Review of 12th Division by Maj. Gen. Henry P. McCain, September 14th, 1918, Camp Devens, Massachusetts.

The M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle used in action for the first time. September 13, 1918.

2nd Lt. Val Browning, son of John Browning, the legendary firearms designer. By the wars end three out of four of the standard small arms weapons in the infantry would be Browning designs.

On this day in 1918 the Browning M1918 Automatic rifle was first used in combat.

It certainly wouldn't be the last time.  Probably nobody knows the date that occurred, if it has, but the last time the US used it in action was probably in the 1960s, as it remained in front line service in the Marine Corps well into the Vietnam War.  National Guard units were still being issued the BAR in the mid 1970s.  Armies equipped by the United States no doubt had it that long as well, and perhaps somewhere around the world its still seeing some use today.

Which is because it was such a fantastic weapon. . . or maybe it was in spite of it being an awful one.

Saying something like that, of course, really requires an explanation.  And to explain it requires a context.

The BAR was designed to be an automatic rifle. In the photos immediately above we see it as it was designed to be, a selective fire (originally) rifle that could be used as an individual weapon to put down a barrage of walking fire.  And it was very good in that role.  The role, that is, of being an "automatic rifle".  It was so good at that role, in fact, that soldiers defeated its later role as a light machinegun by reconverting it back to its original sans bipod configuration.

And, if you've kept up on this blog, or otherwise are familiar with the US's combat experience in World War One, you can see why a weapon like that would have made a lot of sense.  The US was trying to sprint over the deadly space of "No Man's Land" and take enemy trenches, ultimately at close quarter.  An automatic rifle would be really ideal for a role like that, even if it meant, in the case of the BAR, issuing one that was extremely heavy.

US infantrymen in heavy pack.  Soldier on left carries a Chauchat, by all accounts one of the worst automatic weapons any fielded to any army.  He is also wearing his garrison cap under his helmet, which can be seen near the back of his head.  The soldier on the right carries a M1903 Springfield rifle, the barrel of which is barely visible on his right.

But that role was a short one in the U.S. military, and indeed in most militaries that had a similar weapon.  And there were other weapons in that role.  Indeed one of the worst weapons of World War One, the Chauchat, was designed for the same role.  But even at that time a competing series of weapons, light machineguns, were on the battlefield and were rapidly supplanting automatic rifles.  The British, for example, never fielded an automatic rifle but rather fielded two separate light machineguns, the Lewis and the Vickers.  The Germans fielded a "light", but not very light, version of their MG08.  Those crew served weapons were better able to lay down a barrage of sustained fire than any automatic rifle.

So after World War One the U.S. Army, pleased with the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, had the selective fire option eliminated from production and had the weapon retrofitted with a bipod.  It was re-classed, at that time, as a light machinegun, tactics having moved in the direction of a lmg being a squad support weapon.  For cavalrymen, however, a separate version, ostensibly somewhat lighter, and featuring a bipod at the muzzle and a monpod on the butt, was introduced as a "machine rifle", with it being given the designation of the M1922.  In 1937 the gun was redesigned slightly and became the M1918A1.  Improvments continued as World War Two loomed with the eye towards making the weapon a better light machinegun and it on June 30, 1938, the M1918 A2 was introduced, with there being orders to upgrade all existing stocks of the M1918 and M1918A1 to that configuration.  The M1922 was declared obsolete before World War Two began, but none the less stocks of them remained and during the war they were issued to Merrell's Marauders as light alternatives, to the M1918A2.

Soldiers of the U.S. Army training with the M1918 A2 BAR (and without hearing protection) during World War Two.

The BAR in both versions were in service when the US entered World War Two, as noted, with the M1922 on the way out.  The M1918A2 BAR as a light machinegun remained, but quite rapidly soldiers assigned to the weapon instinctively reverted it to its original role and configuration as an automatic rifle.  Typically they removed its bipod and flash hinder as weight adding unnecessary elements.  The Marine Corps, huge fans of the BAR, began to issue it two per squad as well, anticipating the latter modern issuance of the current M249 "automatic rifle".

