Landships II

JC Carbonel · Captain

World map of WW1 combats ?

James H · Legend

The actions in the Pacific and South Atlantic involved von Spee's Pacific Squadron, mostly out of Tsingtao, joined by the Leipzig, which was in the US or Mexico at the outbreak. Britsh forces pursued them.

The Falklands was a naval engagement, December 1914,�in which Baden, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnberg, and Leipzig were sunk. It followed Coronel, a week earlier, in which Britain suffered severe losses (about 1,600 men) off the coast of Chile.

The German light cruiser Emden, out of Tsingtao, wrought havoc between Australia, the Dutch East Indies, and India, disrupting Australian shipping from August to November 1914 until run aground by HMAS Sydney in the Coco Islands. So this theatre was Germany v GB/Australia.

On land, don't forget Mesopotamia & Persia�- Turkey v Anglo-Indian & Russia. Complicated. There was also some fighting around Aden - GB versus locals. And the Senussi Campaign, in what is now Libya - pro-German locals eventually sorted out by British Armoured Car force.

Centurion · Legend

Messopotamia and Persia should be regarded as two seperate theatres. The Turks were involved at Aden The Senussi in Libya were fighting the Italians, it was the Sennussi in the Western Desert (Egypt) who fought Britain (and Australians) and although the Armoured Cars did a lot in the end it was the cavalry and PBI who finally sorted it out. The African zone is in fact many theatres West Africa, East Africa, SW Africa, Central Africa and the British, South Africans, French, Belgians and Portugese were involved�
The Russian zone is an over simplification and KuK, Germans & Turks were�involved in various different theatres (eg Carpathians)�
- Also
Salonika - Imperial + Greek v Bulgaria, Germany and Turkish
Baku - British & Indian, Turkish, Russian (Czarist), Russian (Bolshevick) almost every body fighting everbody else at different stages
Armenia - Locals + Russians v Turks then Russians and Turks carving up Armenia between them
Balkans - Serbs, Montenegrans and (later) the Greeks v KuK
Atlantic (Naval) British (including Canadians) Brazilians French and even some Japanese, USA v Germany
Mediteranean(Naval) British� Brazilians French� Japanese, Italians USA v Germany, KuK and Turkey

I'm sure I've missed a few.

Centurion · Legend

I think that this must be pretty close to a complete list

�

Western Front Belgium and France

Britain (Dominions and Empire) , Belgium, France, Portugal, United States & Thailand

Germany & KuK

Eastern Front Baltic to Romania

Russia & Romania

Germany, KuK & Bulgaria

Romanian Front North Balkans

Romania and Russians

Bulgaria, KuK, Germany

Gallipoli Front

Britain, Australia, New Zealand &France

Turkey and Germany

Armenian Front Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Persia

Russia

Turkey, KuK

Salonika Macedonian Front

Britain (Dominions and Empire), Greeks, French

Bulgaria, Germany, KuK Turkey

Italian Fronts - Alpine and Isonzo

Italy & Britain

KuK & Germany

Midddle East Egypt (East), Palestine, Syria

Britain (Dominions and Empire), French

Turkey, Germany & KuK

Western Desert

Britain & Australia

Senussi, (with Turkish, German and KuK backing)

Libya

Italy

Senussi

Aden and Yemen

British and Indian

Turkey

Mesopotamia

Britain (Dominions and Empire)

Turkey

South West Africa

South Africa Britain & Portugal

Germany

East Africa

Britain, South Africa, Portugal & Belgians

Germany

Togoland

Britain

Germany

Cameroons

Britain & France

Germany

Tsangtao (China)

Japan & Britain

Germany & KuK

Balkans Serbia, Albania, Montenegro

Serbia, Montenegro and Albania

KuK

New Guinea

Australia

Germany

Pacific Islands

Australia, New Zealand, Japan

Germany

�

Naval operations

�

North Sea, English Channel

Britain & France

Germany

Irish Sea

Britain and USA

Germany

North Atlantic (Including Caribbean & Mexican Gulf)

Britain, Canada, France, USA, Portugal, Brazil & Japan

Germany

South Atlantic

Britain & Brazil

Germany

Mediterranean (including Adriatic etc)

Britain, France, USA, Italy, Japan & Brazil

Germany, KuK and Turkey

Black Sea

Russia & Romania

Turkey & Bulgaria

Sea of Marmora

Britain, Australia

Turkey

Baltic

Russia & Britain

Germany

Indian Ocean

Britain, France Australia and Japan

Germany

Pacific (including China sea)

Britain, Australia, France, Japan

Germany, KuK

James H · Legend

I concede on the Senussi matter - the Armoured Car mission was a spectacular episode in the wider campaign.

We have pondered previously about Mesopotamia and Persia. Turkey invaded Persia 3 times, albeit briefly, from both Armenia and Mesopotamia; Britain sent troops from Mesopotamia to Ahwaz and Bushir in Persia and there was a lot of fighting with locals of unpredictable sympathies but often German-influenced; Russia tried to advance into northern Mesopotamia from Armenia, which was officially part of the Caucasus Front, couldn't make any progress, and therefore moved through Persia (where a separate Russian force was already operating) and made it into Mesopotamia in an attempt to relieve the siege at Kut. Then there was the notorious Dunsterforce. I would offer that the Caucasus, Persian, and Mesopotamian theatres were interwoven - and influenced by events elsewhere, as Russian and Turkish forces were pulled this way and that by events at Gallipoli and on the Palestine and Eastern Fronts.

