All What's You Should Know

Painting depicting Italian soldiers defending their positions by throwing rocks at the attacking Austro-Hungarian soldiers, 1917. Today 106 years ago, on May 14, 1917, the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo began on the Italian Front. .  In April 1917, the French and British launched the Nivelle Offensive on the Western Front. To support the Allied offensive, the French requested the Italians to attack the Austro-Hungarians on the Isonzo, with the hopes of achieving a breakthrough to divert German troops from the Western to the Italian Front. The Italians agreed and planned a large-scale offensive at Plava north of Gorizia on the Isonzo, hoping to divert Austro-Hungarian troops further south from the Carso Plateau, where a renewed offensive was hoped to achieve a total breakthrough and capture the city of Trieste. The Italians would deploy 38 Divisions against just 14 Austro-Hungarian Divisions.  On May 12, 1917, the Italians opened up an intense 2-day-long artillery bombardment of 2,...

British pilot holding a bomb while on the lookout for a potential target, 1917. The bomb has "Hun", "Bulgar" and "Share This Ration!" written on it. Colourised by 'Jabba Le Chat' on Twitter.  . During the First World War on the Western Front, British aircraft losses amounted to 35,973 by all causes, comparing to 27,637 German aircrafts and and 52,640 French. .  As for the pilots themselves, around 1/5 of 22,000 British pilots who completed flying training died, comparing to just over 1/4 of all German pilots. In total, an estimated 50,000 airmen and crew died in the First World War across all armies. .  Pilots would only receive a dozen hours of training before being sent to the skies. For this reason, the life expectancy of a First World War pilot was just a matter of weeks. In 1916-1917 for the British Royal Flying Corps, the life expectancy of a new pilot in combat was just a mere 20 minutes, leading to the nickname the "20 Minute Club...

Austro-Hungarian soldier with a fallen soldier covered in snow on barbed wire on the Monte Piana, 1917. .  The Monte Piana is a 2.3 km tall mountain in the Dolomite mountain range, being part of the natural border between Italy and Austria-Hungary, fiercely contested between them in the First World War. .  Upon the outbreak of war between these two in May 1915, Monte Piana had a southern summit occupied by the Italians, and a northern summit occupied by the Austro-Hungarians. .  On June 8, 1915, today 108 years ago, the Austro-Hungarians first attacked the Italian positions at Monte Piana. The Italians repulsed the attack and then went on the offensive themselves. .  Despite heavy Italian artillery bombardments and an infantry assault between July 15-20, resulting in 833 Italian casualties among 255 deaths, the Italians failed to conquer the northern summit.  .  In the following 2 years, the Monte Piana became scene to mountainous and freezing warfare, comm...

French prisoner tied to a stake at Zwickau prison camp is given a drink by a fellow POW, Germany, 1917. A French prisoner of war, tied to the stake for breaking one of the camp rules at Zwickau, receives a glass of water from a compassionate Romanian POW to help alleviate the French soldier's suffering. What is it about people in the past? They can be taken prisoner and tied to a stake and still look more dapper and composed than I ever do. Most clothing that was common then is now considered "formal."  People don't often where a jacket and long pants today where that may be all most men had, especially on active military duty. For every day life most had their everyday set and a nice "Sunday" set if they were lucky. There was no such thing as cheap tshirts and jeans, so durable coats and pants that would be functional all year round were the most valuable/useful. Also most had hats(less showering > unkempt hair). The thing about the hair is actually untr...