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.

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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Friday, May 31, 1918

"On May 31st [1918], when the Germans were already in the outskirts of Château-Thierry, an American machine-gun unit was hurried thither in motor lorries. Château-Thierry lies on both banks of the Marne, which is spanned by a big bridge. A little to the northward a canal runs parallel to the river and is crossed by a smaller bridge.

The Americans had scarcely reached their quarters when news was received that the Germans had broken into the northern part of Château-Thierry, having made their way through the gap they had driven in our lines to the left of the town and then pouring along the streets to the bridge, intending to establish themselves firmly on the south bank and capture the town.

The American machine gunners and French colonials were thrown into Château-Thierry together."

Quotation Context

Beginning of a British press dispatch of June 5, 1918 on the fighting at Château-Thierry during the German Aisne Offensive. The defenders prevented German forces from crossing the Marne River, blowing the big bridge referred to. Three days earlier American troops working in unison with a French tank brigade and a platoon of French flame throwers had captured the village of Cantigny, and held it against repeated German counter-attacks. The action at Château-Thierry was critical in holding the line of the Marne.

Source

The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, p. 196, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920

Tags

1918-05-31, 1918, May, Château-Thierry, Château Thierry, Chateau-Thierry, Chateau Thierry