The Blow on the Yser, November 10, 1914, the sixth in a series of six postcards on the German invasion of France and the forming of the Western Front. The snaking bodies of French commander Joffre and German Kaiser Wilhelm turned to the north after the Battle of the Marne, shaping the Race to the Sea. Joffre has struck the Kaiser a roundhouse blow, sending his helmet flying. In the Battle of the Yser, the Belgian army, determined to hold native ground, inundated the coastal lowland along the Yser River. Behind Joffre's head is the small corner of Belgium they held throughout the war.From L'Attaque & la Riposte — Originale présentation des phases de la GuerreEhrmann, Édition Lorraine, a set of six postcards and envelope.Over maps of the French theater of operations on the western front in 1914 — Luxemburg, Belgium, northern France — cartoon figures of the French and German armies struggle. General Joffre represents the forces he commands. His adversary's upward-pointing mustache indicates Kaiser Wilhelm.
Image text: No. 6. 10 Novembre [Le Coup de l'Yser]From "L'Attaque & la Riposte — Originale présentation des phases de la Guerre" — The Attack and the Retort — Original Presentation of the Phases of the War — a set of six postcards and envelope by Ehrmann, Édition Lorraine. No. 6. Le Coup de l'Yser, the Blow on the Yser.The titles of the cards appear only on the envelope: No. 6. Le Coup de l'Yser.1re SérieReverse:Carte PostaleTous les Pays étrangers n'acceptent pas la Correspondance au recto. (Se renseigner a la Poste).Not all foreign countries accepts correspondence on the front. (Ask at the Post Office.)Edition Lorraine
A Liebig bullion card from the series "Colonies of the European Powers" — The German colonies of Togo, Cameroon, and German East Africa, c1910.
Image text: Colonies des Puissances Européennes — AllemagneVillage au Cameroun.Lomé (Togo).Indegene du Cameroun.Femme de l'Est Africain.Véritable Extrait de Viande Liebig.Voir L’Explication au verso.Colonies of the European powersGermanyVillage in Cameroon.Lome (Togo).Indegene Cameroon.Woman in East Africa.Genuine Liebig Meat Extract.See the explanation on the back.Reverse:Capital 27,000,000 Francs.Établissements à Fray-Bentos (Uruguay) et Colon (Rép. Argentine).Le véritable Extrait de viande Liebig transforme les sauces les plus fades, les rests de viande, en choses succulentes qui flattent délicieusement le palais.Colonies des Puissances EuropéennesAllemagne - Les premiers essais colonisateurs de l'Allemagne datent de l'époque du Grand Electeur. Ils furent infructeux. Ce n'est qu'en 1884 qu'elle entra dans la voie de ses devancières en fait de colonization. Angre Pequena, dans le Sud-ouest africain, fut sa première colonie; suiverent successivement le Togo, le Cameroun, la partie orientale de la Nouvelle-Guinée, l'archipel de Bismarck. En 1885, elle agrandit ses possessions africaines par l'adjonction de territoires dans l'Est du continent noir et annexa les Iles Marshall et Samoa, dans l'Océanie; elle prit à bail pour 99 ans la baie et la ville de Kiao-tchéou, en Chine. Les viguettes du recto de cette carte donnent des vues des principales possessions allemandes en Afrique. La population des colonies allemandes s'élève à plus de 12 millions, répartis sur une surface total de 2 millions et demi de kilomètres carrés.Capital 27 million francs.Institutions Fray Bentos (Uruguay) and Colon (Rep. Argentina).The real meat extract Liebig transforms the most bland sauces, meat leftovers, into deliciously succulent things that flatter the palate.Colonies of the European powersGermany — The first German attempts at colonization date from the time of the Gre
Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
Image text: P.O.E.? EnglandLondonZeppelin Kommt!Reverse:Message dated May 28, 1915Stamped: Geprüft und zu befördern (Approved and forwarded) 9 Komp. Bay. L.I.N. 5
On guard against saboteurs and espionage, troops guard the Boston & Maine Railroad bridge and the Hoosac Tunnel, in Adams, Massachusetts.