Heavily laden Marine with BAR during World War Two.  This is almost certainly a M1918A2 but it has had its bipod and flash hinder removed.

By World War Two it was pretty obvious that the BAR was not the best light machinegun in the world.  It was hindered in ammunition capacity from being a bottom loading weapon, unlike the top loading Brno light machinegun that is arguably the best lmg ever designed.  Like most light machineguns it also had a permanently affixed barrel which is something that designers began to reconsider in that role with the German introduction of the dual purpose MG34 and MG42 machineguns.  Nonetheless, it soldiered through the war and on into the next one, the Korean War and the service found itself ordering additional supplies of them, reflecting wartime losses and post wartime disposals of existing M1918A2s.  The Royal McBee Typewriter Company supplied the last BARs to the military during this time frame.

Helmet-less U.S. Army soldier firing M1918A2 BAR in Korea.  This soldier has removed his bipod from the BAR.  He's also in distinctive Korean War era winter gear, including the L. L. Bean designed "shoe packs" that came in during World War Two.

Following the Korean War the US planned on replacing the BAR as the US went to the GPMG concept introduced by the Germans during World War Two.  The US had no plans to put the US GPMG, the M60, in the BAR's role but rather planned to place a heavy barreled M14 rifle in that role, as the M14 began to replace the M1 Garand. And in fact the Army started to do that before problems with the concept, which should have been obvious from the onset, prevented it from being completed.  That light machinegun, the M15, was practically stillborn although it was in fact adopted.

The M14 Rifle, the intended replacement for the M1 Garand which did in fact replace it in the active duty branches of the Army and Marine Corps, and the M14A1 which had already replaced the M15 and which was replacing the BAR when the Vietnam War broke out and production of M14 rifles was stopped. The M14 was an excellent rifle.  The M14A1 was a pretty bad light machinegun.

Nonetheless, when the Army deployed to Vietnam in the early 1960s it was the M14A1 that went with it, not the BAR.  BAR's, however, were supplied to the ARVN.

South Vietnamese soldiers equipped with a BAR and a M2 carbine.

And the Marines retained the BAR. They liked it so much that they kept the BAR well into the Vietnam War where it served alongside the M16A1 and the M60.  I'm not aware of whether the Marines were ever equipped with M14A1s, but if they were, they didn't use them. They liked the BAR so much they kept using it, even after the M14, which they also greatly loved, was taken from them.

In the Army, the introduction of the M60 and the M14A! did not actually mean that the BAR completely disappeared, even if the Army did not use the BAR in Vietnam (or at least not much), and instead attempted to use the M14A1 and then went to a designated M16A1 (which was particularly bad in that role).  In the Army Reserve and the National Guard the BAR continued to serve into the mid to late 1970s (it was in service at least as late as 1976 in the Guard).  This reflected the fact that small arms in the military were in a real state of flux from 1960s forward.  The M15 was never made in sufficient quantities to replace the BAR and it self was replaced by a heavy stocked version of the M14 which was never made in large quantities either.  The M14 was soon challenged in the rifle role by the M16 and the M16A1 in Vietnam, and production of the it was stopped before there were adequate numbers for the reserves. The M1 Garand therefore carried on into the early 70s when, in the Guard and Reserve, the Garand was replaced with the M16, which now existed in large quantities.  The BAR kept on until it was basically replaced, at first, with the M60 in the late 1970s.  In the early 1980s the M249 5.56 machinegun was introduced at the squad level in the Army and it ultimately supplanted the M60 in that role, making its way into the Guard in the late 1980s.

Which of course doesn't mean that the BAR disappeared everywhere overnight.  BARs were supplied to a lot of American allies and clients, and they were manufactured by other nations.  Belgium's FN, for example, introduced the last variant of it, one with a detachable barrel, some of which went to Middle Easter nations.

By that time they were well obsolete.  But maybe they were by the late 1920s for that matter. As a light machinegun, it was never ideal.  As an automatic rifle, it excelled.  Its record was quite mixed.

