The Myth of the Great War:
A New Military History of World War I
by John Mosier
paperback
Posted on 05/30/2005 8:17:51 PM PDT by nickcarraway
THE remarkably well preserved remains of a British officer, killed in one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, have been discovered in the mud of Flanders.
The man, still wearing his gas cape, boots and helmet, was killed during the battle of Passchendaele almost 90 years ago.
A Commonwealth War Graves Commission team is due to arrive in Belgium today to help identify the Lancashire Fusiliers' officer, whose remains were found by archaeologists.
The officer, who was found on Friday, is one of more than 58,000 men who fought in the notorious Ypres Salient in Belgium during the Great War with no known grave. Some half-a-million allied soldiers died in the mud and blood of this sector of the western front before the assault intended to smash the German line was called off after four months.
The officer was apparently buried hastily, according to the man leading the archaeological team searching a railway embankment that cut through the British and German lines during the battle. Among items found on his body were a wallet containing a stamp and a silver case of cigarettes.
Franky Bostyn, curator of the Passchendaele Museum, said the man also had a wristwatch.
"He was in a shell hole wrapped in his gas cape and when we carefully removed that, we saw the whole body was completely preserved," he said. "He was not buried, just thrown in, but he had his full equipment on him."
The dense blue clay of Flanders is credited with preserving the soldier's equipment and personal belongings. Juergen Debeleye, the museum's deputy head of research, said: "The clay is a marvellous preservative. The buttons on his tunic shone like new and we could tell instantly what regiment he was with.
"This was a wonderful find. He even had his wallet with him, and a Bible was found near the body. He would have been buried very quickly. We hope to have an identity for the man soon.
"It will be wonderful to give a name to an unknown soldier, for his family to know he can at last be buried with full military honours."
Another Bog Body, like those thousands of years old.
Brins to mind the senseless slaughter of Ypres and most of the European war of 1914-1918.
Ping
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
pong
The Myth of the Great War:
A New Military History of World War I
by John Mosier
paperback
Main Source: A 1930s Military study done by US Army Officer Vincent J. Esposito, Colonel, US Military Academy. All are Official figures.
| Country | Mobilized | Killed | Wounded | POW/Missing | Died as POW or by Disease | Total | % of Mobilized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | 12,000,000 | 1,700,000 | 4,950,000 | 2,500,000 | 9,150,000 | 76.3% | |
| France | 8,410,000 | 1,357,800 | 3,588,470 | 537,000 | 297,000 | 6,160,800 | 73.3% |
| British Empire | 8,904,467 | 908,371 | 2,090,212 | 191,652 | 3,190,235 | 35.8% | |
| Italy | 5,615,000 | 650,000 | 947,000 | 600,000 | 530,000 | 2,197,000 | 39.1% |
| USA | 4,734,991 | 53,402 (combat) 63,114 (non-combat) |
204,002 | 3,973 / 3,350 | 364,800 | 8.4% | |
| Japan | 800,000 | 301 | 907 | 3 | 1,210 | 0.2% | |
| Romania | 750,000 | 335,706 | 120,000 | 80,000 | 62,000 | 535,706 | 71.4% |
| Serbia | 707,343 | 45,000 | 133,148 | 152,958 | 331,106 | 46.8% | |
| Belgium | 267,000 | 13,716 | 44,686 | 34,659 | 93,061 | 34.9% | |
| Greece | 230,000 | 5,000 | 21,000 | 1,000 | 32,000 | 27,000 | 11.7% |
| Portugal | 100,000 | 7,222 | 13,751 | 12,318 | 4,100 | 33,291 | 33.3% |
| Montenegro | 50,000 | 3,000 | 10,000 | 7,000 | 20,000 | 40.0% | |
| Allied Total | 42,188,810 | 5,152,115 | 12,831,004 | 4,121,090 | 925,100 | 22,104,209 | 52.4% |
| Germany | 11,000,000 | 1,773,300 | 4,216,058 | 1,152,800 | 224,000 | 7,142,558 | 64.9% |
| Austria-Hungary | 7,800,000 | 1,200,000 | 3,620,000 | 2,200,000 | 32,000 | 7,020,000 | 90.0% |
| Turkey | 2,850,000 | 325,789 | 400,000 | 250,000 | 163,000 | 975,000 | 34.2% |
| Bulgaria | 1,200,000 | 87,500 | 152,390 | 27,029 | 184,500 | 266,919 | 22.2% |
| Central Powers Total | 22,850,000 | 3,386,200 | 8,388,448 | 3,629,829 | 603,000 | 15,404,477 | 67.4% |
| All Total | 65,038,810 | 8,538,315 | 21,219,452 | 7,750,919 | 37,508,686 | 57.7% |
seems like there was a FR topic regarding some recently discovered photos from Alpine warfare in WWI. Oh well, maybe someone here has the link. Meanwhile...
World War One Color Photos
Big D & Bubba Show | 3/2/05 | Unknown
Posted on 03/03/2005 2:25:44 PM PST by Jinjelsnaps
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1355366/posts
roo, the old switche', to me. Thanks.
Wow,
I need to study up on WW1 some more, those numbers are staggering and humbling
Salute
The WWII numbers for mobilization are of course much larger; US losses were more than double for WWII; the scale of that war was much greater; in the battle of Kursk alone (July 1943), six thousand tanks took part, of which more than half were destroyed. The US alone built tens of thousands of planes and tanks, thousands of ships and landing craft, and much of that was scrapped by 1950. Scrapping it all took a lot of time, because of the sheer quantity.
In each of the World Wars, looks like about 1 in 40 US personnel died.
Enlisted 595,000
Served overseas 418,000
Killed in Action 35,666
Died of wounds 12,420
Died of disease 5,405
Wounded 155,799
Presumed dead 4,671
Missing 425
Total Dead 60,383
The number that struck me was 67% of the mobilized were either killed, wounded or missing (combined total, both sides)
I am worried that our war on terror will not be as kind to our side until we get as serious about winning as these folks were and to get there what will the ROP have to inflict upon us before we do get serious, and We Demand Unconditional Surrender or Death from them as they demand from us? When will the War really begin?
Yet today it is popular on the left and the far right to downplay the significance of WW1, its combatants, and America's "dubious" role in it. It's unforgivable that our contemporaries are forgetting the sacrifices so many made to save the west just 110 years ago.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields
Saw something on the history channel where Gen. George Marshall grabbed Pershing (the overall commander of the army) by the arm in front of the troops and held on to him until he was done berating him for the lack of material, planning, training, etc. from the higher ups. Instead of a court-marshall, Pershing took Marshall as his right-hand man.
Those are some astounding numbers. One can easily seey why, with >70% casualties, Russia was ripe for revolution and France was sent into a seemingly irreversible decline. It's also easy to see wny the Western democracies had such an aversion to war during the twenties and thirties--an aversion that Hitler used to his advantage.
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