Postcard from a painting by W. Partke of a village in the Pripet Marshes in Russia dated February 14, 1916. An Hungarian officer wrote of the Marshes, 'almost half of the territory is covered by wet, impassable, and uncultivated forest, wooded territory, most of it useless, bushy, and impenetrable. The ground itself is divided into different kinds of marshy lands, impassable muddy districts, immense weedy and grassy territories, also regions covered by some kind of more solid grassy substance, and other thousands and thousands of acres of land perpetually under water.' The card is field postmarked on April 9, 1917 by Minenwerfer (trench mortar) Company 282.
Dorf in den PripetsümpfenW. Partke14.II.1916.Village in the Pripet MarshesW. PartkeFebruary 14, 1916
"Every tree is a little islet standing out of the gloomy marshland, and shallow lakes which extend for mile after mile. The roads are inundated by the water, which has risen high owing to the floods of rain, and from the miserable cottages, which at intervals are to be seen partly submerged along the highways, strange looking men with long beards and thick, matted hair, mostly woodcutters and others earning a precarious living from the products of the surrounding wilderness, creep out and stare with amazement at the Austrian and German cavalrymen.According to the figures almost half of the territory is covered by wet, impassable, and uncultivated forest, wooded territory, most of it useless, bushy, and impenetrable. The ground itself is divided into different kinds of marshy lands, impassable muddy districts, immense weedy and grassy territories, also regions covered by some kind of more solid grassy substance, and other thousands and thousands of acres of land perpetually under water.. . . How an army of many hundred thousands of men could undertake an advance movement on this marshy ground covered with thick forest, mud, and water is almost unimaginable . . ."
Excerpt from a 1915 letter by an Hungarian officer on the Russian Front. The great German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive had achieved the aims of German Commander-in-Chief Erich von Falkenhayn who had called for a halt in early August. On the northern end of the front, German commanders Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff pushed on, claiming to misunderstand Falkenhayn. To the south, Austro-Hungarian Commander-in-Chief Conrad von Hötzendorf, chaffing under German command, but helpless without German aid, carried on his own 'Black and Gold' (the colors of the Hapsburg flag) offensive. The September advances into Russia brought the invaders well into the Pripet Marshes our Hungarian officer describes.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, pp. 318, 319, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
1915-09-13, 1915, September, Pripet Marshes