The U.S. 2nd Cavalry conducts a cavalry attack, September 13, 1918.

Insignia of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.

On this day in 1918, the 2nd Cavalry conducted a cavalry attack as part of the offensive at St. Mihiel.

The details can be found on the excellent Road To The Great War blog here:

Roads to the Great War: The AEF's Sole Cavalry Attack: The 2nd Cavalry at St. Mihiel [Ed. Note: The men of the four American cavalry regiments that were sent to France usually found themselv...

The attack was a small scale one, conducted by Troop F of the 2nd Cavalry, and was somewhat in the nature of a running cavalry patrol.  Troop F. was lead by Captain Earnest Harmon, who would go on to be a figure in the post war occupation of Germany, and then be a notable World War Two armored officer.

The attack is sometimes considered to be the only one conducted by U.S. Cavalry during World War One, which is somewhat debatable.  Indeed, it's debatable if it was a true attack, in the charge sense, at all, but it was certainly a mounted advance.  It was not, however, the only one conducted by American cavalrymen during World War One.

The 2nd Cavalry was notable in and of itself for being one of the only U.S. Cavalry regiments, and some sources say the only U.S. Cavalry regiment, to deploy in its entirety to the France during World War One. Again, that claim is debatable.  The 2nd Cavalry also provided the first troops to land on French soil during the Great War as troopers from the 2nd escorted Gen. Pershing to France.

And it was already later. . .

From the Casper Star Tribune:

Last month, because pressroom operations had become unsustainable, the Star-Tribune made the decision to close its pressroom in favor of printing at a regional printing plant in Cheyenne. One of the many important issues we considered in making this decision was what to do about high school and UW sports coverage. We know this coverage is important to readers across Wyoming and one reason many subscribe to the state-wide newspaper. So we decided to do whatever it takes to include information that is critical to the value of our newspaper to many readers. 

Sports reports and scores are typically not available until after our first deadline. So including this important coverage requires later deadlines, and subsequently later production and delivery to your door on those days, typically fall weekends.

Oh yeah. . .that printing in Cheyenne isn't going to make any difference.

It's been slower every day now in general.  Indeed, on early days, and my early days start really early, it isn't making it here before I go to work.  But then most days it does.  Still, it's now rare for it to be on my doorstep when I wake up and stumble to my coffee.

And it appears that it will be later still. . . and it was already late on the weekends.

Views from "Y" 82, Camp Sevier, South Carolina. September 13, 1918.

Today In Wyoming's History: The Neiber State Stop, Washakie County Wyoming

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

The Neiber State Stop, Washakie County Wyoming

Mid Week At Work: How to Retire in Your 30s With $1 Million in the Bank

How to Retire in Your 30s With $1 Million in the Bank

Which is exactly what the individuals who are the subject of this article did.

It's interesting how  this article reads. There's a subtle "what a bunch of slackers" tone to it. But there's a lot to consider here.

And it interestingly comes at the same time that there's been some press on how Baby Boomers of the Woodstock Generation were converted into the Reagan Republicans of the late 70s and the 1980s.  That same generation now routinely complains about Millenials who don't have the same fanatic level of devotion to work.

There may be some real changes going on.  This article is interesting, but they're basically spending down their principal by eating their interest, once the impact of inflation is considered.  That may very well not work out long term.

But I hope that it does.

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: The St. Mihiel Offensive Is Launched

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: The St. Mihiel Offensive Is Launche...: American Troops Advancing Into the St. Mihiel Salient —Montsec in Distance Where: Southeast of Verdun When :  12-16 September...

The 100 Days: The American Army offensive at Saint Mihiel. September 12, 1918.

On this day in 1918 the United States launched its first full scale offensive operation as an American Army.  The U.S. First Army launched the St. Mihiel Offensive.

We've read about this a little bit already, in that the operation was the subject of an argument between Foch and Pershing. As we've noted, in our view, Pershing was wrong and Foch was right. . . the offensive that Pershing was planning had become obsolete.

