An illustration of the French 75 mm. field artillery cannon in action with portraits of its developers, Deport and Sainte Claire Deville. The sender of the card credits it with the victory of the Marne. Illustration by A. Chrimona [?] Ehrmann [?]. Thanks to kgwbreadcrumbs.blogspot.com/2015/07/briefly-along-western-front.html for clarifying some of the text.
Le 75. La merveille de la guerre européenne, due au génie inventif de deux officiers français, fait, par la rapidité de son pointage, de son tir (21 coups à la minute) et par sa précision, la supériorité de l'artillerie française.The 75. The marvel of the European war, due to the inventive genius of two French officers, has proven, by the rapidity of its aiming, of its firing (21 shots per minute) and its accuracy, the superiority of the French artillery .Reverse:[Handwritten] 75 [mm] Cannonla terreur des Bochesla gloire de l'armée françaisele vainqueur de la Marne.Je vais bienJe t'embrasseÉdition Pro Patria.[Handwritten]? 75the terror of the Bochesthe glory of the French armythe conqueror of Marne.I'm fineI embrace youPro Patria edition.Thanks to kgwbreadcrumbs.blogspot.com/2015/07/briefly-along-western-front.html for clarifying some of the text.
"After we had left Sainte Menehould the sense of the nearness and all-pervadingness of the war became even more vivid. Every road branching away to our left was a finger touching a red wound: Varennes, le Four de Paris, le Bois de la Grurie, were not more than eight or ten miles to the north. Along our own road the stream of motor-vans and the trains of ammunition grew longer and more frequent. Once we passed a long line of 'Seventy-fives' going single file up a hillside, farther on we watched a big detachment of artillery galloping across a stretch of open country. The movement of supplies was continuous, and every village through which we passed swarmed with soldiers busy loading or unloading the big vans, or clustered about the commissariat motors while hams and quarters of beef were handed out. As we approached Verdun the cannonade had grown louder again; and when we reached the walls of the town and passed under the iron teeth of the portcullis we felt ourselves in one of the last outposts of a mighty line of defense."
Excerpt from the chapter 'In Argonne' in Edith Wharton's Fighting France, her 1915 chronicle of travels behind the French lines.
Fighting France by Edith Wharton, pp. 70, 71, copyright © 1915, by Charles Scribner's Sons, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1915
French 75 mm field gun, 1915-03-27, 1915, March, Wharton
