Produced by Don Kostuch
[Transcriber's Notes]
My father's part in WWI attracted me to this book. I recall him talking
briefly about fighting the Bolsheviki in Archangel. "The machine gun
bullets trimmed the leaves off the trees, as if it were fall." Like most
veterans, he had little else to say.
This book mentions his campaign on page 736; "August 3, 1918.--President
Wilson announces new policy regarding Russia and agrees to cooperate
with Great Britain, France and Japan in sending forces to Murmansk,
Archangel and Vladivostok."
My father's experience seems to be described in the following excerpt
from the University of Michigan "The University Record", April 5, 1999.
"Bentley showcases items from World War I 'Polar Bears'"; by Joanne
Nesbit.
"During the summer of 1918, the U.S. Army's 85th Division, made up
primarily of men from Michigan and Wisconsin, completed training at Fort
Custer in Battle Creek, Mich., and proceeded to England. The 5,000
troops of the division's 339th Infantry and support units realized that
they were not being sent to France to join the great battles on the
Western Front when they were issued Russian weapons and equipment and
lectured on life in the Arctic regions.
"When they reached their destination in early September, 600 miles north
of Moscow, the men of the 339th joined an international force commanded
by the British that had been sent to northern Russia for purposes that
were never made clear. The Americans were soon spread in small fighting
units across hundreds of miles of the Russian forest fighting the
Bolsheviks who had taken power in Petrograd and Moscow.
"The day of the Armistice (Nov. 11) when fighting ceased for other
American armies, the allied soldiers were fighting the Bolsheviks said
to be led by Trotsky himself. After three days, the allies finally were
able to drive off the Bolsheviks. While this fight was a victory for the
Americans, the battle led to the realization that the war was not over
for these men. As the weeks and months passed and more battles were
fought, the men began to wonder if they would ever get home.
"The men of the 339th generally were well equipped with winter clothing
during the winter of 1918-19 while stationed near the Arctic Circle,
where temperatures reached minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
"There was little daylight for months at a time. Knowing that the war was
over for other American soldiers, the morale of the troops declined
throughout the winter.
"Families and friends of the men began to clamor for their return.
Politicians unwilling to support an undeclared war against the Russian
government joined in their demand. A petition to Congress was
circulated. Several of the British and French units mutinied and refused
to continue fighting. In early April, the American troops learned that
they would be withdrawn as soon as the harbor at Archangel was cleared
of ice.
"It was not until June of 1919 that the men of the 339th sailed from
Russia and adopted the polar bear as their regimental symbol. After a
stop in New York, the troops went on to Detroit where they took part in
a gala July 4 homecoming parade at Belle Isle."
The converted text for several chapters is copied from Project
Gutenberg's eBook 16282, History of the World War, Vol. 3, prepared by
Juliet Sutherland, Jennifer Zickerman, and the Project Gutenberg Online
Distributed Proofreading Team. This edition has minor differences,
mostly additional passages and images.
When considering monetary values listed in the text, one United States
dollar in 1918 is equivalent to about thirteen dollars in 2006. One
United States dollar in 1918 is equivalent to about 5.6 French Francs in
1918; one Franc in 1918 is equivalent to about 2.3 dollars in 2006.
For additional insight into the pilots and air battles of the war read
"The Red Knight of Germany; The Story of Baron von Richthofen, Germany's
Great War Bird" by Floyd Gibbons. This book is copyright 1927 and will
not be freely available online until 2022.
In the PDf and Doc versions, the following pages contain additional maps
that may assist in understanding some of the references to locations in
the text. The first shows Western France. The second map contains many
of the locations of the European battles. They are adapted from
Putnam's Handy Volume Atlas of the World, published by G.P. Putnam's
Sons, New York and London, 1921.
The next two maps from the USMA, West Point, map collection, compare
Europe before and after World War I.
Finally, a full map of the European theater has much detail. It should
be scaled up to about 500% for detail viewing. It is derived from a
larger map from Rand, McNally & Company's Indexed Atlas of the World,
Copyright 1898.
[Illustration: Western France; Southern England]
[Illustration: Western Front Battle Zone--Eastern France; Southern
Belgium; Western Germany]
[Illustration: WWI Locales; Lens; Cinde; Mons; Douai; Valenciennes;
Cambri Landrecies; St. Quentin; Sedan; Argonne Forest; Noyon; Chauny;
Soissons; Rheims; Verdun; Metz; Chateau-Thierry; St. Mihiel; Paris;
Sezanne]
[Illustration: Europe Before World War I]
[Illustration: Europe After World War I]
[Illustration: Europe, 1898]
This is a glossary of unfamiliar (to me) terms and places.
Boche
Disparaging term for a German.
camion
Truck or bus. [French]
charnel
Repository for the dead.
colliers
Coal miner
congerie
Accumulation, aggregation, collection, gathering
consanguinities
Relationship by blood or common ancestor. Close affinity.
deadweight
Displacement of a ship at any loaded condition minus the lightship
weight (weight of the ship with no fuel, passengers, cargo). It
includes the crew, passengers, cargo, fuel, water, and stores.
debouch
March from a confined area into the open; to emerge
Gross Tonnage
Volume of all ship's enclosed spaces (from keel to funnel) measured to
the outside of the hull framing (1 ton / 100 cu.ft.).
inst.
