounted, have held them till the infantry came up. This happened at Marcoing and Masnieres, two places of critical importance by reason of their positions at the crossing of the canal. “Where the cavalry is rollicking now, or what pranks it is planning I do not know. One must, however, have misgivings that in such weather, where the going is getting so slippery and heavy, horses may well be growing tired.
As to the part played in the operation by the Tanks, it was overwhelming. A whole grand fleet of them was engaged, and they were led by their distinguished Commanding Officer in person, who flew his Admiral’s flag at the peak of his Tank and sent a message to all his captains on the eve of the engagement which ran: “England expects that every Tank today will do its damnedest.” Every Tank seems to have done it. There are tales of Tanks which chased the crews of 5.9 gun batteries round their own guns and captured the battery, and there is another tale of a Tank which fell into the Canal, and the commanding officer was surprised to find it did not float.

An interesting detail of the operation is that we have penetrated so deep into the enemy’s territory that we have found and taken villages full of their civilian population. It is said that we have freed over four hundred in Masnieres and nearly 1,000 in another village. This alone would show the completeness of the surprise to the Germans and how far they were from anticipating any such move, for the first evidence that the Germans are growing fearful of any threat on a particular region is the evacuation of all civilians. I understand that some of the newly-released cried unaffectedly with joy at their awakening from the three years of nightmare.