fiv .)
£ ft)e World
Registered.
A WEEKLY REVIEW SUPPLEMENT TO “ THE GREAT WAR," PART 239.
R.A.F. Casualties
The casualties in the Royal Air Force from
April 1st, 1918 (the date of the fusion of the R.N.A.S.
and the R.F.C.). to November 11th, 1918 (the date
of the signing of the armistice), have already been
announced. These figures are recapitulated as
follows ! Other
Officers. Ranks. Total.
K i l l e d ...........................1,551 . . 1,129 .. 2,680
Wounded .................. ...2,357 . . 631 . . 2,988
Missing (including Pri-
soners) .................. ...1,612 .. 225 . . 1,837
Interned .................. 46 39 84
The aggregate of these casualties is 7,589, and it
is this total which has to be added to the naval and
military casualties already published by the
Admiralty and War Office in order to get the com
plete war casualties. The R .N .A .S. casualties and
R.F.C. casualties to March 31st, 1918, are included
in the totals published by the Admiralty and War
Office.
The casualties in the Flying Services (including
all officers and other ranks) for the whole period of
the war, both before and since the amalgamation
of the R .N.A.S. and the R.F.C., are as follows :
Other
Officers. Banks. Total.
K i l l e d ........................... 4,579 . . 1,587 . . 6,166
Wounded .................. 5,369 . . 1,876 . 7,245
Missing (including P ri
soners) .................. 2,794 .. 334 . . 3,128
Interned .................. 45 39 84
T o ta l................... 12,787 .. 3,836 .16,623
The estim ate of the South African casualties in
the war, comprising those in the rebellion, in East,
W est, and Central Africa, and oversea, gives 6,800
killed, of whom 4,630 were killed in Europe, and
11,500 wounded and gassed. Of 1,800 casualties
in E ast Africa 1,200 were due to disease.
According to a Kieff telegram, the W hite Russia
Soviet Government has proclaimed W hite Russia
(Smolensk and Minsk district) a part of the Russian
Soviet Republic.
Historic Cartoons of the Great War
G IV IN G H IM R O P E ?
G e rm an C rim in a l (to Allied Police) 4 4 H e re, I sa y , sto p 1 Y o u 're h u r tin g m e 1
If I o n ly w h in e enough I m ay be ab le to w rig g le ou t of th is y e t.”
(R eproduced fro m “ P u n c h ,” F eb ru a ry 19, 1919, by p erm issio n o f the P ro p rieto rs.)
[Aside]
GERMANY’S GUILT
British Official History of Events
Leading Up to War
The m ost complete history which has y e t ap
peared of the events leading up to the declaration
of war is contained in a remarkable book, “ The
Outbreak of the War of 1914-1918,” written for the
Foreign Office by Professor Oman, Professor of
History at Oxford. It is published by the Stationery
Office, price 2s. 6d.
Professor Oman had at his disposal Viscount
Grey’s correspondence with the British Ambassadors
in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Pctrograd, and per
sonal access to those Ambassadors. H e thus
secured much unpublished information.
The book starts with the im mediate cause of the
war, the assassination of the Archduke Francis
Ferdinand. Professor Oman has been unable to
find evidence to connect Germany with instigation
of the crime, but he is also satisfied that the Serbian
society, the Narodna Odbrana, accused by Austria
of having instigated it, had nothing to do with it.
The crime, lie believes, was a purely fortuitous
circumstance, and if the Archduke had not been
assassinated, the writer says, the war would have
come about through some other pretext at some
other time.
Regarding the much-discussed 4 1 Potsdam Council,”
held by the ex-Kaiser on July 5th, 1914, at which the
decision to make war is said to have been taken,
Professor Oman believes it was not a formal Council,
but undoubtedly the ex-Kaiser and General Staff
officers wero present, and the Council was of a decisive
nature. Prince Lichnowsky is given a character for
honesty during the negotiations in London before
tho outbreak, and is described as the innocent tool of
his Government.
The incident of the special edition of the Berlin
“ Lokal-Anzieger,” issued at luncheon tim e on July
30th with the announcement of general mobilisa
tion, and afterwards withdrawn on the ground that
the statem ent was untrue is discussed. Professor
Oman believes that neither the Chancellor nor the
German Foreign Office was concerned in this trick
to provoke Russia into ordering general mobilisa
tion before Germany did, and that the “ fake ”
edition was the work of a few German militarists
resolved to force the hand of the diplomats.
Among many documents exam ined is the m ys
terious message published in a London evening
paper on August 1st, 1914, purporting to have been
sent on July 30th by Bethmann - Hollweg, the
Chancellor, to the German Ambassador in Vienna.
This message ran :
We cannot expect Austria to nogotiate with
Serbia, with which she is in a state of war. The
refusal, however, to negotiate with St. Petersburg
would be a grave mistake. W e are indeed ready to
fulfil our duty. As an ally, however, wo must refuse
to bo drawn into a world conflagration through
Austria-Hungary not respecting our advice. Your
Excellency will express this to Count Berchtold with
all emphasis and great seriousness.
Professor Oman points out that this document,
the only one which shows any German attem pt to
moderate Austria’s attitude, was published in
London the day after it was written. It did not.
appear in the Austrian Red Book or the German
W hite Book, and was never heard of again until
resurrected by the Chancellor Michaelis in the
Reichstag in July, 1917.
The tenor of the message is such that it looks like
a fabrication prepared by the German Embassy in
London to hoodwink British public opinion, and it
may be noted that Iviihlmann, the notorious intriguer
of tho German Embassy in London .when war broke
out, was German Foreign Minister when Michaelis
referred to this tolegram.
Professor Oman gives the lie to German attem pts
to fasten on the French the responsibility for be
ginning the war, such as the story in the German
Press that French officers disguised as Germans had
motored into the Rhine Province from Holland.
Germany desired a plausible motive for invading
Belgium through Holland if the attack on Lifege
failed, and invented this particular lie.
Sir Arthur Pearson, the founder of St. Dunstan’s
Hospital for Blinded Soldiers, who has been lecturing
in the U nited States on the care and education of
blinded soldiers, has returned to London.
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