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!
"December 24th.—A most untimely draft has arrived; it unbalances our numbers and our provision for the men's Christmas dinner. The new men are dismounted Yeomanry, the best physically we have had since Spring. The evidence that they had had a year's training was far to seek."
The entry for December 24, 1916 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, and fellow soldiers who served with him. The Battalion was near Bray, in the Somme sector. The Yeomanry were light cavalry, historically a volunteer force.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, pp. 286–287, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
1916-12-24, 1916, December, Christmas Eve, Yeomanry, Otto Christmas Eve
