History & Lore of the Old World War

artifacts & odd bits from 1914-1918

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• Voices from the trenches, a hundred years ago . . .

  
  
  From Wm Yorke Stevenson’s AT THE FRONT IN A FLIVVER: The diary of an American Ambulance driver in France in 1916.
  
  March 14, 1916: "...At Poitiers we saw the first train-load of German prisoners; most of them were thoroughly satisfied to be out of the war. . . . We also saw a train of Red Cross cars carrying wounded to the south for recuperation. Only the slightly injured, however. It seemed almost like returning to one's home to see the familiar towns again, Tours, Blois, & the rest. The curious, hazy atmosphere of France, the tiny villages nestling about their castles like chickens around the mother hen, & above all, the familiar poplars. Paris is very quiet & dark; but there are plenty of cabs & taxis, & food is as good as ever..."
  
  Paris, March 16. "...To-day I met A. Piatt Andrew-- bully fellow-- much younger than I expected. He 's the whole show out at Neuilly. Other fellows are very nice too. Several start for the Front to-morrow, so the Equipment Dept is very busy. I had to see half a dozen officials, French & American, to get vised. We are to take our driver's exams, to-morrow, & I ordered clothes..."
  
  "...Just now the Neuilly Hospital is being cleared of its wounded as much as possible. It looks as if they expect a big Ally offensive as soon as the Verdun battle is over. There are very few wounded in Paris at present. Most of the Ambulance men are at the Front. They have organized a special 15-day corps for emergencies. It is now at Verdun. I hope I get a chance, although, of course, the turns go more or less by seniority. The food is fair at the hospital — all eat at long tables. There is an immense staff of nurses, doctors, and orderlies, and the place is much larger than I expected..."
  
  
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    The earliest war museum at Belleau Wood
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• Recent Comments

  • Kate Kerr on “The stillness was oppressive.” ~~~ An American surgeon on the Meuse records his impressions of the Armistice
  • GP Cox on First to Fall: the American Volunteers who Gave their Lives for France
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  • awriterofhistory on One hundred years ago, 24 April 1915: Armenian genocide begins
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  • awriterofhistory on The Poilu in postcards
  • Madeleine Johnson on The Poilu in postcards
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  • awriterofhistory on Christmas greetings from the old front line
  • Halra on Join the effort to save the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial outside of Paris
  • Soldiers' Mail on Armistice Day, 2013
  • bj omanson on A Small Circle of Chums~~ some Marines of 15th Company, 6th Machine Gun Battalion at Belleau Wood: how each of them came to be there, and what followed after . . .
  • Jack on A Small Circle of Chums~~ some Marines of 15th Company, 6th Machine Gun Battalion at Belleau Wood: how each of them came to be there, and what followed after . . .
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• 1st Battalion / 5th Marines 1st Engineers / 1st Division AEF 1st King's Shropshire 1st Sgt Daniel A "Pop" Hunter 2d Division (Regular) AEF 2nd Battalion / 5th Marines 4th King's African Rifles 5th Machine Gun Company 5th Marines 6th Machine Gun Battalion 7th Division BEF 9th Infantry 12th FA Regiment 33rd Division AEF 67th Company 1st Battalion 5th Marines 89th Division absinthe Aisne-Marne Cemetery Alpheus Appenheimer Amblimont American Battle Monuments Commission American bridgehead American Field Service American Volunteers Amiens Anzacs Armenian genocide Armistice Armistice Day Army of Occupation Autreville Avesnes Base Hospital 1 Base Hospital 19 Base Hospital 115 Baumon Beaumont Belgium Belleau Wood Belle Fontaine Farm Belval Woods Bersee Bertrix Bloomsbury Group Bois de l'Hospice Bois de Limon Bois de Murets Bouresches Braine BrigGen Neville USMC Bussiares Cameron Highlanders Captain Charley Dunbeck Captain J.R. Foster Captain N.H.Massie Captain S.C. Cumming Cassis-sur-Mer Charleroy Chateau-Thierry Christmas in the trenches Christmas Truce Clive Bell Coblenz Coeuvres Cpl Frank W Dunham crossing of the Meuse Dana Gioia Daniel Ross Dardanelles demobilization Devonshire Regiment Duncan Grant E. Ray Goetz Ethe Ezra Pound Fifth Army Corps Frances Wilson Huard French Foreign Legion French Fourth Army Frith Hill Compound Gallipoli Gefr. Karl Schoning Gembloux Geoffrey Miller German Army Gilles Lagin Haiti Harvey Dunn Henry Eglinton Montgomery Suckley II Hereward Carrington Heron Hill 142 Hotel de l'Elephant In Flanders Fields Irene Bordoni Jay Winter Jean Jaurès Jean Marchand Jim Broshot John Allan Wyeth John McCrae John W Thomason Kiffen Rockwell King's Own Royal Regiment Museum La Belle Tour Farm Lady Lilith Savile Lafayette Escadrille La Frobourg la Tuileire Farm Le Basace Le Champy Haut Letanne Lieutenant Gitz Rice Loos Lt. C.D. Baylis Lt. G.E.M. Thornycroft Lt. George R. Strott USN Luxembourg Maj RS Keyser USMC Mar-a-Lago March to the Rhine Marian Hollinger Matthew Bruccoli Melville Gideon Meredith Loveland Dowd Mobilization Moulins Mouzon Mt Kemmel muleskinner Nouart Paris Perwez Peter Donnelly Peter Farrell-Vinay Phil Tomaselli Pioneer Corps Poilu poppies postcards Pouilly Princess Mary's Christmas Box Quantico Raoul Villain Rapallo Reserve Infanterie Regiment 32 river Aisne river Marne river Meuse river Rhine river Sauer river Vesle Royal Engineers Sartelle Ferme Service Aeronautique Soissons spiritualism Stalhelm helmets Steven Parker St Mihiel Thinaudine Ferme Tim Kendall Uncategorized Vanessa Bell Vera Cruz Verdun Vichy Victoria Cross Villemontry W.J. Aylward Wallace Morgan Yoncq
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• Great War links

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