Interesting Facts: The Great War

[daemonofdecay]

Originally Posted by RapierFighter

Fact #6: What was his name again?

A venerable German field marshal who served in the war had been a Confederate general in the Civil War 50 years earlier.

I can't find any information on this guy.

I did find information on Von Borcke, who was JEB Stuarts aid. From http://www.civilwarhome.com/german.htm.

On the Southern side, surely one of the most interesting German figures was JEB Stuart's aide, Major Johann August Heinrich Heros Von Borcke. A tall, handsome blond young man in the German ideal, Von Borcke came from an old Prussian military family of the titled nobility. Serving in the Second Brandenburg Regiment of Dragoons at the time the Civil War began, either from boredom with garrison duty or due to an argument with his father, young Heros departed for the Confederacy, landing in Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1862. Introduced to JEB Stuart by Confederate Secretary of War George Randolph, Von Borcke quickly became a dear friend of the equally young Confederate cavalier, and from then on the Prussian was rarely far from Stuart's side. Despite a regrettable tendency to ascribe to himself a number of exploits which were actually the actions of others, Von Borcke's writings about his year on Stuart's staff and subsequent adventures in Virginia following his near-fatal wounding in June 1863 are entertaining and fill in a number of historical gaps. He was beloved and admired by his Confederate comrades.
Von Borcke returned to Prussia and served his native land in a war with Austria in 1866; to his amusement and pleasure, the famous Austrian military genius Helmuth von Moltke greeted him with the words, "Are you not the American?" Forced to an early retirement in 1867 due to a Yankee bullet he still carried in his lung, Von Borcke married and had three sons. When he inherited a castle and estate at Giesenbrugge, it was his delight to fly the Confederate flag from its battlements. He died in 1895, reminiscing fondly about his days as a Confederate right up to the end.

Could this be the guy mentioned?

Or am I completely wrong?

[MovCon1]

Originally Posted by Druid_Ian

almost right both tanks are identical in size only difference is in the armament
Male tanks carried two 6-lb (57mm) guns and 4 machine guns; the 'Female' 5 machine guns. The guns are carried in Sponsons that are removable for travel on railcars the sponsons are different sizes
there was also a Hermaphrodite tank in which one sponson had a 6-lb gun and the other had 2 machine guns

They also got the name "Tank" to hide the real purpose of the vehicles when they were being developed from prying eyes and ears.

Initially they wee to be manned by the Royal Navy, as the original idea was to have Navy Gunners firing the guns and it was thought that Naval tactics could be used on the Battlefield with Land Fleets of them.

Of course that idea didn't last too long, and the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) was formed, mostly from the Royal Artillery and Machine Gun Corps.

the RTR still have the original tank in their Cap badge, and also wear Black Coveralls, as the original engines and machinery leaked so much oil that their uniforms were Black all the time.

I think there used to be a crew of 6 to 8. 1 Commander, 1 Driver, 2 Steersmen (One engine per track) and at least 2-4 Gunners/Mechanics. No radios were fitted either, making communication very difficult, and the use of semaphore and other message flags was developed, though was never very effective in combat.

The one effect that initially gained when they were first used was the shock effect on enemy troops, seeing these lumbering giants advancing relentlessly towards them at 3-6 MPH for the first time. Many fled, not knowing that they were very prone to small arms fire and would burn readily if the petrol tanks were holed!

I remember seeing photo's of them being moved by rail in a book, covered by canvass to hide. 60 odd years later, when the Challenger 1 Tank was being introduced to units in BAOR, the same thing was done. canvass covers, and again when Challenger 2 replaced Challenger 1. Always seemed a bit daft to me, as whenever you cover something, people get curious!

[Mechashef]

More than half of the American troops sent overseas travelled on German ships which had taken shelter in US ports when the war broke out. These ships were seized by the US when it entered the war. They included the Vaterland (renamed Leviathan) which was the largest passenger ship in the world at that point.

Nice of the Germans to contribute to their own defeat

[MajorSennef]

Originally Posted by daemonofdecay

I can't find any information on this guy.

I did find information on Von Borcke, who was JEB Stuarts aid. From http://www.civilwarhome.com/german.htm.



Could this be the guy mentioned?

Or am I completely wrong?

During some research of my own I too came across this man who initially seemed to fit. Alas, interesting as he is, I had to strike him as he died in 1895 so couldn't be campaigning twenty years later.
The quest is still on!

[daemonofdecay]

I am just wondering where that information for the initial story came from.

Is there any corraberating information that anyone has seen to indicate such a man really existed?



Robert von Lee.

[Napoleon]

I have been looking but I haven't been able to find anything at all regarding this mysterious general. It is entirely possible though. Hundreds of thousands of Germans served in the American Civil War. I have trouble though seeing how he could have been a full-fledged general, but I will continue the search.

