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A photo postcard of a German trench view of barbed wire and a dead patrol. Dated February 22, 1916, and field postmarked the next day, the message is from a soldier to his uncle, and reads in part, 'yesterday we heard that 4 fortresses of Verdun were taken. This have been a lot of shooting . . . Maybe this is the end of Verdun and peace will come soon . . . the barbed wire on the other side of the card is French. You can see dead patrols . . .' (Translation from the German courtesy Thomas Faust.) Evidently the author safely reached the French trench line. |
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France Feb 22 1916 - Dear Uncle, yesterday we have heard that 4 fortresses of Verdun were taken. This have been a lot of shooting ... Maybe this is the end of Verdun and peace will come soon ... the barbed wire on the other side of the card is French. You can see dead patrols ... (Translation from the German courtesy Thomas Faust (Ebay's Urfaust).) |
trench view, dead, bodies, February, 1916, 1916-02-22, 1916-02-23, Ersatz, Verdun, Battle of Verdun, barbed wire dead, Verdun barbed wire |
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Map of the battlefield of Verdun, showing the line on February 21, 1916, when the initial bombardment began, the line reached in the first days of the offensive, and the line reached by June. From 'The German General Staff and its Decisions, 1914-1916' by General Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff, who staked his position on the Battle for Verdun. He was replaced in August, 1916. |
Battles on the Meuse, 1916
a—German line before attack
b—line reached by attack
c—line reached in June |
General Headquarters and its Critical Decisions, 1916, 1916-02-23, General Headquarters, Critical Decisions, Erich von Falkenhayn, von Falkenhayn, Falkenhayn, Battle of Verdun, Herbebois |
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Illuminating grenades — searchlights suspended by a parachute — for night warfare. From the Scientific American War Book: The Mechanism and Technique of Warfare Compiled and Edited by Albert A. Hopkins. |
By courtesy of the Illustrated London News.
Searchlights fired by infantrymen. Illuminating grenades disclosing a charge. An illuminating grenade (Hale's patent) is fired from a rifle. Four of the grenades have just burst in the air and their lights, 'held' by parachutes, are falling. The three men in the right foreground have illuminating grenades on their rifles, ready for firing. The rifle is not held at the shoulder, but its butt is rested against the ground; this because the recoil would be rather too much for the man's shoulder. |
Scientific American, technology, Scientific American War Book, illuminating grenade, grenade, searchlight, Veery light |
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Serbian women burying their dead, from 'The Nations at War, a Current History' by Willis John Abbot, 1917 edition. |
Serbian women burying their dead. Every man, woman, and child in Serbia took some part in the heroic national resistance |
The Nations at War, Nations at War, Willis John Abbot, Abbot, 1917, Serbia, Serbian women, bury the dead, burying the dead |
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French chasseurs à pied (light infantry) in the Bois des Caures, in the northeastern front on the first days of the Battle of Verdun. The chasseurs, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Émile Driant, were subjected to the devastating bombardment of February 21 and 22, 1916, and the assault of the 22nd and 23rd. Driant, a professional soldier and writer who had also represented the city of Nancy, was killed by a machine gun bullet through his forehead. After the two days in the trenches, only 118 of the original 1,200 infantrymen remained. |
53. - Les Combats du Bois des Caures (Février 1916)
Dans les tranchées bouleversées, les chasseurs de Driant résistent deux jours
The Battle of Caures Wood (February, 1916)
In the shattered trenches, Driant's chasseurs resisted for two days.
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Editions Visions de Guerre |
1916, February, 1916-02-21, 1916-02-22, chasseur à pied, Driant, Verdun, Battle of Verdun, Bois des Caures, Caures |
