Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War

by Max Hastings

  454 ‘Should this narrative’ ibid. p.2

  454 ‘W is an ex-lieutenant’ Asquith letter to VS 5.10.14 p.263

  454 ‘Norman Macleod’ IWM 05/63/1 Macleod papers

  454 ‘our friend [Churchill]’ Gilbert, Martin Winston S. Churchill Vol. III p.120

  454 ‘read like a story’ IWM 05/63/1 Macleod papers

  454 ‘Feeling of depression’ ibid.

  454 ‘The Belgian troops have’ Feilding p.10 letter of 10.10.14

  455 ‘we all admire’ IWM 99/41/1 Van Bleyenberghe MS

  455 ‘too late to have’ Dunn p.69

  2 ‘INVENTIONS OF THE DEVIL’

  455 ‘While contemplating’ Gebsattel pp.22–3

  456 ‘soon outstrip’ Hesse p.20

  456 ‘When these inventions’ Strachan p.233

  456 ‘I think, sir’ Bridges p.80

  457 ‘German staff regulations’ Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Abt. IV Kriegsarchiv Bavarian Central Archive, Munich, IV. Dept. War Archive HS3180

  457 ‘Members of the RFC’ Winter, Denis First of the Few Penguin 1982 p.18

  458 ‘The French, alone’ Clayton p.233

  458 ‘French biplanes flew at’ Rougevin-Baville, Col. J. Revue historique de l’armée Ministère des armées 1964: L’aéronautique militaire française, les débuts de la guerre aérienne 1914 p.6

  458 ‘beautiful little birds’ Mayne MS IWM 81/26/1

  458 ‘It is a strange’ Stenitzer p.56 2.12.14

  458 ‘when any aircraft’ IWM 80/35/1 Mayer MS

  458 ‘a dreadful sight’ Craster p.118

  458 ‘Three Austrian planes’ ibid. p.59 29.8.14

  459 ‘I remember the clicking’ Baring p.50

  460 ‘Charles Stein’s’ IWM 86/30/1 Stein papers

  460 ‘I have had some’ Goebel, Stefan The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in Britain and Germany, 1914–1940 CUP 2007 p.70

  460 ‘Caroll Dana Winslow’ Winslow, Carroll Dana With the French Flying Corps Charles Scribner’s Sons 1917 p.19

  460 ‘When they make’ Palmer and Wallis p.36

  461 ‘When I grow up’ Gudehus-Schomerus p.157 24.11.14

  461 ‘the war should not’ ibid. p.170 30.11.44

  461 ‘Rudolf Martin’ Martin, Rudolf Stehen wir vor einem Weltkrieg? Leipzig Engelmann 1908

  461 ‘Germany started aerial’ Kehrt pp.192–3

  462 ‘It exploded but not’ Baring p.44

  462 ‘We are fortunate’ Boyle p.209

  Chapter 15 – Ypres: ‘Something that was Completely Hopeless’

  464 ‘we heard Antwerp’ IWM Tennyson MS

  464 ‘A month ago everyone’ New Statesman 10.10.14

  465 ‘they all jumped up’ IWM 86/30/1 C. Stein papers

  465 ‘the whole population fleeing’ IWM 91/3/1 Beer MS

  465 ‘The incessant stream of’ IWM 82/26/1

  466 ‘Our cars were going’ Feilding p.20

  467 ‘The Belgians have never’ Craster p.106

  468 ‘that is the soul’ Givray pp.191–3 12.10.14

  468 ‘rather a nice’ Craster pp.108, 111

  469 ‘We are getting’ Macdonald, Lynn 1914 Michael Joseph 1987 p.357

  469 ‘Allied prisoners, when they’ Baring p.54

  472 ‘Everywhere we advance’ Craster p.107

  472 ‘It is all rot’ ibid. p.111

  472 ‘we looked a ragtime’ Richards, Frank Old Soldiers Never Die Mott 1983 p.31

  472 ‘Little did we think’ ibid. p.34

  472 ‘native infantry were no’ ibid. p.39

  473 ‘We are the Coldstream!’ BNA WO95/1342

  473 ‘it is too much like’ Craster p.132

  473 ‘they came on in’ BNA WO95/1348

  473 ‘Lionel Tennyson’ IWM Tennyson MS p.121

  474 ‘Churchill wrote of’ Churchill Great War Vol. I p.378

  474 ‘I did not imagine’ Cocho, Paul Mes Carnets de guerre et de prisonnier 1914–1919 Presses Universitaires de Rennes 2010 pp.8, 19

