F-YEAH HISTORY

R.A.F. men with their pet rabbits at a Squadron near the lines, France, c. 1918 "RAF men showing off their pet rabbits, France, during World War I. Lying underneath the fuselage of an aeroplane, these three RAF men parade their pet rabbits for the cameras inspection. Well known for their fondness of animals, British soldiers were keenly aware that keeping pets was an excellent way of maintaining a regiment's morale - hence the large number of regimental mascots adopted by British troops."

Source: National Library of Scotland.

Signing ceremony of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye with Austrian chancellor Renner addressing the delegates, 1919 The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the Republic of German-Austria on the other. Like the Treaty of Trianon with Hungary and the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, it contained the Covenant of the League of Nations and as a result was not ratified by the United States but was followed by the US–Austrian Peace Treaty of 1921.

Members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, playing hockey, France, c. 1918 Source: National Library of Scotland.

Joke Photograph of Unidentified Soldiers of the Allied Army of Occupation, Germany, 1919

Credit to the Galt Museum and Archives.

Christmas card from the Royal Army Medical Corps at No. 11 General Hospital - a part of the British Expeditionary Force in Italy, 1918

General Constantin Constantinescu-Claps Constantin Constantinescu-Claps (February 20, 1884 – 1961) was a Romanian military commander during World War II, condemned as a military criminal in the Communist Romania after the war (later exonerated). He participated in both World War I and World War II, and rose through the ranks in the Romanian Army. On November 9, 1941, he was appointed the commander of the Romanian Fourth Army, and became a Corps General on January 24, 1942. On February 10, 1943, he was relieved of his assignment and replaced by Constantin Sănătescu. Constantinescu-Claps retired in 1943, was arrested in 1951, and was condemned to 15 years' imprisonment in 1954. In 1955, he was exonerated and released.

A horse undergoing an operation at a US Army veterinary hospital World War I photograph of a field veterinarian operating on an injured horse secured to "The Simplicity Equine," a portable table, which was being used by the US Army Signal Corps. WWI was the last major war in which horses were utilized. Although their scale of recruitment was relatively small, they had to endure the more advanced fire power deployed in the war. Advances in medicine and surgery resulted in more available treatment options.

Dutch soldiers on ice-skates, 1940 The Waterline was a defensive line made up of dykes, flooded land and moats designed to protect the Netherlands from western attacks. The original Old Hollandic Waterline dated back to the 17th Century. It was rebuilt in the 19th Century after the Napoleonic wars and again modernised after WWI. During Winter soldiers would skate over the ice to pursue a retreating enemy.

Credit to WeaponsCache @ Retronaut.

ON THIS DAY: 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.

Australian soldiers in trenches at the Battle of Polygon Wood, 1917 The Battle of Polygon Wood took place during the second phase of the Third battle of Ypres in World War I and was fought near Ypres in Belgium 26 September – 3 October 1917, in the area from the Menin Road to Polygon Wood and thence north, to the area beyond St. Julien. Much of the woodland had been destroyed by the huge quantity of shellfire from both sides since 16 July and the area had changed hands several times. General Herbert Plumer continued the series of British general attacks with limited objectives. The British attacks were led by lines of skirmishers, followed by small infantry columns organised in depth, (a formation which had been adopted by the Fifth Army in August) with a vastly increased amount of artillery support, the infantry advancing behind five layers of creeping bombardment on the Second Army front.

A collection of photographs from the Gallipoli campaign. From top and left to right: Ottoman commanders including Mustafa Kemal (fourth from left); Allied warships; the view down to Anzac Cove; Ottoman soldiers in a trench; and Allied positions The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale (Turkish: Çanakkale Savaşı), took place on the Gallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu in modern Turkey) in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during World War I. Aiming to secure a sea route to Russia, the British and French launched a naval campaign to force a passage through the Dardanelles. After the naval operation, an amphibious landing was undertaken on the Gallipoli peninsula, to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul). After eight months the land campaign also failed with many casualties on both sides, and the invasion force was withdrawn to Egypt.

ON THIS DAY: 1917 – World War I: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins

Wounded men at the side of a road after the Battle of Menin Road Ridge The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, sometimes called "Battle of the Menin Road", was the third British general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle took place 20–25 September 1917, in the Ypres Salient in Flanders on the Western Front.

Women delivering ice in World War I from an ice wagon, during the final surge in the ice trade, 1918

This photograph was taken in the forest of Compiègne after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I. This railcar was given to Ferdinand Foch for military use by the manufacturer, Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Foch is second from the right

Bonus Army marchers (left) confront the police, 1932 The Bonus Army was the popular name of an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C., in the spring and summer of 1932 to demand cash-payment redemption of their service certificates. Its organisers called it the Bonus Expeditionary Force to echo the name of World War I's American Expeditionary Force, while the media called it the Bonus March. It was led by Walter W. Waters, a former Army sergeant.

Many of the war veterans had been out of work since the beginning of the Great Depression. The World War Adjusted Compensation Act of 1924 had awarded them bonuses in the form of certificates they could not redeem until 1945. Each service certificate, issued to a qualified veteran soldier, bore a face value equal to the soldier's promised payment plus compound interest. The principal demand of the Bonus Army was the immediate cash payment of their certificates.

Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, one of the most popular military figures of the time, visited their camp to back the effort and encourage them. On July 28, U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell ordered the veterans removed from all government property. Washington police met with resistance, shots were fired and two veterans were wounded and later died. Veterans were also shot dead at other locations during the demonstration. President Herbert Hoover then ordered the army to clear the veterans' campsite. Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur commanded the infantry and cavalry supported by six tanks. The Bonus Army marchers with their wives and children were driven out, and their shelters and belongings burned.

A second, smaller Bonus March in 1933 at the start of the Roosevelt Administration was defused in May with an offer of jobs for the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fort Hunt, Virginia, which most of the group accepted. Those who chose not to work for the CCC by the May 22 deadline were given transportation home. In 1936, Congress overrode President Franklin D. Roosevelt's veto and paid the veterans their bonus years early.

A British NCO prepares to dispose of an unexploded bomb, during the First World War, 1918