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German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Text:
Der Kanal
Straße von Calais
The English Channel and the Strait of Calais
Reverse:
Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.
Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.
Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.
Nr. 408
Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.

German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.

Image text

Der Kanal

Straße von Calais



The English Channel and the Strait of Calais



Reverse:

Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.

Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.



Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.



Nr. 408

Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.

Other views: Larger, Larger, Back

Thursday, October 4, 1917

"Ludendorff grumbled that 'we only came through [the Battle of Broodseinde] with enormous losses. It was evident that the idea of holding the front line more densely . . . was not the remedy.' The German official historian summarizes: 'The new battle scheme had not stood the test of the 4th October.' Prince Rupprecht's chief of staff wrote: 'Crown Prince Rupprecht found himself compelled to consider whether . . . he should not withdraw the front in Flanders so far back that the Allies would be forced to carry out an entirely new deployment of Artillery.' Another enemy monograph referred to the Battle of Broodseinde as 'The Black Day of October 4th.' Foot Guard Regiment No. 5 considered it 'the worst day yet experienced in the war.'"

Quotation Context

The Battle of Broodseinde on October 4, 1917 was a British attack within the overall Third Battle of Ypres, begun on July 31. The Germans had initially used a thin defense in the front line, often with men holding shell holes rather than trenches, many of the positions supporting pillboxes and machine gun nests. After British advances, the Germans moved more men and machine guns to the front where they suffered the horrendous casualties to which our quotations testify. Rupprecht was Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bavaria. With Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff commanded the German Army, with the latter increasingly responsible for operations.

Source

In Flanders Fields, the 1917 Campaign by Leon Wolff, page 195, copyright © 1958 by Leon Wolff, publisher: The Viking Press, publication date: 1958

Tags

1917-10-04, 1917, October, Broodseinde, Battle of Broodseinde, Third Battle of Ypres, Third Ypres,Ludendorff, Erich Ludendorff