A German Uhlan huddles on his mount in the snows of the Yser sector in Flanders, site of the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914. His horse's ribs are visible, and even the sun medallion on his czapka is miserable. Uhlans were light cavalry lancers of the German, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian cavalries modeled on the Polish original. The postcard was sent from Paris in September, 1918 to W. Roper in the British Expeditionary Force. Illustration by René Frébet.
L'Yser (December 1914)René FrébetReverse:On Active Service Message of September 14, 1918, Army postmark September 17.O.A.S.Paris, 14.9.18'Chin-Chin'W.E.to Bdr. W. Roper'C' Battery280th Brigade R.F.A.B.E.F.[Bdr - Battery Discharge RegulatorR.F.A. - Royal Field ArtilleryB.E.F. - British Expeditionary Force]
"By the last week of April [1916] each of the four French divisions had passed out of the 'entrenched camp' and advanced to the frontier, and a couple of British brigades took up positions astride the railway south of Lake Doiran. This move enabled the British, for the first time in this theater of war, to make contact with specifically German units, a sharp cavalry skirmish taking place between two troops of Uhlans and the Sherwood Rangers on April 10. Morale was higher—partly because the hardship of winter was over, but also because the proximity of the Germans suggested a purpose for being in this odd corner of Europe."
On October 5, 1915, 13,000 Allied French and British troops landed at the Greek port of Salonica in Greece in a too-late attempt to aid Serbia. Thwarted by Bulgarian troops, and threatened by those of Greece, the Allied forces retreated to and fortified their position at Salonica, if not strengthening their dicey legal grounds for being in the neutral country at all. By early 1917, there were over half a million French, English, Russian, Serbian, and Italian troops on the Salonica Front. Lake Doiran was on the border of Greece and Bulgaria, and was part of the British sector at the eastern end of the front. Uhlans were mounted lancers distinguished by their distinctive headgear, the Polish czapska.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 62, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
1916-04-10, 1916, April, Salonica, Salonika, Salonica Front, Greece, Uhlan
