A mass of German troops bear an enormous egg striped in the black, white, and red of the german flag. Atop the egg, a cannon is fired by troops with a Hungarian flag. The target, diminutive in the distance, is Paris, Eiffel Tower gray against the brown city.The watercolor is labeled,Husvét . Páris piros tojása . 1918Easter . Red eggs for Paris . 1918The front of the card is postmarked 1918-04-05 from Melököveso.The card is a Feldpostkarte, a field postcard, from Asbach Uralt, old German cognac. Above the brand name, two German soldiers wheel a field stove past a crate containing a bottle of the brandy under the title Gute Verpflegung, Good Food. Above the addressee is written Einschreiben, enroll, and Nach Ungarn, to Hungary. The card is addressed to Franz Moritos, and is postmarked Hamburg, 1918-03-30. A Hamburg stamp also decorates the card.A hand-painted postcard by Schima Martos. , Germany on registered fieldpost card, 1918, message: Red Egg for Paris, Easter, 1918.The German advance in Operation Michael in the March, 1918 nearly broke the Allied line, and threatened Paris, putting it once again in range of a new German supergun capable of hitting the city from 70 miles away.
Image text: Husvét . Páris piros tojása . 1918Easter . Red eggs for Paris . 1918The front of the card is postmarked 1918-04-05 from Melököveso
Uniforms of the British Army, 1914, from a series of postcards of uniforms of the combatants in the 1914 European War.
Image text: Guerre Européenne 1914Armée AnglaiseDragon guardsScots greysHussardGendarme de campagneLancierOfficier du génieGénéralLife guardsVolontaireVolontaire AustralienVolontaireGrenadier guardsScots guardsColdstream guardsColstream guards (pet. tenue)Kings Royal RiflesRifles brigradeScottish RiflesCameron highlandersHighlanders (officier)Royal Scots fusiliersCorps ExpéditionnaireInfanterie anglaiseTroupes de l'IndeRégiment de Cippayes West India (officier)Déposé J.C 8-9European War 1914 British Army Dragoon guardsScots GreysHussarMounted PolicemanLancerEngineering OfficerGeneralLife GuardsVolunteerAustralian VolunteerVolunteerGrenadier GuardScots GuardColdstream GuardColstream Guards (service dress)Kings Royal RiflesRifle BrigadeScottish RiflesCameron HighlanderHighlanders (Officer)Royal Scots FusiliersExpeditionary CorpsEnglish InfantryIndian troopSepoy Regiment West India (Officer)Filed J.C 8-9Reverse:J'espere bien que cette carte plâira à sa petite majesté, elle a été achetée à son intention . . .I hope that this card will appeal to his little majesty, it was purchased for him. . .
The Allied advance in the Anglo-French Somme Offensive of 1916. As French forces were transferred to the defense of Verdun, British forces took on more of the burden.
Image text: Sur la SommeOn the SommeMap:Départ de la Poussée (Start of the Push), Somme, Péronne, Courcelette, Martinpuich, Thiepval, Pozieres, la Boiselle, Contalmaison, Maurepas, Hem, Clery, le Forest, Combles, Rancourt, Bouchavesnes, Allaines, Mt. St. Quentin, la Tortille,
An aerial observer or pilot in flight helmet and overcoat reports to a German General and his staff at a division's combat headquarters on March 21, 1918, the first day of Operation Michael, Germany's spring offensive, the first of five German drives in 1918.
Image text: Reverse (handwritten):21. 3. 18.Division Combat HQ
"Early in the morning of March 21st, four zeppelins headed for Paris. French airmen rose to meet them at Compeigne and forced two of them to turn back. The other two zeppelins, eluding the French patrol, kept up a running fight with pursuing aeroplanes while dropping bombs over Versailles. Sailing over Paris, they dropped 25 bombs, killing eight persons and starting a number of fires. All Paris rushed from bed at 4 a.m. to witness the fight in the air." ((1), more)
"As he passed from one 1914 man to another he dug his elbow into the C.O.'s ribs and exclaimed, 'You're a lucky fellow.' When it was over he said to the G.O.C., 'That's been a treat. That's the sort we've known for thirty years.' Orderly Room estimated that the Battalion still had 250 originals, mostly in the Transport, Drums, and Signals, and among the N.C.Os. Of the other originals, some 500 had been killed or wounded; some were detached; the balance had gone home sick and become scattered. With comparatively few exceptions the men are Regulars, Reservists, and Special Reserves." ((2), more)
"The great event is the German withdrawal to the new front line, Arras—St. Quentin—Laon. The Allies see in this the consummation of the Battle of the Somme. I myself prefer to regard it as a very bold large-scale manœuvre, intended to draw the French forces far from Paris in order later, south of Verdun, to attempt a powerful offensive movement westwards to turn their flank or encircle the French troops in actions further to the north.The Chief of the French Mission tells me that General Nivelle is determined to press on with his offensive in the region originally fixed, Rheims—Soissons, while the British will operate to the north of Arras.It is very dangerous to move in the north and expose their flank and rear to an enemy offensive!" ((3), more)
"The watch-hands moved round; we counted off the last few minutes. At last, it was five past five. The tempest was unleashed.A flaming curtain went up, followed by unprecedentedly brutal roaring. A wild thunder, capable of submerging even the loudest detonations in its rolling, made the earth shake. The gigantic roaring of the innumerable guns behind us was so atrocious that even the greatest of the battles we had experienced seemed like a tea party by comparison. What we hadn't dared hope for happened: the enemy artillery was silenced; a prodigious blow had laid it out. We felt too restless to stay in the dugout. Standing out on top, we gasped at the colossal wall of flame over the English lines, gradually obscuring itself behind crimson, surging clouds." ((4), more)
(1)
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 154, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(2) Part of the entry for March 21, 1916 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 dozens of his comrades. That day the Corps Commander, Lieut.-General Haking inspected the men, and found many of them had come out in August 1914 — they were part of the old British Army, one of 100,000 men, that had been destroyed in the battles of 1914: the Allied retreat, the Race to the Sea, the Battle of Ypres.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 185, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(3) Diary entry by Albert, King of the Belgians, for March 21, 1917. The 'German withdrawal' was Operation Alberich, a retreat to a shorter line and stronger defensive position, the Siegfried Zone. The British and French preferred to think of the retreat as a successful result of their offensive on the Somme. At the end of 1916 in the last stages of the Battle of Verdun, French General Robert Nivelle had retaken some of the territory lost in the course of the Battle. His success was rewarded with command of the French armies in France, replacing Joseph Joffre. He immediately began preparing what would become the disastrous Nivelle Offensive, and changed little in his plan despite the German retreat.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 160, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(4) German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger describing the preliminary bombardment opening what he elsewhere refers to as German commander Erich Ludendorff's, and Germany's, 'mighty do-or-die offensive', Operation Michael. Jünger was leading his company forward to a reserve position on the night of March 19, 1918 when they were hit by a shell killing or wounding much of his company. Before the shell struck, Jünger had 150 men. The next day he was able to collect 63. On March 21st, German troops hit the British line, striking the Third and Fifth Armies. The Third held; the Fifth did not.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 228–229, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