The offensive that was launched was a compromise plan that Foch could accept and which left the U.S. First Army intact.  It involved an offensive operation in the original direction planned by Pershing but which featured a hard right turn thereafter, incorporating somewhat of the plan envisioned by Foch.  In some ways, the most remarkable aspect of the plan was the commitment to a massive redirection of forces following the offensive to which the Americans committed before it was commenced. The details for that action were the product of of the remarkable mind of George C. Marshall, then a staff officer on Pershing's staff.

American engineers during the St. Mihiel offensive.

On this day the U.S. First Army launched a threefold assault on the remaining part of the St. Mihiel Salient, which the Germans had already begun to plan to withdraw from and which they had in fact commenced to do the day prior to the assault.  The Germans had occupied the area since 1914 and had densely prepared defensive positions.  Attached to the U.S. Army were four French divisions in addition to fourteen American divisions. The US alone committed 550,000 men to the assault with the French contributing another 110,000. The Germans, who had already committed to withdraw from the salient, numbered only about 50,000 men in ten divisions, about half of whom would become causalities in the attack.

Colonel George C. Marshall in 1919.

Air support for the assault was massive, with 1,481 aircraft committed to it, about 40% of which were piloted by American airmen.  The remainder were British, French and Italian.

The assault, in part because of the massive disproportionate nature of the contesting forces, and in part because it caught the German army in the midst of a withdrawal, was instantly successful and exceeded expectations.  Having said that, the operation was also a well planned combined arms attack and it featured the highly aggressive nature of American arms in the war which was shocking at the time.  Objectives were achieved within the first two days at which it was halted in anticipation of the planned offensive at the Meuse Argonne.

The battle was the first one in which American forces fought in an American Army, rather than associated with an army of the other allies.

The Germans commence to withdraw from the St. Mihiel Salient. September 11, 1918.

It made strategic sense. The salient was a projection into the Allied lines.  Occupying it would have made sense as a toehold for an advancing army, but for one that was retreating and simply trying to hold its place, and some order, holding it no longer did and in fact exposed the 50,000 German troops in ten divisions to being cutoff.

The decision had been made a few days prior, and the Germans put the withdrawal in action on this day, commencing their plan to withdraw from the salient and shorten their lines.

The American Serviceman During World War One: They were older than you think.

Or at least some of them were.

Dan Daly being awarded a French decoration during World War One.  Daly was born in 1873 and had entered the Marine Corps during the Spanish American War in 1899, at which time he was 26 years old.  He won his first Medal of Honor during the Boxer Rebellion.  He would have been 45 years old at the time he won his second Medal of Honor during World War One.  He'd serve on until age 56 and then retire, dying at age 63 in 1937.  In some ways, Daly is emblematic of the NCO core of the time.

It's really common to read the statement about all soldiers being "young" during World War One, and certainly there were a lot of young soldiers who fought in the Great War.  But they may not have been as uniformly young as a person might assume.

Let's start with a few facts about the armed forces of the United States during the second decade of the 20th Century.

To start with, the service was unusual in that it was one of the few American institutions which offered retirement at this point in history.  Other careers didn't.  It wasn't that a person was precluded from retirement, of course, but there was no Social Security or anything of the type, and the age of pensions for all workers was still in the future as well (and which has now become a thing of the past for many). So simply working until you died or became too infirm to work was common.

The service offered retirement, however, to an enlisted man at the time who had served for 30 years. The period and system was similar for officers.  Retirement after 30 years was at 75% of base pay, not a bad retirement for men, and they were all men, who were used to their existing level of pay.

To understand the impact of this, you next have to consider that the enlistment age for military service had been higher than it is today until just before World War One.  In 1875 Congress had acted to pass the following provisions regarding military enlistment in the Army:

Sec. 1116. Recruits enlisting in the Army must be effective and able-bodied men, and between the ages of sixteen and thirty-five years, at the time of their enlistment. This limitation as to age shall not apply to soldiers re-enlisting.
Sec. 1117. No person under the age of twenty-one years shall be enlisted or mustered into the military service of the United States without the written consent of his parents or guardians: Provided, That such minor has such parents or guardians entitled to his custody and control.
Sec. 1118. No minor under the age of sixteen years … shall be enlisted or mustered into the military service.

