Postcard of Myslowitz and the Dreikaiserreichsecke — the three empire's corner — where the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and German empires met. The left pane shows a Bismarck tower. The three emperors are Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Kaiser Willhelm II of Germany, and Kaiser Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary.
Image text: Myslowitz O.S.DreikaiserreichseckeBismarckturm bei MyslowitzThree Empire CornerBismarck Tower at MyslowitzReverse:Postmarked January 12, 1911, ГРАНИЦА (border)Dreikaiserreichsecke, No. 65, Verlag M.
A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
The Tiroler Volksbund — the Tyrolian People's League — kicking Italian irredentists out of the region. Bozen, Trient, and Gatren See are now Bolzano, Trento, and Lago di Garda, Italy. Die Sieben Gemeinden — the Seven Churches — was a German-speaking enclave on the Asiago plateau, and included the town of Asiago.
Image text: Die deutsche grenze treu gewahrtDas ist der Deutsch-Tiroler Part!Tiroler VolksbundDie sieben GemeindenThe German border faithfully preservedThat is the German-Tyrolean's Part!Tyrolean People's Leaguethe Seven ChurchesirredentaTiroler VolksbundDie sieben Gemeinden1915Druck, Wagner, InnsbruckReverse:Der Tiroler Volksbund den Truppen in Tirols BergenEs gab kein 'Trentino' und wird nie eines geben!The Tyrolean People's League of the troops in the Tyrol MountainsThere was no 'Trentino' and will never be one!
British soldiers advancing on the Flanders front. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot 1918 Edition
Image text: British Tommies cheer as they go forward to their positions on the Flanders front
Shared headstone of Otto Waldow, replacement reservist, and Hans Jobst, infantryman, in the Belleau German Cemetery, Belleau, France, died June 25, 1918, possibly during the final American assault to seize Belleau Wood, a battle begun on June 6.
Image text: Otto Waldow, Ersatz-Reservist, †25.6.1918Hans Jobst, Musketier, †25.6.1918
"The line to Cracow runs to the E., near the Prussian frontier, for the most part through uninteresting country . . . junction for Myslowitz" ((1), more)
"He fell without a murmur in the noise of battle; found rest'Midst the roar of hooves on the grass, a bullet struck through his breast.Perhaps he drowsily lay; for him alone it was still,And the blood ran out of his body, it had taken so little to kill." ((2), more)
"On 25 June [1916], the Austrians withdrew to well-prepared defenses. Arsiero and Asiago were ransacked, burned and abandoned, their streets strewn with rubble, faeces and dead horses. Cadorna dissolved the Fifth Army, its task fulfilled. But the Italian counter-attacks were hasty, uncoordinated, and very costly; only a third to a quarter of the territory lost since 15 May was regained." ((3), more)
"An unpublished incident at Blackpool is being told. A Yankee said to a wounded Tommy on the pier that they had 'come over to finish the War.' T.A. threw him into the water, and was given a year for manslaughter. The Yankees are fussed over officially, but few among them endear themselves." ((4), more)
"Clearly this had been all along a job for the artillery. On June 25 the northern fringe of Belleau Wood was shelled for fourteen hours. In the late afternoon the marines advanced again behind a rolling barrage. 'Come on you sonsofbitches do you expect to live forever?' the sergeants yelled. This time the losses weren't too heavy.They found the great trees blasted to splinters, the German defenders stunned and helpless. By 9:30 that night Belleau Wood really was in American hands. Two hundred and fifty German prisoners and many machineguns. The Germans fell back on a defensive line along Clignon brook, and gave little more trouble in that sector." ((5), more)
(1) From Baedeker's Travel Guide for Austria-Hungary, the description of part of the journey from Vienna to Cracow, and its only mention of Myslowitz and the Dreikaiserreichsecke — the three empire's corner — where the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and German empires met.
Austria-Hungary, including Dalmatia and Bosnia : handbook for travellers by Karl Baedeker, page 370, copyright © 1911, publisher: Karl Baedeker, publication date: 1911
(2) Quatrain from the poem '1914' by Ferenc Békássy, who was killed at Dobronoutz in Bukovina, June 25, 1915. A Lieutenant in an Austro-Hungarian Hussar regiment, Békássy had studied at Cambridge College, England. A friend of John Maynard Keynes, Békássy was a rival of the English poet Rupert Brooke for the love of Noël Olivier, who went on to become a doctor. Békássy wrote in both English and Hungarian. The Hogarth Press published Adriatic and Other Poems, a volume of his English poetry, in 1925.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, page 347, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
(3) Austro-Hungarian Commander-in-Chief Conrad von Hötzendorf began his Asiago Offensive against Italy on May 15, 1916, halted it on June 16, and then pulled back to the new defensive position above. Italian Commander-in-Chief Luigi Cadorna had created the Italian Fifth Army to stop Conrad even as Russian General Alexsei Brusilov's offensive smashed through Conrad's troops on the Eastern Front.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, page 166, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(4) Extract from the entry for June 25, 1917 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. The United States had declared war on Germany on April 6. The soldier thrown into the water by 'T.A.' or Tommy Atkins, slang for a British soldier, may have been part of the contingent that landed in France the next day.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 360, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(5) The American assault by U.S Marines and Army infantry to take Belleau Wood began on June 6, 1918 against well-entrenched German defenders. The battle continued for three weeks. The Marine casualties were 113 officers and 5,598 men killed, wounded and missing; the Army 9th and 23rd Infantry lost 65 officers and 3,496 men.
Mr. Wilson's War by John Dos Passos, page 343, copyright © 1962, 2013 by John Dos Passos, publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
