WORLD OF ALL

 The spot of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Today, while on a college trip to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, I visited the spot where Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Bosnian-Serb Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914, leading directly to the outbreak of the First World War between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. The assassination took place on the street corner by the Latin Bridge along the then-called Appel Quay in the Old Town of Sarajevo. I will not go into further detail with the history of the assassination in this post, as I will do so in 3 months time anyways. On the 2nd picture we see the exact spot where Gavrilo Princip was standing when firing the two lethal shots hitting Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.  On the 4th picture, the four golden rectangles mark the four wheels of the car (The ...

 U.S. soldiers posing for a photograph in a formation to form the head of a horse, January 1919. This iconic and famous photograph was taken by the U.S.photographer Almeron Newman at the military Camp Cody in New Mexico. It shows some 650 soldiers and officers from the U.S. 326th Auxiliary Remount Depot standing in formation to depict a horse's head. This image and the soldiers within are often described 'paying tribute to the ~8 million horses which died as a result of the First World War'. However, it turns out this was likely made up. In August 1918, the photographer Almeron Newman had taken an impressive photograph of some 16,000 American soldiers from the 34th "Sandstorm" Infantry Division forming the crest of their Division (2nd picture).  This photograph went viral in the U.S. public, and Mr. Newman probably sought to capture more photographs of the sort - one of which is the one with the horse. As can be read on the photograph, the 650 soldiers are forming...

 Australian soldier taking cover behind a tree in the shell-torn Château Wood, November 5, 1917. This photograph, taken today 104 years ago, is a "combined negatives" photograph by Australian war photographer Frank Hurley, who took many well-known photographs during the Third Battle of Ypres and the First World War in general. The premise behind "combined negatives" was to combine and merge several different photographs into a single, impressive picture, achieved through a very sophisticated technique. Hurley himself described Ypres during the Battle of Passchendaele as "a weird and wonderful sight, with the destruction wildly beautiful". Through the "combined negatives" he sought to capture the carnage and beauty of the war all at once, conveying dramatic and adventurous scenes otherwise not possible with the available technology. In this particular "combined negatives" photograph, named "Battle Scarred Sentinels", several di...

 Australian soldiers walking along a duckboard through muddy terrain, October 22, 1917. This photograph, colourised by @coloursofyesterday, was taken today 105 years ago near Zonnebeke, the battlefield on which the Third Battle of Ypres raged on in September and October 1917. It was precisely in early October 1917 that the heavens began opening up in Flanders, turning the battlefield into a wet, sluggish, and muddy quagmire.  More than 3 years of war and constant shelling had destroyed the drainage system in the area, leading to severe transportation problems for trucks, horses, artillery and the soldiers themselves. Private Linus T.J. Ryan from New Zealand remarked: "Picture an expanse of black mud as far as the eye can reach.  Shell craters everywhere! There is not a square yard of the Ypres Salient upon which a shell has not fallen...Not a leaf, not a blade of grass but everywhere the debris of war, human and inanimate.” British Bombardier J.W. Palmer: "It was mud, mud...

 🇺🇲 WWII uncovered: 🐾 International Dog Day: Honoring Pal: Hero of the Battle of Okinawa. "Today we honor Private John L. Drugan, of Winona, Minnesota, and his dog Pal on Okinawa, May 1945. Pal saved an entire platoon of Marines from an ambush by alerting his handler of a hidden Japanese machine gun nest." - War Dogs Photograph Collection, United States Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections Drugan (and Pal) served with the 41st Infantry Division as a Scout and with the S-2 Intelligence Squad.  He was on five beachhead landings in the Pacific Theater. Private John Drugan was awarded the Bronze Star and Combat Infantrymen's Medal. After the war John relocated to Warren, Michigan and married his wife Lavonne. John had an impressive career in education. He taught school in Brimley, MI and Eau Gallie, FL, where he was the Athletic Director, coached football, basketball, and baseball.  He taught in Roseville and Brablec High Schools, performed as Assistant Coach fo...

