Patrick Gregory discusses how America's voluntary effort took shape in the Great War, as a new exhibition opens at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. Abram Piatt Andrew - founder of the American Field Service (Photo courtesy of AFS Foundation) ‘The world must be made safe for democracy……We have [...]
Missing fragments from a Great War masterpiece are back on display for the first time in decades at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. CN contributor Patrick Gregory retraces the truncated history of 'Panthéon de la Guerre', the world's largest painting when it was first unveiled in Paris in 1918. The National [...]
Artist's impression of a sand portrait for 'Pages of the Sea' (Image © 14-18 NOW) The final list of beaches for Danny Boyle’s Armistice commission Pages of the Sea has been announced. On 11 November 2018, people are invited to gather on 31 beaches across the UK and in the Republic of Ireland to remember the men [...]
On 26 September 1918 troops of the First Army, American Expeditionary Force aided by a corps of French soldiers began a major offensive in north-east France, kicking off what would the last six-week Allied push on the Western Front in WW1. The Meuse-Argonne campaign as it came to be known would enter the history [...]
After four days of intense fighting in the Meuse-Argonne, beginning on 26 September 1918, American Expeditionary Force commander General John Pershing called a temporary halt to most – though not all – offensive operations along the front. It had been hard going in the difficult uphill terrain and he wanted time to regroup his [...]
Newly-formed Latvian units went into action with the Imperial Russian Army 100 years ago to resist a German push. CN contributor Patrick Gregory has recently visited the Baltic, and tells the story of how the Latvian Rifles carved out a reputation on the shifting battle lines of the Eastern Front. Soldiers of the 1st [...]
The United States & France are preparing to rededicate a memorial honouring American pilots who flew in the First World War. Ahead of the ceremony at the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial near Paris, CN’s Patrick Gregory looks back at the impact of the volunteer airmen on the Allied war effort. The Lafayette Escadrille Memorial, on the outskirts of Paris, is being rededicated after restoration [...]
100 years ago, Captain Manfred von Richtofen, leading ace of the German Air Service, was killed by enemy fire near Amiens. A celebrated – and feared – fighter pilot, his two-and-a- half year career brought him success on the battlefield and notoriety among his opponents. But as Patrick Gregory reports, while his death on 21 [...]
As America prepares to commemorate Memorial Day this Monday (May 29), honouring the men and women who've died in military service for the US over the years, a new name from WWI can be added to the roll of honour thanks to volunteer researchers. CN’s Patrick Gregory reports. Maryland sailor Herbert Hammond Renshaw, who drowned in May 1917, will [...]
A monument unveiled in south London last week finally honoured the many thousands of servicemen and women from African and Caribbean countries who fought and died for Britain in the First and Second World Wars. CN’s Patrick Gregory reports from the ceremony. The inauguration of the African and Caribbean Memorial in Windrush Square, Brixton (Photo: [...]