One can go on subdividing the various Fronts for a long time. France sent 4 Divisions to Italy, and 3,000 men (2,000 of which were Algerian tirailleurs) to Palestine. Italy sent 500 men to Palestine. There were Russians in France, Belgians and Britons in Russia, Austrians in Belgium, and Turks in Romania. Italians appear to have fought alongside Russians in Salonika (I've even seen a claim that Russians were issued with Italian Adrian helmets) and some Belgians seem to have turned up there as well. Czech units existed in the French, Italian, and Russian armies, and Polish units in the French, Russian, and A-H armies, while some Poles served as individuals in the German Army. Germans and Austrians in the FFL were allowed to remain in North Africa so as not to have to fight against their compatriots. I'm not sure, but I think some Americans finished up in Italy. There was at least one American in Mesopotamia, not including Kermit Roosevelt, who was in the British Army. My great-uncle insisted that while he was temporarily detained by US troops in France after the Armistice he was put in a compound with Russians with whom nobody seemed to know what to do. And at one point, Germans fought Turks to stop them trying to cash in on the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and seize Russian territory.

What a carry-on. I'm sure there are many more examples.

There are a couple of atlases of the War. I've got The Viking Atlas of World War I by Anthony Livesey, which is pretty good.

Centurion · Legend

Leachman's driver in Mesopotamia was American. However I didn't count him or Kermit as� neither was in US service. Similarly� if we counted all the nationalities who ended up, via the Foreign Legion) flying in France� we'd have to include Persia, Spain, a number of South American countries and even, if memory serves, Switzerland. Simarly I haven't included Denmark in Palestine.

I included Portugal in S W Africa even though Portugal was still officially neutral when German troops wiped out one of their Angolan frontier posts and attacked others

re Persia Although Neutral there was a Turkish/Russian Frint running through it by 1918 with the town of Tabriz lying within Turkish occupied territory. Both Turkish and British troops moved through Persia to reach Baku

Ironsides · Legend

Not forgetting the Swedish Police who were involved in the initial pro-german uprising in Persia, Swedes were originally chosen for this role as�it�was presumed that thay had no political aspirations in the area.......
All in all its probarbly easier to list nationalitys who were'nt involved in WW1 as combatants if there are any.....

Cheers

Centurion · Legend

Thats why I've tried to limit myself to�men representing their country.� There were volunteers from almost every nation serving in someone's armed forces but because, say, a Cuban is flying with the French forces it doesn't mean that Cuba was involved in WW1 in general or in a specific theatre. In the British Army alone there were Dutch and�Danish volunteers but they were part of the British army and in no way could the Netherlands or Denmark be said to have participated in the Western Front.

JC Carbonel · Captain

Thanks for the information ... I admit I had missed some of these fronts completely. The fact is I find it very difficult to locate books (except the Funcken's) which did not seem to limit the action between Flanders and Switzerland border with an occasional mention of the Eastern front...

JCC

JC Carbonel · Captain

I could even complete the vision by saying that it was not for the Corto Maltese graphic novels I would complete miss a few areas.

JCC

James H · Legend

Found this interactive map of the War. Not animated but gives a day-by-day account with additional info on many events. A mammoth undertaking that might be useful.

http://www.greatwarmap.com/

Centurion · Legend

As�you say a major undertaking. Shame about some of the glitches (eg many 1917 entries assume that Gaza is somewhere in Iran - although I suspect that today little bits of it are in practice if not by geographical location)

James H · Legend

I've been having a tinker, and you can do some nice things with the site. For example, if you enter a place-name or campaign in the search box it will show you everything of note that happened there between 1914-18 and take you through day by day.

It does, as Cent says,�perpetuate some questionable assertions, which is one of the problems with the Net. During the prolonged discussion a few months ago of the Russian campaigns in Persia,�a place called Saripul was mentioned as having seen battles between Russian and Turkish troops in June 1916. That claim is included on the map site, but the only Saripul I can find is in modern Tajikistan. Although it was in the Russian Empire in 1916, it's separated from Turkey by Persia and Afghanistan and is virtually in the Himalayas. I can't see Ottoman troops having made it to there.

However, such things are minor when compared to the overall scale of the project, which is excellent.

-- Edited by James H at 22:21, 2008-10-23

Ironsides · Legend

Hi James I believe the Saripul mentioned is situated north west of Kermanshah
if you check the insert of the map posted on the persian thread its just discernable above the red arrow.....the map is contemporary....as you say the only one mentioned on google maps is in Tadschikistan......

Cheers smile

-- Edited by Ironsides at 12:15, 2008-10-24

James H · Legend

Well spotted. It's yet another name-change job. Nowadays it's called Pol-e-Zohab, but seems to have been Sar-e-Pol-e-Zohab at one point, and Saripul before that. So that makes perfect sense; it would have been part of the Russian/Ottoman to-ing and fro-ing in that area. I take it all back.

It appears that it was of some significance in ancient times during the Sassanid priod, and is home to some interesting bas-reliefs, if you're ever in the vicinity.

I thank you.

BTW, the Salonika Campaign was extremely multinational:

Apart from the British, these include four French, one large Italian, and six reformed Serbian divisions, and a Russian brigade. French Gen Maurice Sarrail is C-in-C, and has now established a continuous front across northern Greece from the Albanian border to the Aegean, east of Salonika.

In Jan. 1916 most of Albania is overrun by Austria and Bulgaria. By autumn 1916 Allied forces (chiefly Italian) occupy the southern third of the country, where they remain for the rest of the war.

A (modern) Serbian site says there are 7,000 American graves at Salonika, but that must be a mistake. Can't find any evidence; they must mean British.

However, there was an American�regiment in Italy:

http://www.worldwar1.com/itafront/dbsitaly.htm

-- Edited by James H at 14:14, 2008-10-24