The Impact of the Spanish Flu on Military Operations during World

War One

Tom EwingMCPS Workshop, November 2014

Outline• Disease and Death on the Front Lines, Summer Fall 1918

• Measuring the Spanish Flu’s impact on the War

• Telling the Stories of Influenza Victims in the US Military

Influenza Pandemic in 1918Timeline

• First Waves: Spring / Summer 1918

• Peak of epidemic: mid September to early November 1918

• Later Waves: Winter-Spring 1919, Fall-Winter 1920

“Spanish” Influenza

Victims

• 675,000 estimated deaths in the US due to influenza

• 25% of population infected

• 50 million to 100 million dead in the world

• Highest mortality among 20-40 age group

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World War One, March to November 1918

• German forces shifted from eastern front after Russian treat

• German offensive, spring 1918, nearly reaches Paris

• Shortages of troops, low morale, illness among French / British

• US troops arriving in large numbers, but not ready for offensive

• German offensive stalls, due in part to troop shortages

• September: US launches first offensives

• October: peak of US casualties on front lines

• November: revolution, mutiny, abdication in Germany

Spanish Flu on the frontlines:

Marshall Ludendorff describing the German front line troops in early summer 1918: “Our army had suffered. Influenza was rampant, and the army group of Crown Prince Rupprecht was particularly afflicted. It was a grievous business having to listen every morning to the chiefs of staffs' recital of the number of influenza cases, and their complaints about the weakness of their troops if the English attacked again. However, the English were not ready yet. The number of influenza cases diminished, although it often left a greater weakness in its wake than the doctors realized.”

USS Leviathan: Departed New York City September 29: 11,000 troopsFirst day: 700 men reported sickArrived in Brest on October 8: 2000 sick, 70 deadSeveral hundred more died in AEF hospitals

USS Siboney: October 191838 died during one trip to France

Influenza on US troop transports

8% fell ill with influenza

5% of those who fell ill died

4,000 troops died on ship or in hospitals in France

4% of all US military deaths occurred on troop transports due to influenza

Measuring the Spanish Flu’s impact on the War

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Telling the stories of American soldiers in WWI

• Library of Virginia: Database of Virginia Military Dead

• Soldiers of the Great War (3 volumes, arranged by state)

• Digital newspaper collections

• Monuments to the First World War

Military history + genealogy + museums: excellent resources for teachers

Montgomery County Soldiers in WWI

23 died in service

Killed in Action: Steve Bishop, Charles Carroll, John Gardner, John Shumate, Earnest Wollwine, Walker Woolwine

Died of Wounds: William Howard, Arthur Moore

Died of Disease: Rufus Charleton, B. N. Charlton, Alfred Elliott, Mason Keister, Eugene Lane, Harvey Price, Willie Ratliff, Luther Lee Smith, Edward Walker, Charles Weddle, James Wimberley

Died of Accident / Other: Thomas Nowlin, J. K. Smith

No cause listed: George L. Stewart, awarded Distinguished Service Cross, buried in Alsne-Marne Cemetery, France

6 Killed in Action: Steve Bishop, Charles Carroll, John Gardner, John Shumate, Earnest Wollwine, Walker Woolwine

2 Died of Wounds: William Howard, Arthur Moore

12 Died of Disease: Rufus Charleton, B. N. Charlton, Alfred Elliott, Robert Grubb, Mason Keister, Eugene Lane, Harvey Price, Willie Ratliff, Luther Lee Smith, Edward Walker, Charles Weddle, James Wimberley

2 Died of Accident / Other: Thomas Nowlin, J. K. Smith

No cause listed: George L. Stewart, awarded Distinguished Service Cross, buried in Alsne-Marne Cemetery, France

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212

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Montgomery County Soldiers in World War I

KIA DOW DOD DOA

Washington HeraldFebruary 27, 1919

Washington HeraldNovember 5, 1918, p. 2

Washington TimesNovember 4, 1918, p. 4

DOD: Died of Disease

www.history.vt.edu/influenza_seminarTom Ewing (etewing@vt.edu)

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The Health Bulletin (North Carolina)

October 1919

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During the recent war

approximately 1000

men from North

Carolina were killed in

battle.

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During the epidemic

last fall and winter

13,644 North

Carolinians laid

down their lives to a

“spit- borne”

disease—influenza!