DeKalb Boys in the Final Allied Offensive of World War I

From the August 8, 2018, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1918, 100 Years Ago.

"DeKalb people who have boys with the old Third regiment over in France were glad to read the Chronicle Saturday night and get the first authentic information concerning the place where the boys are doing their fighting.

"There have been many rumors but the interview with General March for the first time told DeKalb folks that their boys are fighting with the British and Australians to the north and west  of the scene of the present allied drive."

This was part of the Somme and Oise-Aisne Offensives which led to the end of the war 100 days later, but with huge Allied losses.

--Cooter

The Second Battle of the Somme

From Wikipedia.

This was the offensive mentioned in the previous post.

Was fought on the Western Front 21 August to 2 September 1918 in the basin of the River Somme.  It was one of a series of Allied counterattacks after the German Spring Offensive of that year.  This battle formed the central part of the Allied final drive that led to the Armistice.

U.S. casualties:  11,500
British casualties:  5,600

German casualties:  Heavy    6,000 taken prisoner.

--DaCoot

WW I, August 8-Nov. 11 1918: The Somme Offensive

AUGUST 8 TO NOVEMBER 11, 1918  Belgium

The 27th and 30th Infantry Divisions hold the East Poperingh Line and fight the Battle of Vierstraat Ridge.

The 33rd and 80th Infantry Divisions also serve in the offensive.

U.S. casualties:

3,221 Killed in Action
12,428 Wounded in Action

--Cooter

World War I Chronology, April 1918, 100 Years Ago-- Part 1

APRIL 1-6--  Somme Defensive.  Elements of the 6th Engineers (3rdID) and the 14th and 212th Engineers (Railway) participate.  Also the 22nd, 28th and the 17th Aero Squadrons fly missions.  It started March 21.

APRIL 6--  2,000 U.S. troops reinforce the British in the Amiens Sector.

APRIL 8--  The 1st Aero Squadron is the first U.S. air squadron assigned to the front line.

--DaCootSomme

Battle of Flers-Courcelette: First Use of Tanks in Warfare

From Wikipedia.

I had never heard of this battle before starting these entries dealing with the Naours Cave.

The battle took place during the Somme Offensive in the summer and autumn 1916.  The object of this battle was to cut a hole in the German line by using massed artillery and an infantry attack.  That hole was then to be exploited by cavalry.

Overall, the attempt here failed, but the villages of Courcelette, Flers and Martinpuick were captured.

This battle was significant because it marked the first time tanks were used in battle.  Tanks were referred to as "Land Battleships."  It was also the first battle the New Zealand and Canadian Divisions participated.

Kind of interesting that cavalry was originally to be used to exploit the anticipated hole in the German lines and this was the first use of tanks, the cavalry's replacement.

Way, Heigh, Over the Bounding Land.  --Cooter

The Durham Light Infantry-- Part 2

During World War I, the unit fought at many of the worst battles, including Ypres, Loos, Arras, Messines, Cambrai, Somme and Passchendale.  They earned 54 battle honors and six Victoria Crosses but lost some 12,000 dead.

James Cockburn signed his name on April 1, 1917, so this would have been right before the Battle of Arras which began on 9 April and was intended as a diversion for the French attack at Nivelle.  The British and Durham Light Infantry advanced 4,000 hard-fought yards through the Hindenburg trench system until April 10th.

The Battle of Messines was 7-14 June 1917 and Somme Offensive began July 1917.

So, James Cockburn sure had a busy time before him.

--Cooter

World War I Graffiti Found in French Cave-- Part 1

From the April 7, 2015, Chicago Tribune "WWI cave graffiti sheds light on soldiers" by Greg Keller, AP.

Naours, France.  It's 100 feet underground and by headlamp you can see the name "James Cockburn 8th Durham L.I..  The date beside the name is April 1, 1917.  Right in the middle of World War I.

It is just one of nearly 2000 nearly century old inscriptions that have recently been found in Naours, a two-hour drive north of Paris.  When written, the huge battle of the Somme was going on just a few miles away which resulted in over one million casualties.

Photographer Jeff Gusky has tallied 1,821 individual names: 731 Australians, 339 British, 55 Americans, a handful of French and Canadian, and 662 others whose nationalities have yet to be traced.

--Cooter

The World War I Donkey: Jimmy "The Sergeant"

From the April 2012 Mail Online "The donkey born in a First World War trench which became a mascot for British troops."

** Jimmy "The Sergeant" donkey was born at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

** Wounded by shellfire three times in two years on the frontlines.

** Taught to raise a hoof in salute by the soldiers who raised him.

** After the war, he raised thousands of pounds for the RSPCA.

** Was weaned on cans of condensed milk.

** Carried equipment and soldiers.

The Long-Eared, Braying Soldier. --DaCoot

Some Older News: New National Monument-- Europe's Oldest Man and WW I Veteran

I found some old items while looking through my archives and found them of interest, so will write about them now.

NEW NATIONAL MONUMENT-- President Bush has asked the secretaries of Defense and the Interior to look into making Pearl Harbor and other Pacific sites into a national monument: "These objects of historic and scientific interest may tell the broader story of the war, the sacrifices made by America and its allies, and the heroism and determination that laid the groundwork for victory in the Pacific and triumph in World War II."

EUROPE'S OLDEST MAN AND WORLD WAR I VETERAN-- From the Guardian.co.uk "RAF flypast for Europe's oldest man." A Hurricane and a Spitfire will do a flypast in honor of Henry Allingham who turned 112 this week.

He was born in 1896, the same year the first Modern Olympics were held and Queen Victoria became the longest reigning monarch in British history.

Henry Allingham is also one of Britain and the world's last remaining veterans of World War I. He was at the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval clash of the war. In 1917, he was posted to France to service and rescue aircraft that had crashed behind trenches at Ypres and the Somme.

While there, Allingham fell into a shell hole full of legs, arms, ears, rotten flesh in no-man's land and has never forgotten the stench of death.

He was guest of honor at RAF College Cranwell near Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

For eighty years, he did not speak of his wartime service.

Allingham remains in good health and lives in St. Dunstan's home for blind veterans in Brighton.

In November, he will join two other surviving British World War veterans, Henry Patch, 109, and Bill Stone, 107 at the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day at the Cenotaph in London.

Unfortunately, all three of these men died this year.

As We Are Now Down to One US World War I veteran Still Living.