The Western Front, 1914 and 15. The Imperial German eagle is a crow feeding on carrion, perched on a cross bearing scenes of the destruction of its advance and retreat through France and Belgium: the shelled and burned cathedral of Reims, the ruination of the city of Arras, a destroyed town, deaths both military and civilian in Belgium. France held its territory along the border with Germany, and turned back the German advance in the Battle of the Marne, but Belgium and northern France remained occupied through the war.
Accused of war crimes, Germany, labeled on the map by "Kulturland?", defended itself by speaking of its superior culture.
Spain, Holland, and Switzerland remained neutral during the war, and are show in green. Italy joined the Allies in May, 1915, possibly shortly before the card was printed, which may explain the use of red for its name and border.

[On the cross:] Reims, Après le Passage des Allemands, Arras!, Belgique

[On the map, the countries of] Angleterre, Hollande, Espagne, Suisse, Italie, Belgique, France, Kulturland? [Germany, and the cities of] Douvres, Calais, Paris, Arras, Reims, Maubeuge, Verdun, Nancy, Epinal, and Belfort



Reverse:

M. Mantel édit., Lyon, 3, Rue Mulet

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The Western Front ran from the North Sea, through a small corner of Belgium, across France to neutral Switzerland.

The Front was shaped in 1914 by the German conquest of Belgium, the Battle of the Frontiers, the Allied retreat before advancing German armies, which were finally stopped in the Battle of the Marne. This war of movement left the western flanks of the opposing armies exposed and each side attempted to outflank the other in the Race to the Sea, moving north and completing the Front on the coast. The Front stabilized after failure of German forces to break through the Belgians on the Yser River and the British at Ypres in Battle of Flanders.

In 1915, France attempted to breech the German line in Artois and Champagne, and Britain at Neuve Chapelle and Loos, but the Allies had inadequate munitions.

Allied plans for coordinated offensives in 1916 were shaken by the German assault at Verdun, which drew much of the French army through the sector. This demand on the French reduced their still-significant role in the Anglo-French Battle of the Somme.

The German strategic retreat in early 1917 reshaped the Front and shortened the German line. The great Allied offensives that followed—the French Nivelle Offensive and the British assault at Passchendaele—were disasters.

The German Offensives of 1918 reshaped the front and opened a new war of movement. Reinforced by American troops, the French stopped the Germans on the Marne as the British advanced from Amiens.

The Western Front is a battle front in Europe.

More about The Western Front:

Some books about Western Front (8)

Title	Author Last Name	Author First Name
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918	Barthas	Louis
Over There: War Scenes on the Western Front	Bennett	Arnold
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War	Doughty	Robert
General Headquarters and its Critical Decisions, 1914-1916	Falkenhayn	Erich
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott	Foch	Ferdinand
Storm of Steel	Jünger	Ernst
All Quiet on the Western Front	Remarque	Erich
They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918	Sumner	Ian