Christmas on the front, Vaucelles, France, 1916. A watercolor of the village gate. A separate photograph shows two German soldiers posing before the gate.
Image text: Weihnachten im Felde, Vaucelles 1916.Christmas at the front, Vaucelles, 1916.Reverse:Penciled note: 'Entrance gate of the village Vaucelles December 18, 1916 – France-' [NOTE: The reverse of the postcard may end with "Frankreich", but Vaucelles, France is near Caen, on the coast. Vaucelles, Belgium is southwest of Dinant on the French border. The blue would presumably be the Meuse in that case.] (translation courtesy Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
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
Photograph of a village on Lake Van, an area of Turkey populated largely by ethnic Armenians. The area was one of the first targeted on a large scale when Turkey turned on its Armenian citizens. Photo from Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916.
Image text: Fishing village on Lake VanIn this district about 55,000 Armenians were massacred
Illustration of Dublin, Ireland looking west along the River Liffey and showing the positions held by the Irish rebels. North of the Liffey, the General Post Office, headquarters of the rebellion, and Liberty Hall, from which the rebels had started on April 24, are in flames, bombarded by British forces. South of the River, forces led by Countess Markiewicz held St. Stephen's Green under fire from soldiers in the Shelbourne Hotel. Kilmainham Goal, where the captured rebels would be held, and where their leaders would be executed, is in the distance.
Image text: Reverse text:Overhead view of Dublin, looking westward up the River Liffey, showing the positions held by Sinn Feiners during struggle with British forces.Here is shown the scene of the Irish rebellion which figures in the capture of Sir Roger Casement, who now faces trial for high treason and a possible sentence to death. With him on the same charge will be tried Daniel J. Bailey, the Irish soldier, who landed on the Irish coast with Casement from a German submarine. The date of the trial has not been set, but it will probably take place in the near future.Stamped date: May 19, 1916.Stamp: From N.Y.H. Service New York CityStamp: View of Dublin showing positions . . .Stamp: . . . London . . . by the . . . Company
The conditions British Troops faced in Flanders and Passchendaele.
Image text: British Troops in FlandersThe British Troops in Flanders have had to contend with almost incredible difficulties, owing to the autumn and winter rains, which have converted the ground into a morass of bogs and swamps. The photograph shows a domestic scene behind the lines. Some of the men are washing in the floods, while others are shaving and dressing before the day's work begins.S1Reverse:CS 684. Wt. 7685 - 74m. - 12/17/C. & S. E2202
Line on the Ourcq showing advance of the Allies in the Marne Salient from July 18 to July 27, 1918. From The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas.
Image text: Line on the Ourcq showing advance of the Allies in the Marne Salient from July 18 to July 27, 1918.
"At 7 P.M. last night Germany presented a note proposing friendly neutrality. This entailed free passage through Belgian territory, while guaranteeing the maintenance of the independence of Belgium and of her possessions on the conclusion of peace, and threatened, in the event of refusal, to treat Belgium as an enemy. A time limit of twelve hours was allowed within which to reply.Our answer has been that this infringement of our neutrality would be a flagrant violation of international law. To accept the German proposal would be to sacrifice the honour of the nation. Conscious of her duty, Belgium is firmly resolved to repel any attack by all the means in her power." ((1), more)
"The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime." ((2), more)
"'He gave me the impression,' such is the entry I find in my diary on August 3d [1915], 'that Talaat is the one who desires to crush the poor Armenians.' He told me that the Union and Progress Committee had carefully considered the matter in all its details and that the policy which was being pursued was that which they had officially adopted. He said that I must not get the idea that the deportations had been decided upon hastily; in reality, they were the result of prolonged and careful deliberation." ((3), more)
"Sir Roger Casement, an Ulster Protestant, who had acted for the rebels in Germany, was hanged in Pentonville prison on August 3, 1916. In his last days he became a convert to the Catholic faith, and received the last rites of the church on the scaffold." ((4), more)