  474 ‘Il faut absolument’ Craster p.113

  475 ‘Maria, this sort’ Palmer and Wallis p.29

  475 ‘Sgt. Gustav Sack’ Hirschfeld p.29

  475 ‘everything is quite’ ibid. p.30

  475 ‘I am freezing!’ ibid. p.31 2.11.14

  475 ‘A great grey mass’ Macarthur p.43

  477 ‘Every man … was exhausted’ Macdonald p.368

  477 ‘what awful sights’ ibid. p.370

  478 ‘By 4 p.m. the bulk’ Haig p.75

  480 ‘It must be clearly’ Hamilton, Ernest The First Seven Divisions Hurst & Blackett 1916, p.83

  482 ‘My dear Maria’ Palmer and Wallis p.33

  483 ‘A perfect hurricane’ IWM88/52/1 Edgington diary

  483 ‘They weren’t an organized’ Macdonald p.398

  484 ‘We got the guns out’ ibid. p.389

  484 ‘We had no idea’ ibid. pp.396–7

  484 ‘crowds of fugitives’ Haig p.83 4.12.14

  486 ‘they made no attempt’ Macdonald p.399

  486 ‘His kilt in rags’ Maze, Paul A Frenchman in Khaki Heinemann 1934 p.75

  486 ‘I’m afraid your division’ Craster p.125

  487 ‘serious-faced men’ IWM 82/26/1 Mayne MS

  487 ‘The news from’ Lacouture p.32

  487 ‘We could see’ Craster p.127

  488 ‘It came on’ ibid. p.128

  488 ‘I suppose one’ ibid. p.129

  488 ‘When I think’ ibid. p.140

  489 ‘very shaky even’ ibid. p.131

  489 ‘The Lincolns, Northumberland’ Haig p.78

  490 ‘It struck me that’ ibid. p.81

  491 ‘We hold on’ Craster p.134

  493 ‘Everybody in a panic’ IWM T.H. Cubbon diary

  493 ‘Cpl. William Holbrook’ Macdonald p.418

  494 ‘Doesn’t it look’ ibid. p.420

  494 ‘Attacks repeated with’ BNA WO95/1342

  494 ‘This wet is hell’ Feilding p.32

  495 ‘Churchill referred afterwards’ Churchill Great War Vol. I p.325

  495 ‘Out of the 1,100’ Macdonald p.421

  496 ‘The noise of the guns’ Craster p.119

  Chapter 16 – ‘War Becomes the Scourge of Mankind’

  1 POLAND

  497 ‘Here everything is’ Hoffman p.57 8.10.14

  497 ‘We have been too long’ Groß, Gerhard P. (ed.) Die vergessene Front. Der Osten 1914/15. Ereignis, Wirkung, Nachwirkung Paderborn Schöningh 2006

