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Austro-Hungarian soldiers marching through a city, their officers bawling orders. Women and a child watch and talk, possibly shouting to be heard over the marching feet. An original watercolor on blue paper, signed W. Rittermann or Pittermann, December 26, 1915.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
A French officer charging into battle in a watercolor by Fernand Rigouts. The original watercolor on deckle-edged watercolor paper is signed F. R. 1917, and addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon.
Postcard for travel to Brno for the Slet, a Sokol gymnastics festival on June 27, 28, and 29, 1914. By E. Kouby.
French commander Joffre opens an Easter egg to reveal Alsace. The sender sent kisses to Jeanne Charbonnel on April 10, 1915. April 4 was Easter.
"In 1914, 3,500,000 [Austro-Hungarian] men were called up — virtually the whole of the trained reserve, and a section of the untrained territorial army. Losses knocked out a substantial proportion of these — to the end of 1914, 1,250,000, and a further 800,000 to March 1915. . . . The army at the front therefore ran down — not much above 250,000 in December 1914, and not 500,000 in April 1915. . . . in spring 1915 there was a severe manpower crisis." ((1), more)
"Towards the end of our stay [in early April, 1915], the weather improved, and we happily went for walks in the attractive, rather watery countryside. The landscape, in which yellow marsh marigolds seemed to have sprouted overnight, was set off by the sight of numbers of half-naked soldiers along the poplar-lined river banks, all with their shirts over their knees, busily hunting for lice. Fairly unscathed myself by that scourge, I helped my comrade Priepke, an exporter from Hamburg, wrap his woollen waistcoat — as populous as once the garment of the adventurous Simplicissimus — round a heavy boulder, and for mass-extermination, dunk it in the river. Where, since we left Hérinnes very suddenly, it will have mouldered away quietly ever since." ((2), more)
"By April 1915 the villagers of Nanteuil-de-Bourzac, and, indeed, the women of France in general, had plenty that might make them susceptible to depression. Victory was nowhere in sight, and casualties were already in excess of half a million men killed or wounded. It was evident that the short and victorious war to which their sons and husbands had so resolutely set off was not within reach. . . . 'There are so many dying now that it makes you tremble,' Marie [Pireaud] confessed, and she begged her husband, 'Oh do all that you can to avoid all danger because your death would be mine.'" ((3), more)
"After that Švejk began to talk of the famous orders which had been read out to them before they got into the train. One was the army order, signed by Franz Joseph, and another came from Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, the Supreme Commander of the Eastern Army and Group. Both concerned the events on the Dukla Pass on 3 April 1915, when two battalions of the 28th regiment including their officers went over to the Russians to the strains of their regimental band." ((4), more)
"In Memorium [Easter 1915]The flowers left thick at nightfall in the woodThis Eastertide call into mind the men,Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, shouldHave gathered them and will do never again." ((5), more)
(1) In eight months of war, Austria-Hungary's Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf had overseen three invasions of Serbia that had come to naught with the loss of 200,000 men. He had lost Galicia and Bukovina, Austria-Hungary's northeastern provinces. With German help, he had regained some of the lost territory, but not the fortresses at Przemyśl, where the Russians took over 100,000 men prisoner, and Lemberg. His winter offensive against Russia in the passes of the Carpathian Mountains had cost him another 800,000 men. Without the aid of Germany, without his forces being augmented by German troops, without his men being led by German officers, he could do little.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, pp. 122, 123, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
(2) In late March and early April, 1915, German author and soldier Ernst Jünger was with the 111 Infantry Division in Belgium.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 20, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(3) The letters of a young French couple from the Dordogne, Paul and Marie Pereaud, are in the French military archives in Vincennes. Paul fought at Verdun, the Somme, in the Nivelle Offensive, and in northern Italy. Marie tended the family's farm with her parents and in-laws. The couple corresponded through the five years the war kept them apart.
Your Death Would Be Mine; Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War by Martha Hanna, page 72, copyright © 2006 by Martha Hanna, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2006
(4) The Good Soldier Švejk (or Schweik) is the hero of Jaroslav Hašek's novel of the same name. Both Švejk and Hašek are Czech, as are the two battalions that deserted to the Russians in the battles of the Carpathian Mountain passes. Švejk and his Czech regiment were on a train in Galicia heading off to fight the Russians. The Army Order of April 17, 1915 from Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph that Švejk extemporizes upon read, 'With a heart overflowing with grief it is my command that the Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiment no. 28 be struck off the roll of my army for cowardice and treason. The regimental standard is to be withdrawn from the dishonoured regiment and handed over to the War Museum. This day marks the end of the existence of a regiment which was morally poisoned by the atmosphere at home and went into the field to commit treason.'
The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, page 450, copyright © Cecil Parrott, 1973 (translation), publisher: Penguin
(5) "In Memorium [Easter 1915]' by Edward Thomas. An English writer, Thomas began writing poetry in 1914, after being encouraged to do so by the American poet Robert Frost. He enlisted in the Artists' Rifles in July 1915, and was promoted to Lance-Corporal by November. Thomas's June 1916 application for a commission in the Royal Artillery was accepted in September. By the end of the year he was a 2nd Lieutenant and volunteered to serve overseas. In February 1917, he was serving in the Arras sector, where the British were preparing a major offensive. On April 9, 1917, in the first hour of the Battle of Arras, Edward Thomas was killed by a shell.
The Collected Poems of Edward Thomas by Edward Thomas, page 58, copyright © R. George Thomas 1978, 1981, publisher: Oxford University Press, publication date: 1981
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