So enlistment was allowed down to age sixteen, but only with parents permission.  And enlistment was allowed up to age thirty five.

In 1899, in the wake of the Spanish American War, Congress changed Sec 1116 however to provide that you had to be eighteen years to enlist, and that still required parental approval.  It wasn't until 1916 that Congress changed the statutes so that parental approval was no longer required for those eighteen years of age.

If this seems odd, it frankly fit the concepts of adulthood at the time, and it oddly squares with the current psychological concepts of when somebody is fully adult.  At the time, and we've addressed this elsewhere, most men lived at home until married and even though many men left home for work prior to twenty years of age, many did not and lived at home. Barring enlistment under your own volition until age twenty-one made sense, just as originally allowing enlistment down to age sixteen under some circumstances did as well.

Put in context, therefore, most soldiers who had served long enough to retire were in their early 50s.  They had to retire at age 64, which was the maximum age a serving soldier could be at the time.

This was changed during World War Two to expressly try to weed out older men, particularly officers, who were regarded as no longer sufficiently mentally flexible for modern warfare. But that was to come later.  During World War One the 20 year retirement period for early retirement was in the future.  Barring injury, career soldiers had to serve 30 years in order to retire or make it to 40 years to retire on full pay.

That meant, therefore, that for soldiers who had enough time in to retire in the year we've been looking at, 1918, had entered the Army in 1888.

But another way, that means career soldiers who were eligible to retire had entered the Army prior to the Battle of Wounded Knee, which is generally regarded as the last significant battle of the Indian Wars (it's not the last battle).

Artillerymen of Wounded Knee, 1890.

By way of some examples, John Pershing, commander of the AEF, had entered the Army after attending West Point in 1886.  Douglas MacArthur, who was considerably younger, had entered the Army in 1903.

Captain John J. Pershing in 1902.  At this point he had already been in the Army for eighteen years.

Now, as we've already discussed, the size of the Army prior to World War One was tiny, so this only applies to a small number of the men who served in the service in the Great War (although we must also consider the Navy and the Marines in this as well.  But it is significant.

U.S. officers in Cuba during the Spanish American War, including Dr. Leonard Wood, in a combat command, second from right (Theodore Roosevelt far right).  Wood would later be the military governor of Cuba and was widely regarded as the logical commander for the AEF.  His association with Roosevelt certainly operated against that.  Wood had entered the Army as a contract surgeon in 1886, which was the norm for military surgeon's at the time, and had won the Medal of Honor for carrying dispatches 100 miles in the campaign against Geronimo.

If we look at the National Guard the situation gets much murkier.  There was no retirement for National Guardsmen at all until just prior to World War Two and, therefore, there was little reason to stay in the National Guard for thirty years, although many did.  And Guard units were much looser in adherence to age limits, so they not infrequently allowed enlistment of underage soldiers all the way up until just before World War Two. So that changes our consideration quite a bit, as the National Guard was a significant part of the Army during the war.

Hugh Scott, who was Army Chief of Staff at the start of World War One and who had to retire upon reaching age 64.  He was born in 1850 and had entered the Army in June 1876, meaning that he had actually entered the Army just before the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

So were draftees.  Conscription brought huge numbers of men into the service during the Great War, although only to the Army.  The other services did not draw conscripts.  The original conscription ages were from age 21 to 31. This was changed later to age 18 to 45.  Voluntary enlistment ages comported in expanding upwards.

Now, these points can be overdone.  Most men who joined the Army as enlisted men did not stay in it, serving a single enlistment.  They may have been older, on average, than men who enlisted after the enlistment age became 18, but just like those men now, they usually didn't make a career of it.  But at the same time, the Army was smaller then and the up or out system that exists now, did not exist then except, to a limited extent, for officers.

