German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Image text: Der KanalStraße von CalaisThe English Channel and the Strait of CalaisReverse:Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 408Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.
French folding postcard map of Verdun and the Meuse River, number 9 from the series Les Cartes du Front. Montfaucon is in the upper left and St. Mihiel at the bottom.
Image text: Les Cartes du FrontVerdun et Côtes de MeuseEchelle 1:32,000RoutesChemin de ferCanauxMaps of the FrontVerdun and the Hills of the MeuseScale: 1:32,000RoadsRailwaysCanals1. - Les Flandres2. - Artois, Picardie3. - Aisne, Champagne4. - Argonne et Meuse5. - Lorraine6. - Vosges et Alsace7. - Route des Dame et Plateau de Craonne8. - Région de Perthes9. - Verdun10. - Somme et Santerre11. - Plateau d'Artois12. - Belgique - FlandresA. Hatier. Editeur.8.Rue d'Assas, Paris.Outer front:Correspondence of the ArmiesMilitary Franchise
The rulers of the Central Powers stumped by Verdun. Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Mohammed V of Turkey, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, and Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria puzzle over a map labeled "Verdun." The ink and watercolor drawing is dated March 4, 1916. By R. DLC?The German assault on Verdun began on February 21, 1916 and continued through August.
Image text: Illustrated map labeled "Verdun." Drawing dated March 4, 1916. By R. DLC?
German soldiers in a snow-covered trench, five of them in steel helmets. The men in the foreground may have just come out of a dugout. Those in the back wear heavy coats, look frozen, and may have been on guard duty. The photo postcard was sent from a soldier named Hermann Herold of the 16th reserve Jäger (mounted rifles) battalion, February 19, 1917.
Image text:
German soldiers in winter overcoats. The message on the reverse is dated December 11, 1917.
Image text: The message on the reverse is dated December 11, 1917.
"Calais, a town with 66,627 inhab., including St. Pierre-lès-Calais (p. 5), and a fortress of the first class, derives its chief importance from its harbour and its traffic with England, to which it is the nearest port on the French coast. The chalk cliffs and castle of Dover, 21 M. distant, are visible in clear weather. About 300,000 travellers pass through the town annually; and in addition there is a brisk trade in timber, coal, etc. Calais contains 1500 English residents, chiefly engaged in its tuile-manufactories (p. 5).Calais played a prominent part in the early wars between France and England. Its harbour was the rendezvous for the fleet of the Dauphin Louis, who aid had been invited by the discontented English barons against King John. In 1346-47, after the battle of Crécy, Edward III starved it into surrender after a desperate resistance of eleven months. He consented to spare the town on condition that six noble citizens should place themselves, clad in their shirts and with halters around their necks, at his absolute disposal; and it was only by the urgent intercession of his queen, Philippa of Hainault, that he was induced to spare the lives of the unfortunate men, at whose head was the patriotic Eustache de St. Pierre. Calais remained in the hands of the English until 1558, when the Duke of Guise with 30,000 men succeeded in expelling the small English garrison (500 men) after a siege of seven days. In 1560 Mary Stuart set sail from Calais to assume the Scottish crown; and in 1814 Louis XVIII landed here on his return to his kingdom. The Spaniards made themselves masters of Calais in 1596, but the treaty of Vervins in 1598 restored it permanently to France." ((1), more)
"Bombardments by the German heavy artillery, during February 21st and the night of the 21st-22nd, preceded the charge of the shock divisions. Nowhere before, on any front, in any battle, had anything like it been seen. The Germans aimed to create a 'zone of death,' within which no troops could survive. An avalanche of steel and iron, of shrapnel and poisonous gas shells, fell on our woods, ravines, trenches, and shelters, destroying everything, transforming the sector into a charnel field, defiling the air, spreading flames into the heart of the town, damaging even the bridges and Meuse villages as far as Genicourt and Troyon. Heavy explosions shook our forts and wreathed them in smoke. It would be impossible to describe an action of the kind. I believe it has never been equalled in violence, and it concentrated the devastating fire of more than two million shells in the narrow triangle of land between Brabant-on-Meuse, Ornes, and Verdun." ((2), more)