Image text: Troops guarding railroad bridge and tunnelReverse:These boys are on guard at the Hoosac Tunnel on the Boston & Maine Railroad in the western part of Massachusetts. Most of the freight from the West passes this tunnel, and the authorities of the state deemed it wise to post guards as a protection against fanatics and spies. The Hoosac Tunnel is the largest and most important in the New England states; it is 4¾ miles long. This precaution, however, is not limited to New England, as most of the railroad bridges, canals, locks, etc., throughout the country have been guarded by regulars or National Guardsmen ever since the declaration of war with Germany.Photo © International Film Service, Inc.No 16. Published by American Colortype Co., Chicago
"On the 28th [December, 1914] we captured Saint-Georges, while the Belgian 5th Division, after crossing the Yser south of Dixmude, established a small bridgehead on the right bank.Before making further attacks in force, we had to instal ourselves firmly where we stood. That required considerable time; for to organize ground such as this was a question not of days but of weeks, the atmospheric conditions alone constituting the most serious difficulty. Water and sand made inroads into our parallels and communication trenches, frequent storms damaged our telephone lines, and the bridge of casks we had thrown across the mouth of the Yser was continually being broken by German artillery fire." ((1), more)
"At 5 p.m. we located four tents, fires burning and, by the mercy of God, no precautions, no sentries, and men lounging about. The country was good for stalking and we were well in position for a rush at dusk. In fact, the men having left their rifles in their tents and there being no sentry, we rushed them silently from not more than a few paces. We used bayonets only and I think we each got our man. Drought got three, a great effort. I rushed into the officers' tent, where I found a stout German on a camp bed. On a table was a most excellent Xmas dinner. I covered him with my rifle and shouted to him to hold his hands up. He at once groped under his pillow and I had to shoot, killing him at once. My shot was the only one fired.. . . After that excellent meal, I searched the German's kit: I have shot a Duke, the first Duke I have killed. . . ." ((2), more)
"An already bad end to 1916 got even worse when the Naval Airship Division lost three more airships on 28 December. First, SL.12, although damaged, survived a bad landing at the Ahlhorn base, but strong overnight winds destroyed her. Then, at Tondern an equipment failure caused the ground crew to lose control of L.24 as she came in to land, whereupon she smashed against the shed and burst into flames, which also engulfed the neighboring L.17." ((3), more)
"The national necessity of transporting troops to the cantonments and the seaboard, of moving Army equipment and supplies, of distributing food, fuel and other commodities among the people, made necessary the immediate unification of the American Railroads under one system, co-operated under Government control.In December, 1917, the Interstate Commerce Commission recommended such action, and the President by proclamation took over the railroads on December 28, 1917." ((4), more)
(1) Excerpt from the Memoirs of Marshall Foch, then General Ferdinand Foch. The French and Belgian troops spent the month from December 27, 1914 to January 27, 1915 preparing for an attack, constructing 'works of approach' under difficult conditions.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 194, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
(2) Excerpt from the December 28, 1915 diary of Richard Meinertzhagen, a British officer of German and Danish extraction pursuing the forces of German Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in East Africa recounting the events of Christmas Day, the 25th. Karungu was in British East Africa on Lake Victoria, and very close to the border of German East Africa.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, pp. 171, 172, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
(3) Beside the three airships in our quotation, Germany lost six Zeppelins in raids on England from September to December, 1916: one the night of September 2–3, two the night of September 23–24, one the night of October 1–2, and two the night of November 27–28. Most of the losses were Zeppelins, but SL.12 was a Schütte-Lanz with a wooden frame, rather than the Zeppelin's metal inner structure.
The First Blitz: Bombing London in the First World War by Ian Castle, pp. 91–92, copyright © 2015 Osprey Publishing Ltd., publisher: Osprey Publishing, publication date: 2015
(4) The United States Congress had voted in support of President Woodrow Wilson's request for a declaration of war on Germany on April 6, 1917, but would take a year to build an army and transport it to Europe.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 355, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
