The battlefield near Verdun, the Meuse River (Maas), and the Argonne Forest, viewed from the German line looking southwest. During the 1916 Seige of Verdun, the road and a light rail line from Bar-le-Duc were the sole source of supply for the besieged city.
Labels: Argonnen (Argonne Forest), Verdun, Maas (Meuse River), Bar-le-Duc.Reverse:Panorama des westlichen Kreigschauplatzes 1914/15Die Argonnen. Von Verdun bis Reims.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the Western theater of war 1914/15 from Compiègne to Arras.The panoramic postcard series includes with their 9 sections No. 400 to 408 the entire western front from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 407Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.Logo: W&N AGL
"Cursed be those whose pride, ambition or squalid self-interest have unleashed such a plague upon Europe, plunging us into such terrible suffering, and ruining so many of the towns and villages of our beautiful country, perhaps forever! . . . But today you too, my dear friends, have your duty laid out before you. Consider this — you are the hope of tomorrow. Yours is the young generation which will have to replace those killed on the field of honour . . . Whatever the outcome of the terrible conflict, the genius of the French people must live on. Those of us who have willingly sacrificed our lives and who tomorrow will perhaps be dead . . . confidently leave this task to you."
Excerpt from a letter from Adjutant Henri Boulle of the French 76th Infantry who was killed in the Argonne on January 1, 1915. A teacher before the war, he wrote the letter to his students the prior day, December 31, 1914.
They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918 by Ian Sumner, pp. 44, 45, copyright © Ian Sumner 2012, publisher: Pen and Sword, publication date: 2012
Argonne Forest, 1914-12-31, 1915-01-01, 1915, 1914, January, December, Boulle