"yesterday we heard that 4 fortresses of Verdun were taken. There has been a lot of shooting . . . Maybe this is the end of Verdun and peace will come soon . . . the barbed wire on the other side of the card is French. You can see dead patrols" ((3), more)
"My brain is so pitifully confused by the war and my own single part in it. All those people I have left in England have talked me nearly to death. The people I have seen out here so far have made me feel that there is no hope for the race of men. All that is wise and tender in them is hidden by the obsession of war. They strut and shout and guzzle and try to forget their distress in dreary gabble about England (and the War!). It is all dull and hopeless and ugly and small.. . . But spring in this cursed year of victory will be but a green flag waving a signal for devilish slaughter to begin. The agony of armies will be on every breeze; their blood will stain the flowers. The foulness of battle will cut off all kindliness from the hearts of men." ((4), more)
"On 6 February [1918], we returned to Lécluse, and on the 22nd, we were accommodated for four days in the cratered field left of the Dury-Hendecourt road, to do digging work in the front line. Viewing the position, which faced the ruined village of Bullecourt, I realized that part of the huge push which was expected up and down the whole Western Front would take place here.Everywhere there was feverish building, dugouts were constructed, and new roads laid. The cratered field was plastered with little signs stuck in the middle of nowhere, with ciphered letters and numbers, presumably for the disposition of artillery and command posts. Our aeroplanes were up all the time, to keep the enemy from getting a look. To keep everyone synchronized, on the dot of noon every day a black ball was lowered from the observation balloons, which disappeared at ten past twelve." ((5), more)
(1) A Zeppelin bombed Calais, the Channel port closest to England, through which much of the traffic between England and France flowed, at about 5:00 AM the morning of February 2, 1915. Reports differ on the number of bombs, five or ten, but agree they killed five civilians: an octogenarian, a young girl, and a mother, father, and one of their two children, leaving a baby unharmed. (See paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.)
Northern France from Belgium and the English Channel to the Loire Excluding Paris and its Environs; Handbook for Travellers by Karl Baedeker, Fifth Edition with 16 Maps and 55 Plans by Karl Baedeker, pp. 3, 4, copyright © 1909, publisher: Karl Baedeker, Publisher, publication date: 1909
(2) Description of the beginning of the Battle of Verdun by Henri Philippe Pétain, the extraordinary bombardment of February 21 and 22, 1916, and the infantry assaults of the 22nd. French commander-in-chief Joffre charged Pétain with the defense of Verdun on February 26.
Verdun by Henri Philippe Pétain, pp. 58, 59, copyright © 1930, publisher: The Dial Press, publication date: 1930
(3) Part of the message from a photo postcard of a German trench view of barbed wire and a dead patrol. Dated February 22, 1916, and field postmarked the next day, the message is from a soldier of the 10th Ersatz Division to his uncle, and reads in part, 'yesterday we heard that 4 fortresses of Verdun were taken. This have been a lot of shooting . . . Maybe this is the end of Verdun and peace will come soon . . . the barbed wire on the other side of the card is French. You can see dead patrols . . .' (Translation from the German courtesy Thomas Faust, Ebay's seller Urfaust.) Evidently the author safely reached the French trench line.
Verdun February 22, 2916 German trench view of barbed wire and dead by Soldier 10th Ersatz Division, postcard back, publication date: 1916-02-22
(4) Excerpt from the February 22, 1917 diary entry of Siegfried Sassoon, British poet, author, Second Lieutenant in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and recipient of the Military Cross for gallantry in action. Sassoon had just returned from an extended convalescent leave in Britain when he was sent to hospital in Rouen with German measles.
Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1915-1918 by Siegfried Sassoon, pp. 133–134, copyright © George Sassoon, 1983; Introduction and Notes Rupert Hart-Davis, 1983, publisher: Faber and Faber, publication date: 1983
(5) German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger on some of the preparations for what he referred to as German commander Erich Ludendorff's, and Germany's, 'mighty do-or-die offensive'. It would be Operation Michael, launched on March 21. Bullecourt, France, had been the site of battles on April 11 and from May 3 to 16, 1917 between the Germans and Australians.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 221–222, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
