Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"August 24th.—The Battalion went into the line at Cuinchy at 3 p.m. in relief of the 1st Berks. Life in the trenches on the La Bassée front was quite different from what it had been at Bois Grenier and Laventie. The sense of war was always present. The visible difference was the slightly elevated site on a ridge. Deep trenches could be dug because there was natural drainage in its medium loam or clay, sand, and chalk. In the absence of rock it was easy to mine and counter-mine. Mining was the primary activity, and the only novelty in trench warfare the Battalion found in its new area."
Entry for August 24, 1915 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, The Royal Welch Fusiliers. Cuinchy, France, was in mining country, near towns such as Auchy-les-Mines and Noeux-les-Mines. Dunn writes further of the 'tactical advantages of a mine successfully blown', which could deal a staggering blow to even a well-entrenched enemy, leaving many dead, and survivors stunned.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 145, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
1915-08-24, 1915, August, Cuinchy, La Bassée, mining, mine, Connolly, Gordon