[kentek]

I have been looking through the lists of General Field Marshals at http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/index.html without much hope.(A fascinating trove of WWI info, by the by.)

GFM Helmuth von Moltke the Younger (b. 1848)
GFM Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern (b. 1869)
GFM Herzog Albrecht von Wurttemberg (b. 1865)
GFM Albrecht von Saxony (couldn't find any more biographical data)
GFM von Hindenburg (b. 1847)
GFM Prinz Leoplod von Bayern (b. 1846)
GFM Mackensen (b. 1857)

None of these seem to be strong candidates for a Civil War general. I'll keep looking for info on Albrecht von Saxony, but I'm just about Googled out.

[Napoleon]

Yes, same here. I do not believe it was a field marshal per say. However, maybe a general or other high-ranking figure. He would have had to have been around 20 in the Civil War.

[MajorSennef]

Originally Posted by Napoleon

Yes, same here. I do not believe it was a field marshal per say. However, maybe a general or other high-ranking figure. He would have had to have been around 20 in the Civil War.

This quest keeps me intrigued as well but no success to report at my side either on this mysterious confederate German general.
Agree that very likely he wasn't a marshal in WW1, with such a colorful Confederate background he then would be much better known.
At the same time if he were more than a colonel in the Civil War, he would be known as a 'boy wonder' like Custer was.

Agewise I think it is reasonably safe to assume that he must have been in his twenties in the 1860's which by necessity places him in his seventies in 1914.

[kentek]

Originally Posted by captainsennef

This quest keeps me intrigued as well but no success to report at my side either on this mysterious confederate German general.
Agree that very likely he wasn't a marshal in WW1, with such a colorful Confederate background he then would be much better known.
At the same time if he were more than a colonel in the Civil War, he would be known as a 'boy wonder' like Custer was.

Agewise I think it is reasonably safe to assume that he must have been in his twenties in the 1860's which by necessity places him in his seventies in 1914.

Maybe the gentleman was one of the European military observers and 'embellished' his record once he returned to the Fatherland?

[Druid_Ian]

here is one possible need to check out his record more
Ludwig Alexander Friedrich August Philipp Reichsfreiherr von Falkenhausen
(1840-1936)
place of birth: Guben (Brandenburg)
Prussian baron and colonel general who saw action during the wars of 1866 and 1870-71. Called out of retirement at the age of 74, he commanded Army Detachment "A" (1914-16) and received the Pour le Merite in 1915 for distinguished service during the 1914-15 campaigns in northeastern France. As commander of the Sixth Army (1916-17), his principle battle was the Arras Offensive. Served as Governor General of Belgium (1917-18).

[Napoleon]

I checked into this guy on some site that listed all the German field marshals of the First World War but if he did serve in the Confederate forces it was not mentioned.

[robcraufurd]

Great trivia thread: just a couple of points to add to it.

Originally Posted by RapierFighter

Fact #12: Dead Brothers in Arms

The British ‘Pals’ Battalions were an idea to promote comradeship in one’s unit, believing that a unit made of men who already knew each other would create a greater esprit de corps. These units saw heavy action in the Somme, and the result was that some British towns lost almost their entire adult male population in a single day.

Well, yes and no. The "Accrington Pals" (11th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment) is the battalion that loses most heavily that day- out of 720 men, 235 are killed and 350 wounded. Heavy losses, yes, but the battalion's recruited from a number of towns around Accrington such as Burnley, Blackburn and Chorley. Only half the battalion is from Accrington: say 350 men, of whom about 280 become casualties, out of a population of 45,029 in 1911. The effect of the casualties, since everybody knows someone who's been killed, is far greater than their actual number. Incidentally, one of my relatives went into action alongside the Accrington Pals on July 1st: his battalion only loses about 190 men in the action.

Fact #17: End of an Era

Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew of Lord Strathcona’s Horse was awarded the Victoria Cross in March of 1918. He was a horse cavalry officer who led a sword charge with three troops of horse against German lines and killed many of the enemy with his 1913 Pattern type saber. The attack forced the Germans to retreat. Flowerdew was wounded and died the next day. This was at a time in which the horse cavalry was dying out decades after it should have, but Flowerdew is all the more amazing for the fact that he did not once draw his pistol. It may have been the last gasp of the sword in modern war, but what a gasp it was.

The first German to be killed by a British soldier in WWI is actually killed with the sword. At dawn on the 22nd of August 1914, C Squadron of the 4th Dragoon Guards meets a German patrol of the 2nd Kuirassiers. Corporal Thomas of the 4th Troop opens fire on them, firing the first British shots of the conflict; however, he didn't know whether he hit his man. The 1st Troop, meanwhile, charges the Germans, and Captain Hornby makes sure of his, returning with a sword wet with blood.