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.
Signed F. R. 1917Reverse:Addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon
"We are tired; we all look forward to some leave after the huge amount of exertion since October [1916]. My men are waiting for relief, for the moment when they will leave the firing line, when they'll be able to sleep through the night without having to get up to do chores and wash and change their clothers, which they can only do every twenty-four days here. They no longer have the strength to resist an attack, they haven't even the muscles to throw grenades."
French Captain Paul Tuffrau writing on March 16, 1917. Tuffrau had fought since the Battle of the Marne in 1914, and had been wounded twice. He was deployed to Verdun in September, 1916. He had two weeks leave in January, 1917.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 208, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
1917-03-16, 1917, March, Tuffrau, Fernand Rigouts