"A lull set in; even the big guns quieted down. Haig was in despair as the Germans collected themselves. Air reconnaissance dropped to zero. The officers at tank headquarters, those brash and peppery young men, issued a typically sharp memorandum: 'From a tank point of view the Third Battle of Ypres may be considered dead. . . . From an infantry point of view the Third Battle of Ypres may be considered comatose. It can only be continued at colossal loss and little gain. . . .' Fogs blanketed the salient sporadically for the rest of the week, and the rain varied between drizzles and near cloudbursts." ((5), more)
"This last combat, in particular, had brought very advantageous results. Threatened in his positions on the left bank of the Avre, the enemy had withdrawn to the right bank, keeping only some outposts west of Mondidier (August 3d and 5th). If, in addition, it be borne in mind that the Germans facing the British Third Army were crossing to the east of the Ancre between Saint-Pierre and Dernancourt, and that in Flanders they were abandoning to the British Second Army a part of their positions south of the Lys, it will be realized what signs of exhaustion the enemy was showing in these first days of August, and under what favourable auspices the Franco-British attack in Picardy was being initiated." ((6), more)
(1) Telegram sent August 3, 1914 from the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Belgian Ministers at St. Petersburg, London, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and The Hague.
Collected Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War, page 312, publisher: His Majesty's Stationery Office by Harrison and Sons, publication date: 1915
(2) British Foreign Secretary Grey standing by a window in Whitehall to a colleague as the two looked out at streetlamps being lit in the evening. The afternoon Grey had told the House of Commons that the French fleet had redeployed to the Mediterranean Sea, and that the British Navy was protecting France's Atlantic Coast. He then made the case that British honor and British interests demanded that Britain defend Belgium's neutrality. The next day, Britain delivered an ultimatum that German troops leave Belgium. Tuchman, pp. 140, 141.
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, page 146, copyright © Barbara W. Tuchman 1962, publisher: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., publication date: 1963
(3) Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916, met repeatedly with Turkish officials to stop the government's campaign against its Armenian citizens. The Ambassador made repeated attempts during 1915 to convince the rulers of Turkey, particularly Interior Minister Talaat and War Minister Enver, to spare the Armenian population. He found Talaat 'the most implacable' against the Armenians who told Morgenthau in early August that Turkey had 'already disposed of three quarters of the Armenians'. The Union and Progress Committee was the party of the Young Turks who had seized complete control of the government in 1913.
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau, page 333, copyright © 1918, by Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Doubleday, Page & Company, publication date: 1918
(4) Sir Roger Casement, an Irish Patriot who had been knighted for his exposure of atrocities committed by the government of the Belgian Congo, struggled to raise a regiment to fight for Irish independence from the Irish prisoners of war in Germany. He returned to Ireland in a German submarine, as a surface ship tried to run 20,000 rifles and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition to support a rebellion. Casement hoped to stop a rebellion he believed would fail, but was captured shortly after being put ashore on the west coast of Ireland. The Easter Rising went ahead on April 24, 1916, and ended in surrender on April 29. From May 2 to 12, fourteen rebels were shot in Dublin and one in Cork. Casement's was the last of the executions.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 248, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(5) The commander of British forces in France, General Douglas Haig launched the Third Battle of Ypres on July 31, 1917. French and British forces to the north, on the Allied left, achieved their first day objectives, advancing as much as a mile. Some British forces on the right matched them. But the divisions at the center of the line were blocked far short of their goals. Gentle rain that began at midnight had turned to drenching downpours by dawn on August 1, making it impossible for tanks, troops, horses, or guns to move further.
In Flanders Fields, the 1917 Campaign by Leon Wolff, page 152, copyright © 1958 by Leon Wolff, publisher: The Viking Press, publication date: 1958
(6) The Franco-American Aisne-Marne Offensive, begun on July 17, 1918, continued through August 6. Allied Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch's next blow would be the Battle of Amiens.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 379, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
