Hand-painted ink and watercolor card of a soldier walking to the A.F.A Canteen sends wishes for a Happy Pentecost from Austro-Hungarian lance-corporal Ernst Gundermann, May, 1917. Pentecost (a moveable feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the the disciples of Jesus after his death) fell on May 27, 1917.
A.F.A KantineFröhlich PfingstenWunsch der K.U.K. Ernst GundermannMai, 1917Gefr[eite] Gundermann (Lance-corporal)Happy Pentecost wishes from K.u.K. Ernst Gundermann[K.u.K.: Kaiserlich und Königlich, Imperial and Royal. Franz Joseph and his heir Karl were Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary.]Postmarked May 17, 1917
"Occasionally there were rampages against stores or rowdy scenes at rest camps, on troop trains, and at railway stations, where trains were derailed and carriages smashed. Such actions might last a few hours only, or extend to a week. Some regiments mounted protests two or three times. Only on a few occasions were officers molested, as at Tardenois on the Aisne on 22 and 27 May. Soldiers were evidently very clear in their minds about officers, formation or unit commanders, whom they respected and whom they did not."
After the failure of French commander in chief Robert Nivelle's 1917 spring offensive — the Second Battle of the Aisne, begun on April 16 — an offensive that Nivelle had asserted would provide the breakthrough of the German line that would lead to victory, mutinous incidents broke out in the French army, particularly among the troops that had suffered the highest rates of casualties in the offensive. The mutinies were of greater or lesser severity, beginning in April, with the most serious incidents in May and June.
Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-18 by Anthony Clayton, page 144, copyright © Anthony Clayton 2003, publisher: Cassell, publication date: 2005
1917-05-27, 1917, May, Pentecost 1917, mutiny, French mutinies, French mutiny