And most men who came into the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps during World War One did so solely for the duration of the war. They had no intent to remain in the service at all.  And those who came in via the draft, and that was the large majority, were scaled towards the lower age, intentionally, rather than the higher age.  So most U.S. servicemen during World War One were undoubtedly in their twenties.

Still, that's significant. . . and not only for WWI but for later U.S. wars as well.  Contrary to widely held belief, the U.S. military isn't usually made up of "kids".  Teenage combatants have certainly existed, but they are not and never have been the rule.

For what its worth, the Army has in recent years nearly returned to the WWI, and WWII, upper age limits for enlistment and in some ways we see the age story of a century ago repeating.  The upper age limit for the Army is now 42, two years younger than what the Army asked for, which was age 44.  That's fairly amazing, but it shows that the average condition of people in their 40s is often better than it was in prior decades when chronic injuries took their toll.  Indeed, while we have pointed out that people really aren't living longer than they used to, as is so often claimed, they are often quite a bit healthier than they used to be due to medical advances and other factors.

I'm sure that would have been an illegal order. . .

but at least one order quite similar to that was in fact issued by the American high command during the war, although it wasn't quite what this notes, but it was quite near it.

And trouble was breaking out in the German ranks. . . .

The English Clerical Speakers, September 11, 1918.

Anglican bishop Charles Gore (1853-1932) who came to the United States on September 11, 1918, for a speaking tour with Arthur Thomas Guttery (1862-1920, the Bishop of Oxford.

Arthur Thomas Guttery (1862-1920), President of the Primitive Methodist Conference who came to the United States on September 11, 1918, for a speaking tour with Charles Gore (1853-1932), the Bishop of Oxford. 

Two English clerics were in the US on a speaking tour and their photos probably says much about them in direct and subtle ways.

Scenes from the Stockade Tower at Camp Camp Sevier, S.C. September 11, 1918.

Blog Mirror: MILITARY WATCHES OF THE WORLD: A-11, THE WATCH THAT WON THE WAR

MILITARY WATCHES OF THE WORLD: A-11, THE WATCH THAT WON THE WAR

Blog Mirror: American Mil-Spec: A GG-W-113 Pilot Watch Buyers Guide

American Mil-Spec: A GG-W-113 Pilot Watch Buyers Guide

Blog Mirror: MILITARY WATCHES OF THE WORLD: GREAT BRITAIN PART 2—POST-WWII THROUGH THE VIETNAM WAR ERA

MILITARY WATCHES OF THE WORLD: GREAT BRITAIN PART 2—POST-WWII THROUGH THE VIETNAM WAR ERA

Anxiety is a temptation.

Anxiety is a temptation in itself and also the source from and by which other temptations come.  Therefore, above all else, calm and compose your mind.  Gently and quietly pursue your aim.

Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Monday, September 9, 1918. The news in Casper. Old Indian Fighter back in town. . . Debs goes on trial. . . French cavalry on the move. . . State Guard assembles in town. . .Corn crop low. . . and Ruth hits a triple to give the Sox the World Series

A lot was going on in this paper.  Battles new and old, and on the baseball diamond.

Issuing Red Cross sweaters at Fort Oglethrope, GA to men of the 6th U.S. Infantry. September 9, 1918.

This photo really says something about how short on resources the US really was. The Army had an official pattern sweater. . . but it was relying on charity here to equip the men for the oncoming cold months.

"The Boche spotted this truck A few minutes after this truck, which had ventured out for salvage, had appeared on the roads near Blanzy the Boche followed it with shells all the way back to Fismettes. The "funk-holes" are occupied by our soldiers, a few of whom have come out to ascertain the cause of this latest commotion. 77th Division, Blanzy, Sept. 9, 1918."

Note the legs of horses in the distance.

The old transportation and the new.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Churches of the West: Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

This is Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Salt Lake City. This Greek Orthodox Cathedral was built in 1923, and is located in downtown Salt Lake.

