A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
A 1916 watercolor by Fernand Rigouts of a despairing French WWI soldier clutching a letter in his hand. Before a blood red sea and sun, a crushed French soldier, supporting his head with one hand, holds the edge of a letter in the other. He has dropped the envelope to his feet. Addressed to Mademouselle Henriette Dangon of Colombes (Seine), France. Original, watercolor on deckle-edge watercolor paper by Fernand Rigouts.
Image text: signed Fernand RigoutsAddressed to Mademouselle Henriette Dangon of Colombes (Seine), France.
Postcard map of Trentino, Austria-Hungary, with Italy to the south and west. The Trentino had a large ethnic Italian population and was one of Italy's principal war aims. The Italian city of Asiago is on the Asiago plateau, site of the Austro-Hungarian Asiago Offensive from mid-May to mid-June, 1916. The Italians launched a failed offensive north of the city in June, 1917.
Image text: TrentinoLegend:Confini di StatoStrada princ.Strada second.FerrovieMulattiereCorsi d'acquaNational bordersPrincipal roadsSecondary roadsRailwaysMule tracksWaterwaysScala di 1 a 875,000Reverse:Logo:IPA CTCromo50
Folding postcard relief map looking north from the River Aisne to the Oise Canal, from Compiègne to Soissons, and from Noyon to St. Gobain, France. A hand drawn arrow indicates Pimprez, marked with an 'X'.
Image text: Reverse:Cards number 2101 (left/west) and 2102 (right/east). Kunst-u. Verlagsanstalt Schaar & Dathe, Komm.-Ges. a. Akt, Trier.
"On June 7, 1915, at the end of my convalescent leave, I rejoined the depot of the 72nd and 272nd infantry regiments at Morlaix. I stayed only a few days. I was not at all comfortable there. At the time I wrote a friend, 'I am leaving the depot for fear of losing my morale, which I value above all.' In these depots, one meets a group of soldiers and even officers who cling desperately to the dreary but safe existence characteristic of a small garrison town in the rear. In order to remain there as long as possible, they are capable, if not of evil actions, at least of a host of mean little maneuvers." ((1), more)
"The march back from the front line goes remarkably quickly. It is as if their weariness has been washed away. Nobody wants to take a long rest break, preferring to get as far as possible from the firing before the sun rises. The route back passes Fort de Froidterre and they stop in its shelter long enough to meet a troop coming from the other direction and going up into battle. It is a mirror image of themselves ten days earlier: ' their coats are bright blue, their tanned leather equipment still yellow, their cooking pots still gleaming silver.' Arnaud is wearing a coat covered in mud, binoculars round his neck, crumpled puttees, ten days' stubble and a damaged helmet—the crest was shot away during fighting at close quarters on 8 June. Most of his soldiers have neither rucksacks nor belts. Some of them no longer even have a rifle. . . .The estimate Arnaud heard on their way to Verdun has proved right, almost exactly: of the hundred men he led to the front only thirty are returning." ((2), more)
"[The offensive on the Asiago plateau] was a catastrophe: Italy's equivalent of the first day on the Somme. Low cloud cover meant that Italy's 430 guns and 220 mortars could not target the enemy wire. The general commanding the division directly below Ortigara realised the implications, and asked permission to delay the assault. This was refused by Mambretti, who was unaware that, as on the Carso, the Austrians had abandoned their trenches and excavated deep caverns for men and artillery, often three metres under the surface. The Austrian gunners on the adjacent summits had excellent sight of the Italian positions and the ground where the Sixth Army had to pass.At 15:00 hours the men of 52nd and 29th Divisions went over the top." ((3), more)
"On the 10th the enemy's attack was continued, but without his obtaining anything like the same success as on the previous day. Although he brought a new division into action, he gained only a small amount of ground west of the Matz. His only important success was to the east of this place, where the retreat of a French division (the 53d) opened up the road to Ribécourt and enabled the Germans to establish themselves on the right bank of the Oise between Montmacq and Sempigny. . . .In spite of this unfortunate occurrence, the results of the 10th, taken as a whole, remained satisfactory." ((4), more)
(1) Excerpt from the memoirs of French historian Marc Bloch, a sergeant, later adjutant, with the 272nd and 72nd infantry regiment in the Argonne. He was on convalescent leave from January 5 to July 13, 1915, during which he wrote the first, and most substantial part, of his Great War memoir. He began writing again while in Algeria after having fought on the Somme.
Memoirs of War 1914-15 by Marc Bloch, pp. 167, 168, copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988, publisher: Cambridge University Press, publication date: 1988
(2) René Arnaud and his men returned from their ten-day deployment on the killing fields of the Battle of Verdun on June 10, 1916, leaving before sunrise after burying those of their men who died during their time on Hill 321.
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund, pp. 264, 265, copyright © 2009 by Peter England, publisher: Vintage Books, publication date: 2012
(3) The Battle of Mount Ortigara, June 10 to 25, 1917, was fought on the Asiago Plateau, on Italy's northern border with Austria-Hungary. A year earlier, on May 14, 1916, the Austrians had launched the Asiago Offensive in the same region. Most of the land war between the two countries was fought on the Isonzo River, a rough and natural approximation of the border in Italy's northeast. The Carso Plateau was on the eastern, Austro-Hungarian side of the river. On June 10, the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo had just drawn to a close with heavy Italian losses. British forces suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day of the 1916 Battle of the Somme, nearly 20,000 of them killed. Mount Ortigara is roughly 40 kilometers east of Trento, Italy (in 1917 Austria-Hungary) and 20 km north of Asiago.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 259, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(4) The fourth of Germany's five 1918 offensives, the Noyon-Montdidier Offensive, began on June 9 on a twenty-five-kilometer front, in an attempt to build on the success of the Aisne (Blücher) Offensive begun on May 27. But the French were not surprised as they had been in May, and had reserves ready. The Germans advanced seven kilometers on June 9th and five on the 10th.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 328, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
