Sketch Maps

Well, the written Introductions for 4 / 6 maps are basically done except for a few small details.

CrazyThumbs, the Mod Leader, is going to write up Gommecourt.

That leaves Loos, and Thiepval is probably going to be a future update map not included in our initial release. It may be included; we will have to see.


It is getting to the point where I need to draw sketch maps for these three maps.

I am going to use graph paper; I have researched the map scale used on original Trench Maps:

British and Belgian Trench Symbol Keys:


Most of the British and Belgian maps are 1:10,000 maps.

1 inch= 833.33 Feet, or
254.00 Meters

1 Centimeter= 328.1 Feet or
100 meters


A Great War Forum member gave me some great information:

Again like you say, a lot of British maps only had the British front line marked or a general 2 lines not to scale or detail (i.e., because they didn't want the map to fall possibly into enemy hands, and give their positions away). They did print very detailed maps with their own trenches marked and named, but this wasn't very often.

The 'approximate front line' was often on maps after an attack or action had taken place and not all info was in about exact positions of the trenches. Aerial photos needed processing etc.

Officers would use maps to take down information prior to an attack when they were given co-ordinates for objectives for platoons or companies.

The French used tracings called plan de situation on which to draw details and use as overlays.

Most Belgians spoke French; only the Flanders region spoke Dutch (I think):



Some of the German Trench Maps were 1:20,000 scale.



Please visit our Iron Europe Video Game Forum:

http://z15.invisionfree.com/Iron_Europe/index.php

Lots Of WWI Links

I think this old computer will be thrown out by the end of this summer, so I better put the eight months of research I found on the net here:

Australian Imperial Force:

http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/ghq1arm.htm

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22028/22028-h/22028-h.htm

http://www.151ril.com/content/home

http://penhey.name/omiwxb262Div7(p).htm

http://members.iinet.net.au/~abermail/photointro.html

http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/trench-warfare/implementation.html

http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Generals/glasgow.html

http://www.cefresearch.com/matrix/Nicholson/Transcription/Chapter10.pdf

http://percysmith.blogspot.com/2007/04/chapter-28-flanders-september-1917.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REVhistorymilitary.htm

http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/rmcmullin.html

http://firstworldwar.cloudworth.com/australia-expeditionary-force.php

http://www.ambafrance-au.org/france_australie/


USA

http://library.uwsp.edu/pcl/history/ourcounty/IMAGES/00000044.pdf



I believe this man, John Buchan, was the South African Official Historian of WWI:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mr_Standfast/Chapter_12

http://www.oceanharmony.ca/Alfred%20Gordon%20Wills.html#Chapter%206

http://printaustralia.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html



Polygon Wood:

http://books.google.com/books?id=uzAzFPUPazwC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=Personal+accounts+of+Polygon+Wood,+1917&source=web&ots=vpJ1KgDa6V&sig=lDLoNw9Xr79Ve6e5Uxt2PChmzu8&hl=en

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.scran.ac.uk/RB/images/thumb/0746/07461897.jpg&imgrefurl=http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-HTTP%25253A%25252F%25252FWWW.SCRAN.AC.UK%25252F000-000-506-930-C&h=109&w=150&sz=5&hl=en&start=70&um=1&tbnid=NRM33_0UCe_3NM:&tbnh=70&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAustralian%2BWWI%2Btroops,%2Bphotos%2Bof%26start%3D60%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLF,GGLF:2006-39,GGLF:en%26sa%3DN

