Stephen J. Thorne

The Langemarck Myth: How WW I Germany turned loss into propaganda victory

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Eleven kilometres north of the First World War icon of Ypres in Flanders, Belgium, more than 44,000 Germans lie buried in a sprawling walled cemetery at the site from which the Kaiser’s army launched the first gas attack in modern warfare.

The remains of 24,917 German war dead rest in a mass grave alongside the entrance to Langemarck German war cemetery, including flying ace Werner Voss, a squadron mate and close friend of Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron).

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Wikimedia

The Second World War’s strangest weapon

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

At the end of the Second World War, Japan dreamt up one of the most bizarre weapons of early 20th-century warfare. It launched 9,000 of them across the Pacific Ocean from November 1944 to April 1945 and the idea was as unexpected as it was inefficient; it had created the balloon bomb.

They aren’t often seen as dangerous weapons, but Japanese balloon bombs, called Fu-Go, were diabolical—at least in theory. Carrying a 33-pound fragmentation shell, the device was meant to cause widespread fire, essentially aiming to wreak havoc on American morale and the North American war effort when delivered in great numbers. Only 10 per cent of them reached the continent, however. And on Jan. 12, 1945, a teenager spotted one of the floating bombs near Regina, the first of eight to land in Saskatchewan.

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• Painting the Battle of Ortona
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