Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"To wrap up this day of emotions, we saw a French airplane hit the ground right between the two front lines. That night one of our patrols courageously went out to bring back the aviator, but he was burnt to a crisp, the airplane having caught fire when it crashed.The next day, no order having arrived for us to participate in the battle — about which no one appeared particularly upset — we made our customary trip up to the front-line trenches to relieve the battalion which was there."
Corporal Louis Barthas was 35 when he was mobilized, and served in a unit held in reserve on May 9, 1915 during the Second Battle of Artois. Despite initial success in the center of the French line, the reserves were too far removed to help exploit the situation. The British were fighting the same day at Aubers Ridge on the French left.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 61, 62, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
1915-05-10, 1915, May, Poilu, airplane, crash
