This Day In WWI

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03/06/2026

Jul 29 1916 military funeral for Jack Cornwell the 16-year-old hero of Battle of Jutland. This newsreel clip, IWM NTB 258-1, shows the procession. He received mortal injuries at his post on Jun 2 1916 and was posthumously awarded the (VC), the United Kingdom's highest honour. Initially his family had buried him in a common grave (Square 126 Grave 323) in Manor Park Cemetery, London. It was decided to give him a state funeral so his body had to be exhumed so he could be buried a second time. He was the 3rd-youngest recipient of the VC after two recipients who were both 15 years and 3 months:

Thomas Flinn on Nov 28, 1857 received his Victoria Cross for actions during the Indian Mutiny
Andrew Fitzgibbon on Aug 21, 1860 received his Victoria Cross for actions during the capture of the Northern of the Taku Forts, China

The iconic photo of him is now thought to be of his most likely his younger brother George because the family didn't have any photos of him in uniform.

03/06/2026

May 30 1918 German planes hit No. 3 Canadian Stationary Hospital at Doullens, France. 3 Canadian nurses and 29 other patients and hospital personnel were lost. The footage, IWM NTB 355-1-2, shows the funeral and at least 6 coffins. IWM has the photos of 4 Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) staff and 1 Young Men's Christian Association staff member who were taken out by the German planes on May 30 1918. CWGC shows that in Abbeville 9 QMAAC were lost on May 30, 1918.



Cdn Nurse Dorothy Baldwin (Toronto, ON) Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC)
Cdn Nurse Agnes MacPherson (Lakeland, MAN) (CAMC)
Cdn Nurse Eden Pringle (Vancouver, BC) (CAMC)

Beatrice Campbell, Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC)
Worker Margaret Selina Caswell (s/n 15703) QMAAC
Worker Catherine Connor (s/n 34767) QMAAC
Jeannie Grant, QMAAC
Mary McLachlan Blaikley (s/n 31503) QMAAC
Annie E Moores, QMAAC
Ethel F Mary Parker, QMAAC
Worker Alice Thomasson (s/n 35588) QMAAC
Worker Jeanie H. L. Watson (s/n 34864) QMAAC

Driver Bertha Gavin ‘Betty’ Stevenson - Young Men's Christian Association

31/05/2026

The Germans dreamed of a friendly Afghanistan state from which they could launch an invasion into British India, igniting the existing anticolonial forces there. A German delegation was sent bearing gifts from the Kaiser to the Emir of Afghanistan but it took weeks to arrive. The journey through hostile Allied occupied Persia was harsh and only 70 of the 170 horses and baggage animals survived. They were greeted warmly at the Afghan border but then spent weeks in a gilded cage in Kabul before finally getting an audience with Afghan's ruling elite. Emir Habibullah Khan didn't engage in any type of Alliance but the visit set in motion the events that would lead to the 1919 Third Anglo-Afghan War.

30/05/2026

A French mortar team tries gently to free a mortar shell that's fins are too big and have become lodged in the mortar tube. Stokes mortars worked when a soldier would drop a shell down a tube. A firing pin at the base of the tube would make contact with a primer on the shell igniting the propellant charge. This would launch the shell towards the target. Stokes shells initially didn't have fins and would tumble in the air when launched.



Footage from hw97karbine
Colourized by Colours of Yesterday

28/05/2026

In front of the Château de Beaucaire castle in southern France Spahi Cavalry in France practising maneuvers on a beach. This newsreel clip, IWM IWM 508-12, released on May 31 1917, shows the Spahi Cavalry in France. Spahis were cavalry of the French colonial army, recruited primarily from French colonies in what is now Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. By the end of the French had seven Spahi regiments operating.

26/05/2026

This was the 1st major battle for American forces in . During the Battle of Cantigny May 28-30 1918, this newsreel clip (IWM IWM 508-64) shows 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, advancing on German lines with French Schneider CA1 Tanks. The footage also shows Schneider CA1 Tanks returning from their attack on German lines with German POWs marching with the wounded. "The Americans were supported by French air, artillery, tank, and flame units" since the Americans didn't have any of their own.

25/05/2026

Some of the more experimental innovations of

The Standschütze Hellriegel MG from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was an attempt to create a portable, miniature water-cooled MG fed by a drum belt of 9 mm Steyr rounds, the standard Austro-Hungarian ammunition
ÖNB Digital ID:15626855, 15626848
Colourized by R. Candeias

May 23 1916 US patent, US1184078A, granted to Charles J. Cooke for a repeater with trench periscope. "a veritable stream of .... missiles may thus be literally poured into the invading ranks, from numberless rapid fire machine arms"

US1113675 was granted on Oct 13 1914. Gas mask from famous African-American inventor Garrett A. Morgan. He used this device to rescue several men after a Jul 24 1916, tunnel explosion under Lake Erie

This newsreel clip, IWM IWM 1061-06d, shows the Allenbury Patent gashood. Built by the Company Allen and Hanbury in May 1915 this footage was just a few weeks after the first poison cloud by the Germans on Apr 22 1915.

The Illustrated War News Dec 30 1914 British Submarine prototypes, what might have been

May 17 1916 A parasite fighter experiment is successful when a Bristol Scout (C3028) launches off a huge Porte Baby (No.9800) floatplane
In the Porte Baby was designed by John Cyril Porte RN at the naval air station, Felixstowe May 17 1916 parasite aircraft was successfully launched IWM Q 63768

Le Petit Journal Jun 4 1916 publish this invention that allows soldiers to walk on water. Le Ski aquatique qui vient d'être expérimenté

Colourized version (by Kaiser Colorizations) of the B&W image I used in the post above. The Ma**er C96 AA rack" on a plane of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As PikeGrey1418 describes, the M1916 Prussian "Red 9" had a wooden holster/shoulder stock

24/05/2026

David McLellan photos of the Concert party named The Queerios at Montreuil-sur-Mer, France on May 25 1918. Also photographed is Warrant Officer George Elias Hogg who managed the group while working in the intelligence section. Historian Sarah Worthman says that every Division in the Canadian and British World War I militaries had a troupe of male actors dressed as women who performed for the troops.

One of the most famous was Canadian Ross Hamilton. Hailing from Pugwash, N.S. he enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Corps as an ambulance driver. He created the personna Marjorie to entertain the Canadians. He enlisted again in WW2 but was actually outed to military officials and kicked out of the military. He went back to Nova Scotia and passed away in 1965 at the age of 76.

Undated photos of Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) ratings taking part in rifle practice at Crystal Palace, London. Hi...
24/05/2026

Undated photos of Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) ratings taking part in rifle practice at Crystal Palace, London. His majesty approves the formation of The WRNS on Nov 29 1917 and thousands served in the Royal Navy

23/05/2026

This 40 year old German physicist Karl Schwarzschild joined the military to prove his loyalty to the German Fatherland. On the Eastern Front he came across Einstein's work and started a correspondence with the scientist. He later predicted Black Holes and provided the 1st exact solution to Einstein field equations of general relativity. Illness on front forced Karl out of the military and he died May 11 1916.

The loss of celebrated UK physicist Henry Moseley on Aug 10 1915 in Gallipoli caused the UK to change their rules on who can join front lines. Asimov wrote, "In view of what he might still have accomplished … his death might well have been the most costly single death of the War."

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