  497 ‘Tomo Župan’ Dr Tomo Župan NUK/R, Ms 1390, m. 29, Spominji XXVII

  498 ‘Many more men’ NUK/R, Ivan Vrhovnik, Ms 1207, m.74

  498 ‘For God’s sake’ Schneider pp.138–40

  498 ‘they walked with shaky’ ibid. pp.144–5

  499 ‘Faced with a crippling’ ibid. p.154

  499 ‘At first the War Ministry’ Biwald pp.534–5

  499 ‘As a further consequence’ ibid. pp.261–2

  499 ‘Czech officers were’ Tolstoy, A. In Volyn p.371

  500 ‘notwithstanding the fact’ Samborn Mobilization p.288

  500 ‘I would have liked’ Hoffman diary p.58

  500 ‘waterlogged trenches’ Koenigswald p.26 26.10.14

  501 ‘Your Excellency!’ Knox p.205

  502 ‘On the evening of the 23rd’ Reichsarchiv Vol. II pp.152–226

  503 ‘it seemed as if’ Schneider pp.210–11

  503 ‘This news gave’ ibid. p.212

  504 ‘the defeated … do not see’ ibid. p.200 20.11.14

  504 ‘Any victories gained’ Hoffman diary p.58

  505 ‘a minor curiosity’ Cole, Laurence, Hämmerle, Christa and Scheutz, Martin (eds) Glanz – Gewalt – Gehorsam. Militär und Gesellschaft in der Habsburgermonarchie (1800 bis 1918) Essen Klartext 2011 pp.55–76, citing Angelique Leszczawski-Schwerk

  505 ‘In the course of 1914’ Schneider p.239

  505 ‘War becomes the scourge’ Zeynek p.192

  507 ‘The scene wa
s fantastic’ ibid. p.202

  507 ‘the strategic defeat’ Groß p.55

  508 ‘A government agent’ Figes, Orlando A People’s Tragedy Cape 1996 p.258

  508 ‘Right dress!’ Tolstoy p.377

  2 THE SERBS’ LAST TRIUMPH

  509 ‘If we do not get’ Slavka Mihajlović 17.11.14 in Đurič and Stevanović p.141

  509 ‘Making war means’ Kronenbitter p.107

  510 ‘They say that he’ Kisch p.185 6.11.14

  510 ‘News that the brave’ Mihajlović 6.11.14 in Đurič and Stevanović p.149

  510 ‘Incredible cold’ ibid. p.151 16.11.14

  510 ‘On the walls’ Kisch pp.174–5

  510 ‘All those chaps’ ibid. pp.195–7 13.11.14

  511 ‘our own troubles’ ibid. p.198

  511 ‘We no longer have’ ASA B729 Wüster MS

  511 ‘with infantry dispersed’ ibid. 4.12.14

  512 ‘By the time the soldiers’ Kisch p.239 16.12.14

  512 ‘Anger and mistrust’ ASA B1600/7 Alex Pallavicini MS

  512 ‘The doctor had to’ ASA Bachmann MS

  513 ‘I am sad’ Reed p.86

  514 ‘What are these French’ ibid. p.49

  Chapter 17 – Mudlife

  515 ‘who must face’ Schädla diary 1.11.14

  516 ‘In those early’ Richards p.41

  516 ‘in this kind’ Reimann p.180 letter of 26.11.14

  516 ‘a most extraordinary’ IWM Tennyson MS 2.10.14

  517 ‘Some eggs’ IWM Mayne MS 81/26/1

  517 ‘thus they cannot’ IWM Mayer MS 80/35/1

  517 ‘Our chief work’ Craster p.161

  517 ‘They have all sorts’ Robert P. Harker 6.11.14, Reimann p.240

  517 ‘They describe lying’ Barthas pp.43, 45

  518 ‘infantrymen felled by’ Naegelen R. Les Suppliciés Paris 1927 p.89

  519 ‘As matters stand’ Binding, Rudolf A Fatalist at War p.69

  519 ‘One of our companies’ Cowan letters, private collection

  520 ‘Sergeant Swinchat’ IWM Tennyson MS 25.9.14

  520 ‘I said we wanted’ Haig p.83

  521 ‘would amount to the sacrifice’ New Statesman 14.11.14

  521 ‘I have seen the government’ Clarke pp.70–1

  522 ‘The enormous wastage’ Blenkinsop, Maj.-Gen. Sir L.J. et al. History of the Great War: Veterinary Services HMSO 1925 p.71

