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A mass of German troops bear an enormous egg striped in the black, white, and red of the german flag. Atop the egg, a cannon is fired by troops with a Hungarian flag. The target, diminutive in the distance, is Paris, Eiffel Tower gray against the brown city. The watercolor is labeled, Husvét . Páris piros tojása . 1918 Easter . Red eggs for Paris . 1918 The front of the card is postmarked 1918-04-05 from Melököveso. The card is a Feldpostkarte, a field postcard, from Asbach Uralt, old German cognac. Above the brand name, two German soldiers wheel a field stove past a crate containing a bottle of the brandy under the title Gute Verpflegung, Good Food. Above the addressee is written Einschreiben, enroll, and Nach Ungarn, to Hungary. The card is addressed to Franz Moritos, and is postmarked Hamburg, 1918-03-30. A Hamburg stamp also decorates the card. A hand-painted postcard by Schima Martos. , Germany on registered fieldpost card, 1918, message: Red Egg for Paris, Easter, 1918. The German advance in Operation Michael in the March, 1918 nearly broke the Allied line, and threatened Paris, putting it once again in range of a new German supergun capable of hitting the city from 70 miles away.

A mass of German troops bear an enormous egg striped in the black, white, and red of the german flag. Atop the egg, a cannon is fired by troops with a Hungarian flag. The target, diminutive in the distance, is Paris, Eiffel Tower gray against the brown city.
The watercolor is labeled,
Husvét . Páris piros tojása . 1918
Easter . Red eggs for Paris . 1918
The front of the card is postmarked 1918-04-05 from Melököveso.
The card is a Feldpostkarte, a field postcard, from Asbach Uralt, old German cognac. Above the brand name, two German soldiers wheel a field stove past a crate containing a bottle of the brandy under the title Gute Verpflegung, Good Food. Above the addressee is written Einschreiben, enroll, and Nach Ungarn, to Hungary. The card is addressed to Franz Moritos, and is postmarked Hamburg, 1918-03-30. A Hamburg stamp also decorates the card.
A hand-painted postcard by Schima Martos. , Germany on registered fieldpost card, 1918, message: Red Egg for Paris, Easter, 1918.
The German advance in Operation Michael in the March, 1918 nearly broke the Allied line, and threatened Paris, putting it once again in range of a new German supergun capable of hitting the city from 70 miles away.

Image text

Husvét . Páris piros tojása . 1918



Easter . Red eggs for Paris . 1918



The front of the card is postmarked 1918-04-05 from Melököveso

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Monday, March 11, 1918

"On March 11 [1918] French intelligence reported that the Germans had changed their codes for encrypting wireless transmissions. In the past the Germans had changed their codes about a dozen days before an offensive."

Quotation Context

Since the Bolshevik Revolution in November, 1917, and the armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, an armistice that ultimately resulted in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the Entente Allies had been anticipating a great German offensive bolstered by troops recently redeployed from the Eastern Front. The order for the offensive, Operation Michael, was drawn up on March 10, and issued on the 12th.

Source

Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, page 429, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005

Tags

1918-03-11, 1918, March, Michael, Operation Michael, Kaiserschlacht, code