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ly535DBdwm4C&pg=PA252&dq=Hard+Jacka&sig=BgtG1JDDUfh5mU0Xi7JjxMOXZdU#PPA186,M1

http://blog.awm.gov.au/awm/tag/battles+page+2/

http://blog.awm.gov.au/awm/tag/battles+passchendaele-ypres/

http://www.dva.gov.au/commemorations/commemorative_events/major_anniversaries/western_front90/

http://www.descendantsof14thbattalion.org.au/index2.html

http://www.hardjacka.com/theaustralian.html

http://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/~rmallett/Generals/sinclair_maclagan.html

http://www.diggertours.com/pozieres.htm


Memorial Stories Testimonies (not a direct link anymore):

http://www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/frequentlyaskedquestions/Ernie_Mayo

http://www.dva.gov.au/media/aboutus/annual/wargrave.htm

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070311b.htm

http://www.australiansatwar.gov.au/stories/stories.asp?war=W1&id=148


Somme:

West Riding Regiment Roll of Honour:

http://www.addingham.info/war/somme.htm


Also WWII links; I haven't written much about WWII on this Blog:

http://www.jje.info/lostlives/index.html

http://www.users.bigpond.com/peter_pidgeon/richard_cooke.htm


Mouquet Farm & Pozieres:

http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/battlefields/mouquet-farm-1916.html

http://www.jdark.linkt.com.au/williamhenrymurray.html

http://forum.irishmilitaryonline.com/showthread.php?t=9058&page=3

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090161b.htm

http://www.pathsofglory.co.uk/Fred%20Latham.htm (Great Trench Map of Thiepval)

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/return-to-the-somme/2006/04/21/1145344273859.html

http://www.australiandiggers.com/notfound/user_~anzacs/

http://www.blogger.com/publish-confirmation.g?blogID=8681247159603432077&postID=1137088368033242103×tamp=1241465613485&javascriptEnabled=true


I also have an interest in the Vietnam Conflict:

http://www.bmvets.com.au/



Books:

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/subject/Ypres%201st%20Battle%20of%20Ieper%20Belgium%201914


Uniforms

http://www.militaria.co.uk/default.asp


Dominion of Canada:

http://www.slideshare.net/Mary_Anne

http://www.archivecdbooks.ca/Samples/CA0209_Samp.pdf

Museums:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/outputRegister/html

Memorials:

http://www.remembering.org.uk/index.htm

Colonialism and Modern America

Just some interesting comments I found about Imperialism.

It reminded me of modern America's war in Iraq.


Since the WMD casus belli failed, the altruistic argument replaced it ("we were liberating the Iraqi people from a totalitarian dictator".

The sixth anniversary of the war will becoming up after St. Paddy's Day in March.

A reminder that real war is Hell:


"Despite altruistic goals, humanitarianism often propagates foreign, and sometimes unjust, power structures where it is employed.

Tracing the visual rhetoric of French colonial humanitarianism, Peter J. Blooms unexpected analysis reveals how the project of remaking the colonies in the image of France was integral to its national identity.

French Colonial Documentary investigates how the promise of universal citizenship rights in France was projected onto the colonies as a form of evolutionary interventionism. Bloom focuses on the promotion of French education efforts, hygienic reform, and new agricultural techniques in the colonies as a means of renegotiating the social contract between citizens and the state on an international scale.

Bloom's insightful readings disclose the pervasiveness of colonial iconography, including the relationship between “natural man†and colonial subjectivity; representations of the Senegalese Sharpshooters as obedient, brave, and sexualized colonial subjects; and the appeal of exotic adventure narratives in the trans-Saharan film genre.

Examining the interconnection between French documentary realism and the colonial enterprise, Bloom demonstrates how the colonial archive is crucial to contemporary

Peter J. Bloom is associate professor of film and media studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara.y debates about multiculturalism in France."

Voice Actors

I started to write an Ad for Voice Actors.

However, I think it is still a bit premature to post an Ad.

We should try and research the commands and insults more.

I will save what I have written here:

Hi everyone. :)

The Iron Europe Team is hard at work on Iron Europe: 1914-1916, which is mod for Tripwire Interactive's "Game 2" depicting First World War battles between the British and Commonwealth forces and the Imperial German Army.

We need Voice Actors, German, British, and Australian (though if you feel you can imitate these nationalities in their native languages well, you are also welcome to try out) to portray Voice Commands and Insults for our mod.

