Easter greetings from the front, 1917. Original watercolor by Karl Schmit(?) postmarked March 31, 1917. Easter fell on April 8, 1917.
Ostergrüsse aus dem FeldeEaster greetings from the frontReverse:Absender (sender) . . . Karl SchmidtField postmarked March 31, 1917
"We are now at Saulty, a village just off the Doullens—Arras road (about twelve miles from Arras). Marched fifteen kilometeres to-day, reaching Saulty at 2.30. A sunny day with cold east wind. I am sitting on a tree-stump, in the peaceful park of a big white château which one sees among the trees. The sun is looking over the tree-tops now, and birds singing a way off, and a few little deer grazing; nothing to remind me of the battle, except the enormous thudding of guns from eastward. The brown of the trees and undergrowth grows purple, and the birds sing, thrushes and blackbirds, while a few rooks flap overhead. The bombardment must be terrific. Three Army Corps are reported to be attacking between Arras and Lens. We move to our final concentration to-morrow (Easter Sunday!) — about four miles from here. . . .Aeroplanes are humming in the clear sky, and the sun is a glint of crimson beyond the strip of woodland. And still that infernal banging continues away on the horizon."
First and penultimate paragraphs from the April 7, 1917 diary entry of Siegfried Sassoon, British poet, author, Second Lieutenant in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and recipient of the Military Cross for gallantry in action. Sassoon heard the preparatory bombardment for the Battle of Arras, his battalion held in reserve.
Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1915-1918 by Siegfried Sassoon, pp. 151–152, copyright © George Sassoon, 1983; Introduction and Notes Rupert Hart-Davis, 1983, publisher: Faber and Faber, publication date: 1983
1917-04-07, 1917, April, Arras, Battle of Arras, Easter 1917
