Battle on the Somme, by Oskar Martin Amorbach, showing the blue Hessen (Infantry Regiment Lieb, 'Grand Duchess') in combat against British troops.
Signed: Oskar Martin AmorbachMünchenReverse:Regiments-Gedenktag des ehem. Infanterie Liebregiments, 'Großherzogin' (3. Großherzoglich Hessisches) Nr. 117 1697–1922Die blauen Hessen im Kampfe mit Engländern im Sommegebiet September 1916Kunstdruck Gerling & Erbes, Darmstadt. Nr. 27008Regimental memorial of the former. Infantry Regiment Lieb, 'Grand Duchess' (3 Großherzoglich Hessian) No. 117 1697-1922The blue Hessen at war with British in Somme area September 1916Art Print Gerling & heritage, Darmstadt. No. 27008
"Every evening we could witness the tragic show which the front lines of the Battle of the Somme put on for us. The sky was crisscrossed with flashes, illuminated, lit up with meteoric bolts, sudden bursts of light, all accompanied by a deafening, continuous rumbling. We felt like we were watching a gigantic volcano, seeing the sinister reflections of hell itself.'It's just like Verdun,' said the veterans, worried, 'but there will also be cold, rain, and mud!' The young ones were terrified before this frightful tableau, just right for inspiring horror of war and filling the soul with terror."
Excerpt from the notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas, writing on October 6, 1916, when his unit moved toward the front lines in the Battle of the Somme.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, page 256, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
1916-10-06, 1916, October, Battle of the Somme, Somme,