We have taken suggestions from the RO Community and have also searched through novels, memoirs, and diaries for phrases and words that were used during WWI.

We would like become one of the final Voice Actor candidates,

More On The Prussian Guards

It is very difficult to find much information about the Prussian Guards; I have only been able to find fragments on the internet.

The best was this short article written by one of the Moderators at the Axis History Forum.

I wish I was able to find more information, but the Pickelhaube Forum said there are no Prussian Guard histories that are in English.

I imagine there is something about them, somewhere in English. Perhaps a history on some university book shelf, somewhere.

But I will just have to make due with, predominately, this.


And I'm not sure if by August, 1916, if the 2nd Prussian Reserve regiment ranks still included Reservists who had been in the Prussian Guard, or was it now predominately made up of draftees or young men?

Charles Bean, the Australian Official Historian seems to indicate most of the Prussian Guard Reservist POWS were lanky, young men.

However, this regiment, though of Reservists, is credited with maintaining its elite fighting force capability throughout the First World War, by the Germans and the Allies.

Prussian Guards' History

DIE KAISERLICHE GARDE 1914-18

“….a very fine stamp of men,by far the finest Germans I have ever seen; the only troops I have ever seen taller even than our own men….”
C.E.W.Bean,Australian Correspondent,September 1916,observing German Guard prisoners on the Somme.

“Even if these Guard Regiments of ours haven’t got their peacetime cadre any more—those men must all be lying in their graves by now,in France or Russia—the present Guardsmen are still an elite…”
Diary of Herbert Sulzbach,January 1917.

“This is my ninth offensive.Now I’ve had a belly full.”
Guard Oberst, quoted May 1918, in the Muller Diaries.

With a history stretching back to 1688, the Imperial Guard of the Royal Prussian Army was considered the premier fighting force of the German Army in the First World War,effectively maintaining its elite status and fighting prowess throughout the four years of that conflict.

While never greatly expanded from its 1914 base,the general Allied view that the majority of its divisions were“superior and suitable for all attack and defensive fighting” meant this was a force to be reckoned with. Likewise it became something of a badge of honour for an Allied servicemen to state that he had “fought against the Prussian Guard”.

In 1914 the Garde was an exclusively Prussian organization,recruited from the provinces of Prussia,including the Imperial Reichsland region of Alsace-Lorraine.The minimum height requirement was 5 feet 7 inches.of sound physique and bearing. In 1911 around 64% of conscripted recruits for the German Army came from a rural background (including the Garde Corps) so “robust farm youths” formed the majority of the enlisted men.

The officers were traditionally drawn from the Junker class of land-owning families,many aristocrats,even as candidates from the middle class were increasingly being accepted as officers in many other regiments.In 1914 for example all the officers of the 3. Garde-Regiment zu Fuss were entirely aristocratic,highlighting the social distinction,the status (and wealth)required to obtain a sought aftered Garde Officer position.

While a Guardsmen received no special battle training nor carried special weaponary in 1914 to distinguish him from the ordinary infantryman,the “the mystique of their status did result in performances well above the average”.The experiences of the Franco-Prussian War had etched in the popular mind an elite force equivalent to the shock troops of Napoleon’s Guard. Emperor Wilhelm 1’s comments that “My Guard has found its grave in front of Saint-Privat” became a standard quote in German history books after 1870.

The very Prussian martial background of the Corps also must be mentioned.In one British officer’s words these were “a hard lot” of men upholding the honour and traditions of the Prussian state.The ingrained obligation to military service found in these northern Germans,many descendants of hardy families of Germans,Dutch and Huguenots that ‘colonised’ the region east of the Elbe from the 13th Century onwards, also with a strict and prominent Protestant work ethic,made them good soldiers.

Notwithstanding that, one Australian General who had fought against them commented that the toughest opponent he encountered in World War One was the Bavarian 4th Division.