The Cathedral is one of two Greek Orthodox churches in Salt Lake, both of which are part of the Metropolis of Denver. Salt Lake has at least three other Orthodox churches, however, including a Russian Orthodox Church and a Antiochian Orthodox Church. The Greek Orthodox Church in Salt Lake City also has a school.

Of interest, two of the three Greek Orthodox Churches in nearby Wyoming, which are also part of the Metropolis of Denver, are named Holy Family,including the church in Casper.

The Best Post of the Week of September 2, 2018

The best post of the week of September 2, 2018.

Lex Anteinternet: Labor Day, 1918. The local news

Labor Day 2018. A Contemplation

Monday at the Bar on a Tuesday. Kavanaugh Hearings Commence. Let the bad analysis begin.

The Trappings of Office. Do you affect them?

And we end up winning the Vietnam War after all.

Labor and the conglomeration of everything.

Grocer, 1944. This guy wouldn't be working for himself, in this occupation, anymore.

The 2018 Wyoming Election Volume Five: On To The General Election.

Recalling Mac & Cheese.

Poster Saturday: Exhibition of the Work of German Prisoners of War held in Switzerland as Internees.

Poster Saturday: Exhibition of the Work of German Prisoners of War held in Switzerland as Internees.

This is a poster by the legendary, at least in Germany, German illustrator Ludwig Hohlwein.  This poster is translated a variety of ways on the net, which I think is likely due to the fact that its written in German script which is hard for even most English speakers of German to read and that people haven't made much of an effort to slog through it.  Indeed, I've found no complete translation of the poster and some that I have seen are flat out wrong.

I'm pretty sure that what the correct translation would be is as follows:

From 22 May to 19 June, 1918
Orchestra House
To go to the benefit of Bavarian Prisoners of War
Exhibition of the Work of German Prisoners of War held in Switzerland as Internees.

The poster of course shows a bored looking German soldier.

This is one of only a few Central Power posters I've put up to date, frankly for the reason that I don't want to to seem that I'm an Imperial German Wehraboo, even though my frequent criticism of German strategy in 1918 should make that pretty plain anyhow.  Of course, I'm not above criticizing the decisions of other strategist in the war from the other sides in my arm chair strategist role, but none the less.

It's temping to call the illustrator here, Ludwig Hohlwein, the German Norman Rockwell but that wouldn't be accurate except in the sense that he was a huge presence in German illustration for all of the first half of the 20th Century.  Unlike Rockwell, and perhaps  more like Leydecker, he did a massive amount of commercial illustration.  However, unlike Leydecker, it was commercial illustration and poster art that really defined Hohlwein.

Hohlwein was older than Rockwell or Leydecker, having been born in 1874, and his first commercial illustrations appeared in the 1890s.  He was bizarrely fully formed in his style from the very onset of his work.  He was self taught by had had an architecture background which showed in his work.  Prior to and during World War One he was in high demand for advertising art in Germany but he did cross over to work of the type above.

Following World War One he began to illustrate outside of Germany including works for advertisements in France and the United States, where he picked up a couple of cigarette companies as clients.  At the same time, however, he becomes problematic to a degree as he also did work on at least one occasion for the Stahlhelm, and following Hitler's rise to power he did works of Nazi propaganda.  He joined the Nazi Party very soon after Hitler's rise to power and achieved the height of his personal commercial success in that period.  He was briefly banned from doing works following World War Two due to his association with the Nazis but was released from that restriction and returned to commercial illustration, which he did until his death in 1949.

Hohlweiin was such a major force in illustration that people who are aware of him tend to either outright ignore his Nazi works or to apologize for him noting that none of them were anti semetic.  The apologies don't hit, however, in that he was an early Nazi and his style lended itself to the glorification of the Nazi ideal, which was itself anti semetic and evil in other ways. That association doesn't seem to have hindered his return to work after the ban on his art was lifted, but then all of German society was itself likewise tainted at the time.

