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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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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RICHARD JACK/CWM/19710261-0161

Passchendaele Museum locates sites where unknown WW I soldiers died

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Edwin John Davis, 37, left his job as a glass worker to sign up with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Valcartier, Que, on Sept. 22, 1914.

He was among the 70 per cent British-born war volunteers in the first contingent of Canadians—from Wales, to be exact. He had served six years in the 41st Infantry Regiment, based in Cardiff, Wales, before emigrating to Canada, though it appears he may have been living south of the border in Virginia and came north when the First World War broke out.

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DND PHOTO PL 41719, STEVE SAUVE.

The five-minute flying ace

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

Becoming an ace was a feat many Royal Canadian Air Force pilots strived for during the Second World War. Some attained the minimum five enemy aircraft shot down to became an ace in a week, while it took others only a day. But an ace in just minutes?

Flight Lieutenant Richard (Dick) Joseph Audet did just that on Dec. 29, 1944, while flying over Osnabrück, Germany—he took down three Fw 190s and two Me 109s.

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