Copyright 2008, Peter H of Australia, Moderator, Axis History Forum

Prussian Guards' History II

DIE KAISERLICHE GARDE 1914-18,cont

Quartered in Berlin,its administrative and Corps sector,the Garde also fulfilled its function of “defending the Kaiser” and providing the pomp of military parades in the German capital.

The relationship between the Kaiser and what he termed Mein Garde is an interesting separate topic in itself.Stories of his outbursts exclaiming that he “should unleash the Guard on the socialist rabble”,while making good reading have never been confirmed.

However enough evidence exists that at least in 1914-18, the Kaiser spent a lot of his time on front line tours visiting the Garde and showing concern for his Guardsmen. This selective interaction with only this part of the Army,and whether opinions on the progress of the war he received from the Garde officer caste he bonded with in anyway coloured his views on the true nature of the crisis facing his regime is another matter.

The Diaries of Admiral Georg Muller ,Chief of the Naval Cabinet throw practical light on some of these visits,and other concerns with the Garde:

1914
7th September—“…the Kaiser suddenly decided to visit the 2nd Army and,if possible,the Corps of Guard..”

5th October---“…the Kaiser returned from the front this evening.He had also visited the Bavarians and the Guard in Bapaume but did not bother to see his son Eitel Fritz,who is laid up there with a sprained knee.Strange!”

25th December---“…with the Kaiser to Douai to visit the Plettenberg Group,Prince Eitel Fritz,and the First Regiment of Guard…the Kaiser made a speech to the regiment and spoke of ‘overpowering the enemy until he bit the dust’…”


1915
15th September---“…afternoon drive to Nasjelsk,where the 2 Guard Division under General von Luttwitz is stationed prior to its transfer to the West. Small companies and pathetically few officers.A very banal speech by the Kaiser which did not touch the men’s hearts…”

4th October---“a letter from Prince Eitel Friedrich reporting appalling losses of the 1 Guard Division at Souchez(4,500 men)…Plessen requested permission from the Kaiser to go and find the truth on the spot…”

1916
6th September---“His Majesty,who had just read a report from Prince Eitel Friedrich on the situation of the 1 Guard Division in the Somme battle,looked very ill…”

1917
26th July---“…Tarnopol…then from the Headquarters of the 1 Guard Brigade,Colonel von der Osten,drove to a hill to the east of the town from where,without risk,we could watch the slow progess of the division—in particular the 2 Guard Regiment—pursuing the Russians.Lyncker said:’Exactly like being on boring Imperial manoeuvres,but far quieter’.

But the subsequent guard of honour outside the cemetery afforded a remarkable picture.His Majesty on the ruins of a still-smouldering house,the picturesque troops with steel helmets…and finally the Russian prisoners against a background of trees…”


1918
21st March---“after lunch we drove in the direction of St.Quentin to the 1 Guard Division…lightly wounded men were on their way down the line…”

7th April—“..the Guard Division has lost 3,000 men in the past few days,and 8 officers were killed from the 1st Regiment alone…”


Muller’s son also served with the Garde(as did Plessen’s), a particular right of passage for many of the sons of the Kaiser’s entourage.

The Kaiser’s second son, the later Generalmajor Prinz Eitel Friedrich, commanded the 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuss in 1914, the 1 Garde Brigade in 1915,and the 1. Garde Division in 1916-18,showing that there was a family connection to the welfare of the Corps as well.

Prinz Eitel distinguished himself early in the war, during the Battle of Guise(St Quentin to the Germans) in August 1914. His Regiment faltering,he seized a drum from a regimental bandsman and lead the renewed attack against the French.When they arrived at the French positions they found that the enemy had already pulled out.

According to the Muller Diaries the Kaiser henceforth "dubbed him the Hero of St Quentin,which the prince in his modesty found embarrassing..."


Copyright 2008 by Peter H of Australia, Moderator, Axis History Forum,