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Postcard from a painting by W. Partke of a village in the Pripet Marshes in Russia dated February 14, 1916. An Hungarian officer wrote of the Marshes, 'almost half of the territory is covered by wet, impassable, and uncultivated forest, wooded territory, most of it useless, bushy, and impenetrable. The ground itself is divided into different kinds of marshy lands, impassable muddy districts, immense weedy and grassy territories, also regions covered by some kind of more solid grassy substance, and other thousands and thousands of acres of land perpetually under water.' The card is field postmarked on April 9, 1917 by Minenwerfer (trench mortar) Company 282.
A call to Italians to buy war bonds to help fund the powerful weapons needed for the last push to Trieste, a mere 25 kilometers from the Italian front lines. It pays 5%, after all, tax free, for an effective rate of 5.55%!
Austrian Mountain Rangers 'resting in the shade of southern flora' on the Italian front. The card was postmarked from Berlin on January 5, 1916.
Postwar postcard map of the Balkans including Albania, newly-created Yugoslavia, expanded Romania, and diminished former Central Powers Bulgaria and Turkey. The first acquisitions of Greece in its war against Turkey are seen in Europe where it advanced almost to Constantinople, in the Aegean Islands from Samos to Rhodes, and on the Turkish mainland from its base in Smyrna. The Greco-Turkish war was fought from May 1919 to 1922. The positions shown held from the war's beginning to the summer of 1920 when Greece advanced eastward. Newly independent Hungary and Ukraine appear in the northwest and northeast.
Hansa-Brandenburg C.I two-seater armed reconnaissance plane flying over the Alps. The distinctive radiator at the edge of the upper wing and rear-mounted machine gun are clearly visible. Of German origin, the plane was used extensively by the Austro-Hungarian forces.
"Offensives against Kowel were mounted on 8th August and at more or less fortnightly intervals for the next three months. The Russian superiority, overall, was two-to-one at least: north of the Pripyat, 852,000 to 371,000 and south of it, 863,000 to 480,000. On the Kowel front, a great local superiority was built up: III Army, the Guard Army and VIII Army had, together, twenty-nine infantry and twelve cavalry divisions to twelve Austro-German infantry divisions. This, rather than the Romanian front, constituted Stavka's main effort. It was a complete failure." ((1), more)
"On 9 August, the church bells of Friuli rang out for the first time since 24 May 1915. Patriots declared that a wholly Italian army had defeated a great foreign army for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. Italy's allies agreed that the capture of Gorizia was a mighty feat of arms. The enemy had been driven back four to six kilometres, along a 24-kilometre front. It was by far the biggest advance to date." ((2), more)
"More than 100 wounded came during the night. They have been arriving in numbers all day and in the late evening were still being brought in. We have all been working in tremendous haste; most of the bandaging has been left to our hospital-orderlies; we, the surgical staff, have been cleaning, operating, dressing. Austrians of all ranks were among the wounded. All night long, the operating-table was occupied: eight major operations had been performed before daylight." ((3), more)
"Friday, August 11, 1916.Yesterday the Italians entered Gorizia, where they have made 15,000 prisoners ; they are pressing their attack in an easterly direction.On the right bank of the Sereth the Austro-Germans have been routed once more and the Russians have captured Stanislau.If only the Rumanians had come in a month ago!" ((4), more)
"August 12, 1916. From: Engineer Klee, Air Force Reserve Unit, Schleissheim, Workshop Company. To: Frau Lily Klee, Munich, Ainmillerstrasse 32, second floor in the garden pavilion. 'What a disappointment that you didn't come. Well, let us hope for Sunday; saw Stubenvoll, promised he'd help. But sleeping outside camp is impossible. Will you find a place? Everything is said to be full to overflowing with pilots. We'll see. They have me varnishing wings. It isn't exactly dangerous. But suddenly to be turned into a factory worker, how adventurous! And the garb! Yours, Paul.'" ((5), more)
(1) One of the most successful campaigns of the war, Russia's Brusilov Offensive was launched on June 4, 1916 and overwhelmed the Austro-Hungarian front, but ground to a standstill by August with the addition of German troops and German commanders. The attacks against Kowel showed none of the innovation and surprise Alexsei Brusilov had demonstrated. Romania, long flirting with joining the Entente Allies, finally did so on August 27, too late to support Brusilov's advance. Stavka was the Russian High Command.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, page 271, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
(2) Chief of the Italian General Staff General Luigi Cadorna launched his Sixth Battle of the Isonzo on August 6, 1916. It was his most successful offensive. Gorizia, the Austro-Hungarian city of Görz, had a population of 31,000 before the war. The civilian population was about 1,500 by the time the Italians took it.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 176, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(3) Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, advancing through Austria-Hungary in the Brusilov Offensive, and writing on August 10 (July 28 Old Style), 1916.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, pp. 219-220, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(4) Entry for Friday, August 11, 1916, from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, who rued the failure of Romania to enter the war as an ally of France, Russia, and Italy at a time when Austria-Hungary was being battered to the west and east. The Italian offensive begun on August 6, 1916, the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, was Italy's most successful to date against the Austro-Hungarians. Russia's Brusilov Offensive, mounted June 4, had broken the Austro-Hungarian front, but, by August 11, was a grinding series of unimaginative attacks that led to Russian losses greater than those of the defenders. Had Romania entered the war as an Entente Ally supporting the Russians in their advance, the Austro-Hungarian front might have been shattered.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 315, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(5) Excerpt from the diary of the Swiss-German painter Paul Klee who had just been transferred from the infantry to the air corps, apparently by his immediate superiors. In Schleissheim he and three others would be put to work painting, starting with the varnishing of wings and fuselages.
The Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918, Edited, with an Introduction by Felix Klee by Paul Klee, page 347, copyright © 1964 by the Regents of the University of California, publisher: University of California Press, publication date: 1968
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