  522 ‘The BEF’s horses and mules’ ibid. p.510

  522 ‘Vets catalogued examples’ ibid. p.703

  522 ‘Veterinary officers … foresaw’ ibid. p.64

  523 ‘Among a bunch’ ibid. p.175

  523 ‘René Cassin’ Winter p.63

  525 ‘that a giraffe’ Richards p.45

  525 ‘Lt. Adolf Spemann’ HStA Stuttgart, M 660/041 No 2 Spemann diary 6.11.14

  526 ‘What is this conflict’ Lacouture p.32

  526 ‘The French abandoned’ Gudenhus-Schomerus p.173 3.12.14

  527 ‘Please note that’ Barluet, Alain Les Fraternisations de Noël pp.171–2

  527 ‘Louis Barthas’ Barthas p.40

  527 ‘he really hit’ SB S7, 97/2–3 Kaisen collection

  528 ‘The war is like a cinema’ Ziemann, Benjamin War Experiences in Rural Germany 1914–23 OUP 2007 p.44

  528 ‘In the rear they are’ BA-MA PH 3/542 Hillern-Flinsch diary pp.70–1

  528 ‘Some soldiers conduct’ Hirschfeld Kriegserfahrungen. Studien zur Sozial- und Mentalitätsgeschichte des Ersten Weltkriegs, Essen Klartext 1997 p.180

  528 ‘When are you’ Craster p.165 22.12.14

  528 ‘I look at my poor’ Delvert, A. Histoire d’une compagnie Berger-Leverault 1918 p.164

  528 ‘One of the biffins’ Givray pp.213–14

  529 ‘These gentlemen pass’ Cœurdevey p.45

  529 ‘They are posted’ Hirschfeld p.185 letter of 12.9.14

  529 ‘It is curious’ IWM Mayer MS 80/35/1

  529 ‘It’s odd how’ Feilding p.23

  529 ‘My darling, today’ Hirschfeld p.32

  529 ‘all those who go’ ibid. p.34 17.11.14

  530 ‘I went round’ Craster p.166

  530 ‘It’s extraordinary’ Robert P. Harker Reimann p.261

  530 ‘We are happy’ IWM Mayer MS 80/35/1

  530 ‘It was then that’ ibid.

  531 ‘It is impossible to believe’ Craster p.161

  531 ‘but he didn’t want’ ibid. p.53

  531 ‘He dies courageously’ Laby 7.12.14

  531 ‘The officers retired’ IWM 91/3/1 Beer MS 20.9.14

  532 ‘A pukka old’ Richards p.29

  532 ‘André Mare’ Meyer, Jacques La Vie quotidienne des soldats pendant la Grande Guerre Hachette 1966 pp.64–5

  532 ‘We no longer take’ IWM Mayer MS 80/35/1

  532 ‘He had also had’ Cœurdevey p.78

  533 ‘during the pause’ Audoin-Rouzeau, Stéphane L’Enfer c’est la boue! p.141

  533 ‘so we can wallow’ Hirschfeld p.34 31.12.14

  533 ‘In this beautiful’ HStA Stuttgart, M 660/0414

  533 ‘Poor inhabitants!’ ibid. p.175 Löwenstein letter of 4.10.14

  534 ‘It is not only’ Becker, Annette Oubliés de la Grand Guerre: Humanitaire et culture de guerre Hachette Littératures Editions Noêsis 1998 pp.155–8

  534 ‘The International Committee’ ibid. pp.181–9

  534 ‘rude and ungrateful’ Hirschfeld p.181 letter of 24.9.14

  534 ‘we had Germans here’ IWM 86/30/1 C. Stein papers

  535 ‘living at Fontaine’ Delmotte, Maurice Vie quotidienne en France occupée: Journaux de Maurice Delmotte 1914–1918 ed. Nathalie Philippe L’Harmattan 2007 p.38

  535 ‘scarcely fed’ Becker, Annette p.57

  535 ‘After I convinced’ Gudenhus-Schomerus pp.116–17 18.10.14

  535 ‘The people are very’ Palmer and Wallis p.29

  536 ‘Great – you can be happy’ Hirschfeld pp.37–8 26.11.14

  536 ‘We eat in the magnificent’ Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich and Irina Renz (eds) Die Deutschen an der Somme 1914–1918. Krieg, Besatzung, Verbrannte Erde. Essen Klartext 2006 pp.22–3 14.10.14

  536 ‘We take from the French’ Yerta, Gabrielle and Marguerite Six Women and the Invasion Macmillan 1917, republished as an e-book by Gutenberg p.2

