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AssetID: 33990696

Headline: Fascinating Historical Panoramas Document America's WWI

Caption: PICTURE SHOWS: Arriving in Boston, United States, Thu., April 10th, 1919, Troopship "Mongolia" with boys of the 26th ("Yankee") Division, the first ship to sink a German submarine ....... STORY COPY: As we near the centenary of the end of World War One, these fascinating panoramic photographs show U. S. military personnel and camps, patriotic parades, and European battlefields and cemeteries from that dark period. Held by America's Library of Congress, they offer a glimpse of the U.S. war machine after the country finally entered the war having remained neutral since the conflict started on 28 July 1914. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. Armed Forces. After a relatively slow start in mobilising the economy and labour force, by spring 1918, the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Interestingly, many of the panoramas were taken on American soil, and show the industry and amount of U.S. citizens involved in the war effort. Immaculately uniformed officers, nurses, and hospital corps can be seen in June 1918 at the Base Hospital, Camp MacArthur, in Waco, Texas, while huge crowds turn out for a soldiers farewell parade in Indiana. Other photographs include the hundreds of crew and officers of the U.S.S. Mount Vernon, taken 30 October, 1918. Formerly the German ocean liner SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie, the vessel was interned by the neutral United States after returning to port after setting off from New York on August 1914. A panorama entitled "4th Liberty Loan parade", taken at St. Helena Training Station, Norfolk, Virginia, is so large it appears to have been taken in three separate sections. A Liberty bond (or liberty loan) was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the allied cause in World War I. Interestingly, the picture was taken a month before the end of the war, which finished 11 November 1918. Perhaps most poignantly is the broken and barren landscape of the panorama captioned "No Mans Land, Flanders Field, France, 1919".

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