Dedicated to the One True Sovereign
who was disregarded by the nations when, in 1914, men elected to fight
among themselves on behalf of their own sovereignties First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley,
South Yorkshire.
S70 2AS Copyright William Langford & Jack Holroyd, 2015 ISBN: 978-1-47382-396-9
PDF ISBN: 978-1-47387-246-2
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-47387-245-5
PRC ISBN: 978-1-47387-244-8 The right of William Langford & Jack Holroyd to be identified as Authors of this Work
has been asserted by them in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
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Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Contents The Taylor Picture Library In 2002 publisher Charles Hewitt acquired the photographic archive of military collector and medals dealer, Peter N. For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact:
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England.
E-mail:
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk Contents The Taylor Picture Library In 2002 publisher Charles Hewitt acquired the photographic archive of military collector and medals dealer, Peter N.
Taylor of Barnsley, and in so doing instantly obtained thousands of potographs of both the First and Second World Wars. With this book, The Great War Illustrated 1915, a selection of over 1,000 images is displayed on its pages; an identification number has been given to the individual illustrations so that they may be ordered by authors, book designers, picture researchers and television and film programme makers. The images are all corrected and brought to the required specification and generous size requested by printers of books and magazines. The colour section has been produced by graphic designer Jon Wilkinson. Peter Taylor has been dealing in medals and militaria for over twenty-five years, throughout which time he has had the foresight to buy up collections and albums of photographs, many of which were first generation press-release prints with an officially sanctioned caption on the back. One hundred-year-old press release photographs may have incurred damage over time, such as the sample reproduced here of the hospital ship Braemar Castle preparing to leave Salonika. One hundred-year-old press release photographs may have incurred damage over time, such as the sample reproduced here of the hospital ship Braemar Castle preparing to leave Salonika.
Present-day technology can bring about satisfactory restoration results that render an image suitable for reproduction. The example shown was heavily scratched, blistered, creased and faded out. A version of the same subject is shown below after it has been being worked on. The Braemar Castle served in a variety of roles: as a cross-channel troop transport for the British Expeditionary Force in 1914; a troop transport in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915; and a hospital ship from 1915 onward. It was as a hospital ship in November 1916 that she struck a mine in the Aegean Sea, but was repaired. The attached picture label on the back reads:
ANOTHER HUN OUTRAGE ON THE RED CROSS
There is no atrocity too vile for the Huns to encompass, no outrage on Humanitys laws too fragrant to perpetrate.
Close upon the sinking of the Britannic hospital ship comes news that another stately liner, the Braemar Castle, bearing the sacred symbol of the Red Cross, has been mined or torpedoed in the Aegean Sea. That all aboard, including homeward-bound wounded, are reported saved is a mercy that does not lesson the brutality of the crime. These photographs show the Braemar Castle ready to leave Salonica.
FRENCH OFFICIAL WAR PHOTOGRAPHChapter One:Losses and Gains Fighting at Sea, 191515GW003 The German armoured cruiser SMS Blcher was sunk in spectacular fashion on 24 January 1915 at the Battle of Dogger Bank. 15GW005 British bluejackets loading a torpedo into its launching tube aboard a Royal Navy cruiser. The year 1915 began with a shocking bang for the Royal Navy: it was in the early hours of the morning, 1 January, when a torpedo struck HMS Formidable, a pre-dreadnaught battleship. Part of the 5th Battle Squadron carrying out gunnery exercises off Portland, she was supported by the light cruisers Topaze and Diamond.
Submarine activity had been reported in the area. Formidable was steaming at the rear of the squadron when a torpedo from U-24 struck the port side. The captain, Noel Loxley, gave the order to abandon ship. At about 03:05, Formidable was struck by a second torpedo on the starboard side. The two light cruisers came alongside and managed to pick up eighty men in the deteriorating weather. At 04:45 she rolled over onto men in the water and sank quickly.
Captain Loxley remained on the bridge overseeing the evacuation of the ship. Loss of life was 35 officers (including Captain Loxley) and 512 men from a complement of 780. The Court of Inquiry found against Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayley, who had been in command of the squadron, as he had not taken precautions against the possibility of submarine attack. He was relieved of his command. 15GW006 HMS Formidable was sunk on the first day of January 1915 with the loss 512 men from a complement of 780. 15GW007 Captain Noel Loxley, captain of the Formidable, stayed on the bridge and directed the evacuation of his crew. 15GW007 Captain Noel Loxley, captain of the Formidable, stayed on the bridge and directed the evacuation of his crew.
He went down with his ship.
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