Click here to view this tribute to the Kansas State students and alumni who died in the First World War.
Kansas WW1
Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
We seem to be back on track with WWI programming this week, including a few talks from the symposium held at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in November. Remember–all times listed here are Central.
C-SPAN2:
–Douglas Mastriano: Thunder in the Argonne. Airs at 11:00 p.m. Saturday evening, December 15th.
The U.S. Army Center of Military History has made available a series of seven brochures entitled ‘The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War I’. You can access these here and download the .pdf version of each.
The Center is located at 102 4th Ave. Building 35, Ft. McNair, DC 20319-5060. Due to enhanced security in the area the Center is not open to the public at this time.
This cartoon short was produced in 1931. I wonder if the veterans thought it funny? You can watch it here.
We still have World War I programs appearing on the C-SPAN networks. Here are this weekend’s programs, and as usual, all time are Central.
C-SPAN2
–Douglas Mastriano: Thunder in the Argonne. 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning, December 9th.
C-SPAN3
–American Artifacts: U.S. Army World War I Exhibit. 5:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon, December 9th. Repeats at 9:00 p.m. Sunday evening, December 9th.
–The Presidency: Woodrow Wilson’s Vision for Global Relations. 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Sunday evening, December 9th. Also repeats at 4:45 a.m. Monday morning, November 10th.
A project is ongoing to search the battlefields around the Ypres Salient to detect WW1 archeological sites using LIDAR technology. Perhaps you’re not familiar with the term LIDAR?
‘Lidar (also called LIDAR, LiDAR, and LADAR) is a surveying method that measures distance to a target by illuminating the target with pulsed laser light and measuring the reflected pulses with a sensor. Differences in laser return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital 3-D representations of the target. The name lidar, now used as an acronym of light detection and ranging (sometimes light imaging, detection, and ranging), was originally a portmanteau of light and radar.’ From Wikipedia.
Peter Jackson, the director of the WWI documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, was interviewed for the recent issue of TIME Magazine:
http://time.com/5466475/peter-jackson-they-shall-not-grow-old/
We’re passed the Armistice, and everything seems to be slowing down as far as events go. We have three movies in December on Turner Classic Movies that touch on World War I, including two that are truly classic . Times given here are Central.
–Paths of Glory (1958). The classic Stanley Kubrick film with Kirk Douglas and Adolph Menjou. 9:15 p.m. on Monday, December 10th.
–A Carol for Another Christmas (1964). Written by Rod Serling, stars a cast that includes Sterling Hayden, Eva Maria Saint, Ben Gazzara, Peter Sellers, and Steve Lawrence. Not strictly a World War I film, but it does have a WWI segment. 2:45 a.m. early Sunday morning, December 23rd.
–Doctor Zhivago (1965). Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, and Alec Guinness. 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, December 30th.
Happy viewing!
This weekend at the annual Army – Navy Game the Army football team will be sporting uniforms honoring the 1st Infantry Division, the “Big Red One,” which today is headquartered at Fort Riley, Kansas. It is also a tribute to the Division in the Great War.
See the website: https://www.bigredone.football/
Also, check out the video at the website or here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=125&v=hrvMHY-jX_E
Not long after the Armistice the grim job of finding the fallen on the battle fields began. Shown above is a small part of a British Imperial War Graves Commission Body Density Map. The numbered map squares are 1000 yards on a side or about 207 acres. Each is divided into four smaller squares that are 500 yards on a side or about 52 acres. The blue penciled amounts are the number of bodies or distinct remains recovered in the 52 acre plot. Although supervised by British personnel, the actual recovery and reburial work was performed by the Chinese Labour Corps.
Map of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette
This particular map shows ground covered by the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (Sept. 15th to 23rd, 1916), which was a part of the Somme Offensive. At the time this engagement was considered a British victory, as the front was moved forward about 3,500 yards. This occasion marked the first use of tanks in history. Total casualties (killed, wounded and missing) for the British forces were 29,376; an exact number for German losses is unknown, but thought to be around half the British total.
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