  537 ‘has become quite’ HStA Stuttgart, M 660/041 No 2 Spemann diary 14.10.14

  537 ‘So this was to be’ Barthas p.66

  538 ‘After a night’ ibid. p.72

  538 ‘Some reservists have’ IWM Mayer MS 80/35/1

  538 ‘all those pictures’ Barthas pp.76–7

  538 ‘We are none of us’ Tapert, Annette Despatches from the Heart Hamish Hamilton 1984 p.16

  539 ‘How brutal’ Englund p.64

  539 ‘everything becomes senseless’ Binding p.87

  539 ‘O my lieutenant’ Laby diary 5.10.14

  539 ‘roared like a wild’ Capes p.40

  539 ‘An awfully nice lot’ Wilbert Spencer quoted Wolz p.185

  Chapter 18 – Silent Night, Holy Night

  541 ‘these wretched times’ Jay p.311

  541 ‘Richard Meinertzhagen’ Meinertzhagen, Richard Army Diary 1899–1926 Oliver & Boyd 1960 p.98

  541 ‘Everybody’s mood’ SB 7 97/2–17HS 26.12.14

  542 ‘The French army will not’ Soutou p.114

  543 ‘Falkenhayn in particular’ ibid. p.50 and passim

  546 ‘I and my like’ Mellersh, Henry Schoolboy into War London 1978 p.16

  547 ‘war as a military process’ Horne and Kramer p.317

  547 ‘It is a shame’ Churchill, Winston My Early Life Eland Books 2000 pp.64, 66

  548548 ‘The authorities should’ Asquith to VS 26.12.14 p.340

  548 ‘his cheeks resemble’ Geoffrey Madan’s Notebooks p.41

  549 ‘amazingly optimistic’ Bonham-Carter p.17

  549 ‘Even Kitchener’ Lords speech 18.9.14 quoted Magnus, Philip Kitchener: Portrait of an Imperialist Penguin 1968 p.355 />
  549 ‘A Jew, an ’Ebrew Jew’ Asquith to VS 3.11.14 p.306

  550 ‘volatile mind’ ibid. 5.12.14 p.327

  550 ‘I am uneasy about’ Lloyd George Vol. I p.356

  550 ‘Battles are won’ Churchill Great War Vol. I p.498

  556 ‘After midnight’ Arand, Tobias (ed.) Die ‘Urkatastrophe’ als Erinnerung – Geschichtskultur des Ersten Weltkriegs Münster ZfL-Verlag 2006 p.32

  557 ‘We wish you’ ibid. p.77

  558 ‘The Boches waved’ Guéno, Jean-Pierre (ed.) Paroles de Poilus: Lettres et carnets du front 1914–1918 Librio & Radio France 1998 p.78

  558 ‘We hope that next year’ Palmer and Wallis p.59

  558 ‘wet and mud awful’ BNA WO95/1342

  559 ‘It was moving’ IWM Mayer MS 80/35/1

  559 ‘Nothing new happened’ Schneider p.215

  559 ‘Nothing happens that deserves’ Stumpf p.33

  559 ‘People reacted differently’ Flood p.91

  By the same author

  REPORTAGE

  America 1968: The Fire this Time

  Ulster 1969: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland

  The Battle for the Falklands (with Simon Jenkins)

  BIOGRAPHY

  Montrose: The King’s Champion

  Yoni: Hero of Entebbe

  AUTOBIOGRAPHY

  Did You Really Shoot the Television?

  Going to the Wars

  Editor

  MILITARY HISTORY

  Bomber Command

  The Battle of Britain (with Len Deighton)

  Das Reich

  Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy

  Victory in Europe

  The Korean War

  Warriors: Extraordinary Tales from the Battlefield

  Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944–45

  Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944–45

  Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940–45

  All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939–45

  COUNTRYSIDE WRITING

  Outside Days

  Scattered Shots

  Country Fair

  ANTHOLOGY (EDITED)

  The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes

  Copyright

  William Collins

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  Published by William Collins in 2013

  Copyright © Max Hastings 2013

  Max Hastings asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library