 🇺🇲WWII uncovered: 🐾 International Dog Day: Derek Dunn Joins the US Marine Corps. On November 27, 1943 Derek Dunn applied for service with the US Marine Corps. Derek, born on June 5, 1942 stood shoulder length at 26 inches. He did not run away and he was an investigator.  Derek Dunn was accepted as a Devil Dog with the US Marine Corps on January 29, 1944. Derek, a Doberman Pinscher, was off to Fort Jackson South Carolina to train for the Devil Dog program.  He was the personal pet of Staff Sergeant Frank Dunn and his wife Priscilla. "I am glad to be able to tell you that Derek #260 proved to be a very good dog in training.  He was trained as a messenger dog and was transferred overseas with his two Marine handlers several months ago, leaving here in fine shape.  His team was assigned to one of the Combat War Dog Platoons overseas as a replacement." - official correspondence to Mrs Dunn August 3, 1944. Derek completed over twenty months of  active service...

 🇦🇺WWII uncovered: Sergeant Leonard Victor Waters of the Royal Australian Air Force:  "Sergeant Len Waters, 78 Squadron RAAF, was one of a small number of Aboriginal pilots known to have served in the Second World War. He joined the RAAF on 24 August 1942 and was trained as a flight mechanic.  When the RAAF called for aircrew trainees he applied and was accepted for pilot training." - Australian War Memorial "Len undertook his initial training at 1 Elementary Flying Training School (1EFTS), Narrandera, NSW, before graduating as a Sergeant Pilot from 5 Service Flying Training School (5SFTS), Uranquinty, NSW.  His training continued at 2 Operational Training Unit (2OTU), Mildura, Victoria from where he was posted to 78 Squadron on 14 November 1944.  He flew 95 operational sorties with 78 Squadron, operating from Noemfoor, Morotai and Tarakan. Waters' engagements included the New Britain, New Guinea and the Borneo Campaigns." - Australian War Memorial Sergeant Wa...

 Italian machine-gun crew in action on the Macedonian Front, ca. 1917. During the First World War the Italians sent their 35th Infantry Division to fight alongside the other Allies on the Macedonian Front.  The 35th Division arrived in Macedonia in August 1916. Officially fighting within the French Army of the Orient, the Italians soon found themselves participating in the Monastir Offensive in September 1916, suffering some 1,000 casualties. By the end of the First World War the Italian 35th Division had suffered 8,324 casualties on the Macedonian Front, including 2,971 deaths or missing with another 5,353 wounded. don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments section below 

German infantryman posing for a photograph in his uniform, ca. 1914. The following is excerpts of Danish-German soldier Hans Christian Brodersen's account of the Battle of Mons on August 23th or 24th, 1914, today 108 years ago, which he first published in 1933. Translated by myself:  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ "We stormed the English trench, where 'Tommy' engaged us with attached bayonets.  I suddenly found myself standing alone opposite 2 big and strong Englishmen, who looked to sell their lives as expensive as possible. Following a couple of powerful thrusts, I succeeded at knocking the rifle out of the hand on one of them, who ran off.  There were now 2 of us, and after the course of a few minutes our lungs were toiling as if it were a trumpet.  The sweat ran down our faces and into our eyes. The knowledge of he who surrendered was destined to die gave us strength we didn't previously knew we had. It was a terrible, bitter fight for that single life. He was lucky enough to st...

 🇺🇲WWII uncovered: Staff Sergeant Charles Schulz of the 20th Armored Division. “The three years I spent in the army taught me all I needed to know about loneliness,” Schulz wrote in “My Life with Charlie Brown,” published in 2010. “My sympathy for the loneliness that all of us experience is dropped heavily upon poor Charlie Brown.” Charles Schulz, was drafted into the US Army in November of 1942. Schulz reported to Fort Snelling in Minnesota for induction into service. Charles' mother Dena, was suffering from cancer and he would visit her as much as possible during this time. When Charles arrived at Camp Campbell in Kentucky and was assigned to Company B in the 8th Armored Infantry Battalion, 20th Armored Division.  During basic training Staff Sergeant Schulz became a squad leader on a .50 caliber machine gun crew in charge of training new recruits. According to the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center: "On February 25, 1945, Schulz’s unit landed in France.  The...