George Guynemer, Knight of the Air (WWI Centenary Series). Henry Bordeaux
War Two.
1918
| 16th January | Riots in Vienna and Budapest with dissatisfaction at the war. |
| 3rd March | Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed between (Soviet) Russia and Germany. |
| 21st March | Second Battle of the Somme marked by the German spring offensive, the ‘Kaiserschlacht’. Germans attack along a 50 mile front south of Arras. |
| 22nd March | Victory for Germany with operation Michael - Use of new ‘Storm trooper’ assault to smash through British positions west of St. Quentin, taking 16,000 prisoners. |
| 23rd March | Greatest air battle of the war takes place over the Somme, with 70 aircraft involved. |
| 5th April | The German Spring Offensive halts outside Amiens as British and Australian forces hold the Line. The second 1917 battle of the Somme ends, as Germany calls off operation Michael. |
| 9th April | Germany starts offensive in Flanders –Battle of the Lys (ends 29th April). |
| 19th May | German air force launches largest raid on London, using 33 aircraft. |
| 27th May | Operation Blucher – The Third German Spring Offensive attacks the French army along the Aisne River. French are forced back to the Marne, but hold the river with help from the Americans. |
| 15th July | Second battle of the Marne started; final phase of German spring offensive. Start of the collapse of the German army with irreplaceable casualties. |
| 8th August | Second Battle of Amiens – German resistance sporadic and thousands surrender. |
| 27th September | British offensive on the Cambrai Front leads to the storming of the Hindenburg Line. Battle of St. Quentin – British and U.S troops launch devastating offensives. |
| 4th October | Germany asks the allies for an armistice (sent to Woodrow Wilson). |
| 8th October | Allies advance along a 20 mile front from St. Quentin to Cambrai, driving the Germans back and capturing 10,000 troops. |
| 29th October | Germany’s navy mutinies (at Jade). |
| 3rd November | Austria makes peace. German sailors mutiny at Kiel. |
| 9th November | Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates and revolution breaks out in Berlin. |
| 11th November | Germany signs the armistice with the allies – coming into effect at 11.00am (official end of WWI). |
1919
| 10th January | Communist Revolt in Berlin (Battle of Berlin). |
| 18th January | Paris Peace Conference Begins. |
| 25th January | Principle of a League of Nations ratified. |
| 6th May | Under conditions of the Peace conference, German colonies are annexed. |
| 21st June | The surrendered German naval fleet at Scapa Flow was scuttled. |
| 28th June | Treaty of Versailles signed. |
| 19th July | Cenotaph unveiled in London. |
By Amelia Carruthers
Air Warfare in the First World War
In 1903 the Wright brothers made the first recorded powered flight, achieving 12 seconds air time at Kittyhawk, Dare County, North Carolina, United States. In 1909, the first powered crossing of the English Channel was achieved by Louis Blèriot. Five years later, the First World War began.
Due to its still nascent technology, aviation was deemed of little use to the European armed services. One unknown British general commented that ‘the airplane is useless for the purposes of war.’ Likewise, the German General Ferdinand Foch is reported to have alleged that ‘aviation is a good sport, but for the army it is useless.’ These opinions reflected a widespread scepticism about aircraft, unsurprising given their delicate and undependable nature. Most aeroplanes in 1914 were constructed of hardwood or steel tubing, combined with linen fabric doped with flammable liquid to provide strength. They were incredibly fragile by later standards and frequently collapsed during flight, especially in combat situations.
As a result of these technical issues, when war erupted in July 1914, aircraft were used mainly for reconnaissance; feeding back information for artillery strikes, recording troop movements and taking detailed photographs of enemy positions. However, the diversity of uses, technological advances and sheer increase of numbers involved in air warfare during the period were astonishing. To illustrate, France had fewer than 140 aircraft at the outbreak of war, but by 1918 she had 4,500. However, France actually produced 68,000 aircraft during the war, with 52,000 destroyed in combat; a staggering loss rate of 77%. Aerial battles were extremely crude, but equally deadly – the pilots flew in tiny cockpits, making parachutes a rarity and death by fire commonplace. Many officers, especially the British, actually forbade the carrying of parachutes as it was feared they would lessen the fighting spirit of the men.
The typical British aircraft at the start of the war was the general purpose BE2X. It had a top speed of 72mph and was powered by a 90hp engine; it could fly for roughly three hours. By the end of the war, this had been replaced by planes such as the Sopwith Camel and the SE5a fighter, built for speed and manoeuvrability. The latter had a top speed of 138mph, now powered by a 200hp engine. The technological change which enabled these improvements was the ‘pusher’ layouts’ replacement. Traditionally, propellers faced backwards, pushing the plane forwards – but the alternative design with a forward facing propeller (a ‘tractor’) provided far superior performance both in terms of speed and power. Another major advance was the replacement of the rotary engine. In this type of engine, where the crankshaft remained stationary whilst the pistons (attached to the propeller) rotated around it, there was an excellent power to weight ratio, but it lost out to the more powerful water cooled engines. By 1918, the Sopwith Camel remained the last major aircraft still using the older rotary technology.
Within the first months of the war, whilst still in the ‘movement stage’, the value of aerial reconnaissance was vindicated. On 22 August 1914, contradicting all other intelligence, one British Captain and his Lieutenant reported that General Alexander von Kluck's army was preparing to surround the BEF. This initiated a massive withdrawal towards Mons, saving about 100,000 lives. Similarly, at the First Battle of the Marne, General Joseph-Simon Gallieni was able to achieve a spectacular victory, using information provided by the French air force to attack the exposed flanks of the German army. But nowhere was the importance of aerial intelligence more forcibly asserted than at the Battle of Tannenberg on the Eastern Front. The Russian General, Alexander Samsonov ignored his own pilot’s warnings, allowing almost all