German soldiers in winter overcoats. The message on the reverse is dated December 11, 1917.
The message on the reverse is dated December 11, 1917.
"On 6 February [1918], we returned to Lécluse, and on the 22nd, we were accommodated for four days in the cratered field left of the Dury-Hendecourt road, to do digging work in the front line. Viewing the position, which faced the ruined village of Bullecourt, I realized that part of the huge push which was expected up and down the whole Western Front would take place here.Everywhere there was feverish building, dugouts were constructed, and new roads laid. The cratered field was plastered with little signs stuck in the middle of nowhere, with ciphered letters and numbers, presumably for the disposition of artillery and command posts. Our aeroplanes were up all the time, to keep the enemy from getting a look. To keep everyone synchronized, on the dot of noon every day a black ball was lowered from the observation balloons, which disappeared at ten past twelve."
German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger on some of the preparations for what he referred to as German commander Erich Ludendorff's, and Germany's, 'mighty do-or-die offensive'. It would be Operation Michael, launched on March 21. Bullecourt, France, had been the site of battles on April 11 and from May 3 to 16, 1917 between the Germans and Australians.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 221–222, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
1918-02-22, 1918, February, observation balloon, Bullecourt, German soldiers 1917-12-11