The current month: your letter of the 15th instant.
invest
Surround with troops or ships; besiege.
irredenta
Region culturally or historically related to one nation, but subject
to a foreign government.
Junker
Member of the Prussian landed aristocracy, formerly associated with
political reaction and militarism.
Kiao-chau
German protectorate from 1898 to 1915, on the Yellow Sea coast of
China. It was on 200 square miles of the Shantung Peninsula around the
city of Tsingtao, leased to Germany for one hundred years by the
imperial Chinese government. In 1898 Tsingtao was an obscure fishing
village of 83,000 inhabitants. When Germany withdrew in 1915, Tsingtao
was an important trading port with a population of 275,000.
kine
Plural of cow.
kultur
German culture and civilization as idealized by the exponents of
German imperialism during the Hohenzollern and Nazi regimes.
lighterage
Transportation of goods on a lighter (large flatbottom barge used to
deliver or unload goods to or from a cargo ship or transport goods
over short distances.)
lyddite
An explosive consisting chiefly of picric acid, a poisonous, explosive
yellow crystalline solid, C6H2(NO2)3OH.
mitrailleuse
Machine gun.
morganatic
Marriage between a person of royal birth and a partner of lower rank,
where no titles or estates of the royal partner are to be shared by
the partner of inferior rank nor by any of the offspring.
nugatory
Of little or no importance; trifling; invalid.
pastils
Small medicated or flavored tablet; tablet containing aromatic
substances burned to fumigate or deodorize the air; pastel paste or
crayon.
poilus
French soldier, especially in World War I.
pourparler
Discussion preliminary to negotiation.
prorogue
Discontinue a session of parliament; postpone; defer.
punctilio
Fine point of etiquette; precise observance of formalities.
rinderpest
Contagious viral disease, chiefly of cattle, causing ulceration of the
alimentary tract and diarrhea.
Sublime Porte
[French. Porte: a gate] Ottoman court; government of the Turkish
empire; from the gate of the sultan's palace.
Tsing-tao (Qing-dao)
City in eastern China on the Yellow Sea, north-northwest of Shanghai.
The city was leased in 1898 to the Germans, who established a famous
brewery.
Uhlans
Horse cavalry of the Polish, German, Austrian, and Russian armies.
ukase
Order or decree; an edict; proclamation of a czar having the force of
law in imperial Russia.
verbund
[German] Interconnection.
Wipers
British soldiers' pronunciation of "Ypres".
Zemstvos
An elective council for the administration of a provincial district in
czarist Russia.
[End Transcriber's notes]
[Illustration: THE VICTORIOUS GENERALS; photographs]
General Foch, Commander-in-Chief of all Allied forces. General
Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American armies. Field Marshal
Haig, head of the British armies. General d'Esperey (French) to whom
Bulgaria surrendered. General Diaz, Commander-in-Chief of the Italian
armies. General Marshall (British), head of the Mesopotamian
expedition. General Allenby (British), who redeemed Palestine from the
Turks.
HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR
An Authentic Narrative of The World's Greatest War
By FRANCIS A. MARCH, Ph.D.
In Collaboration with
RICHARD J. BEAMISH
Special War Correspondent
and Military Analyst
With an Introduction
By GENERAL PEYTON C. MARCH
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Illustrated with Reproductions from
the Official Photographs of the United
States, British and French Governments
PUBLISHED FOR THE UNITED PUBLISHERS OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO TORONTO
1919
COPYRIGHT, 1918
FRANCIS A. MARCH
This history is an original work and is fully protected by the copyright
laws, including the right of translation. All persons are warned against
reproducing the text in whole or in part without the permission of the
publishers.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF STAFF.
WASHINGTON,
NOVEMBER 14, 1918.
With the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the World War
has been practically brought to an end. The events of the past four
years have been of such magnitude that the various steps, the numberless
battles, and the growth of Allied power which led up to the final
victory are not clearly defined even in the minds of many military men.
A history of this great period which will state in an orderly fashion
this series of events will be of the greatest value to the future
students of the war, and to everyone of the present day who desires to
refer in exact terms to matters which led up to the final conclusion.
The war will be discussed and re-discussed from every angle and the
sooner such a compilation of facts is available, the more valuable it
will be. I understand that this History of the World War intends to put
at the disposal of all who are interested, such a compendium of facts of
the past period of over four years; and that the system employed in
safeguarding the accuracy of statements contained in it will produce a
document of great historical value without entering upon any speculative
conclusions as to cause and effect of the various phases of the war or
attempting to project into an historical document individual opinions.
With these ends in view, this History will be of the greatest value.
Signature [Payton C. March]
General,
Chief of Staff.
United States Army.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. A WAR FOR INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM
A Conflict that was Inevitable--The Flower of Manhood on the Fields of
France--Germany's Defiance to the World--Heroic Belgium--Four
Autocratic Nations against Twenty-four Committed to the Principles of
Liberty--America's Titanic Effort--Four Million Men Under Arms, Two
Million Overseas--France the Martyr Nation--The British Empire's
Tremendous Share in the Victory--A River of Blood Watering the Desert
of Autocracy