Entrance to United States Government War Exhibition, September 8, 1918, one quarter of a million people in attendance

Blog Mirror: Worn and Wound: MILITARY WATCHES OF THE WORLD: GREAT BRITAIN PART 1—THE BOER WAR THROUGH THE SECOND WORLD WAR

MILITARY WATCHES OF THE WORLD: GREAT BRITAIN PART 1—THE BOER WAR THROUGH THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Because you still need to know.

Lex Anteinternet: Monday at the Bar on a Tuesday. Kavanaugh Hearing; STATEMENT of PAUL T. MOXLEY, CHAIR STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION Concerning the NOMINATION of THE HONORABLE BRETT M. KAVANAUGH to be ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES before the COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

A few days ago I posted this:

Lex Anteinternet: Monday at the Bar on a Tuesday. Kavanaugh Hearing...: Hearing on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh commence today. . . which means, in all likelihood, a week of Democratic grandstanding, ...

So far this has been every bit the circus I thought it would be, with the starring role of Corey Booker as clown being particularly notable.  Indeed, the voice of Democratic reason turned out to be Diane Feinstein, who apologized to nominee Kavanaugh for the circus, for which she was booed during the hearing.

Well, here's something for today from the ABA, not exactly a right wing organiztion:

In conclusion, Judge Kavanaugh meets the highest standards of integrity, professional competence, and judicial temperament.  It is the unanimous opinion of the Standing Committee that Judge Kavanaugh is “Well Qualified” to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.    Mr. Chairman, I note the ABA Standing Committee shares the goal of your Committee – to assure a qualified and independent judiciary for the American people. Thank you for the opportunity to present this statement.  

More here:

STATEMENT
of
PAUL T. MOXLEY, CHAIR
STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION
Concerning the
NOMINATION
of
THE HONORABLE BRETT M. KAVANAUGH
to be
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
before the
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE
SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

Not that it matters. The circus will continue.

Friday Farming: Electric lights and self starter. The 1918 Moline Model D Tractor

Starting engines is dangerous without an electric starter.

And lights let you work at night.

Both a couple of useful features.

A little historical prospective, fwiw. At this point in his presidency Donal Trump is no longer the "most unpopular".

I'm not saying that should mean anything.  I think he's in really serious trouble.  But here are the details:

How unpopular is Donald Trump?

He has, on this chart, a 53.6% disapproval rating.  That's actually not that abnormal. By this time in their presidency's, most Presidents have more people disapproving of their performance than approving (which probably says something about as a people).

Compared to past Presidents, Trump isn't doing as horrible as some at this point in his presidency.  Consider:

George W. Bush:  60.9% disapproval

George H. W. Bush, 74.1% disapproval.

Richard Nixon:  54.8% disapproval.

Lyndon B. Johnson:  66% disapproval.

John F. Kennedy:  67.8% disapproval.

Dwight Eisenhower:  62.7% disapproval.

That would suggest that Trump is doing better in public opinion that the news might suggest, in spite of everything going on.  These are all figures from mid point in Presidential terms, except in the case of LBJ's for obvious reasons.  Consider that this didn't hinder the ultimate reelection of some of the names mentioned above.

So who was doing really well in these figures at the same point? Well, Obama, Truman, Clinton, Ford and Carter, all of whom were pulling about even in likes and dislikes.

Of interest to me, some of the Presidents I'd regard as quite successful, such as at least Eisenhower, were pulling down poor figures at this point.  I'd regard Truman as a successful President as well, and he was actually doing better than any of the other figures considered.  Ford wasn't a good President in my view nor was Carter, but in terms of public opinion,. they were doing okay.

Nixon, whose final troubles are now becoming frighteningly reminiscent of current times, is always tainted by those final troubles, but he did secure reelection to a second term.  The figures here would have been from 1970 at which time he was half way through his first term and Democrats who had gotten us into Vietnam were raging against the war and the American public was discontent with it.  We woudln't get out until 73, but that was in fact in Nixon's second term.  Probably dissatisfaction was due to his handling of the war which was problematic.