Postcard of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiser Franz Joseph, in the Secessionist style. Kaiser Wilhelm is wearing the uniform and shako of the Death's Head Hussars.
Völkerkrieg (people's war)1914; In Treue FestPeople's WarFirm in Loyalty
"The troops of all the German tribes under your command, with steel-hard determination and strongly led, have brought to failure the great French attempt to break through on the Aisne and in Champagne. Also there the infantry again had to bear the brunt, and, thanks to the indefatigable assistance of the artillery and other arms, has accomplished great things in death-defying perseverance and irresistible attack. Convey my thanks and those of the Fatherland to the leaders and men. The battle on the Aisne and in Champagne is not yet over, but all who fight and bleed there shall know that the whole of Germany will remember their deeds, and is one with them to carry through the fight for existence to a victorious end. God grant it."
Telegram of April 22, 1917 from German Kaiser Wilhelm II to his son the Crown Prince,commanding in Champagne where German forces had halted the the attack in the Second Battle of the Aisne launched on April 17, and part of French commander Robert Nivelle's spring offensive. The Aisne River was south of the heights of Chemin des Dames, and had been held by the German's since their retreat to it in September, 1914 after the battles of the Marne and Aisne.
They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918 by Ian Sumner, Vol. V, 1917, p. 163, copyright © Ian Sumner 2012, publisher: Pen and Sword, publication date: 2012
1917-04-22, 1917, April, Kaiser Wilhelm, Wilhelm II, Aisne, Champagne, Second Battle of the Aisne
