A French officer charging into battle in a watercolor by Fernand Rigouts. The original watercolor on deckle-edged watercolor paper is signed F. R. 1917, and addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon.
Signed F. R. 1917Reverse:Addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon
"January also was a month of back-breaking work. Each platoon began by removing the mud from the immediate vicinity of its dugout, by means of shovels, buckets, and pumps, and then, having firm ground underfoot once more, set about establishing communications with its neighbors. In the Adinfer forest, where our artillery was positioned, teams of woodcutters were set to strip the branches off young trees and split them into long struts. The trench walls were sloped off and entirely reveted with this material. Also, numerous culverts, drainage ditches and sumps were dug, so that things were once more made bearable. What really made a difference were those deep sumps that were dug through the surface clay and enabled water to drain into the absorptive chalk beneath."
Sebastian Jünger on the improving the German trenches in January, 1916. Adinfer is west of the Arras-Péronne road. German Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn was fighting a defensive war on the Western Front. Allied troops were often shocked by the quality of German trenches.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 60, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
1916-01-15, 1916, January, Junger,
