German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Image text: Der KanalStraße von CalaisThe English Channel and the Strait of CalaisReverse:Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 408Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.
When will the war end? November 11! A 1915 German postcard using the dates of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 (a Prussian victory that led to German unification) to predict the end of the current 1914-1915 war. It accurately the predicts the month and day on which the Armistice was signed, November 11, 1918, missing the year by three years.
Image text: Wie lange wird der Krieg noch dauern?bis 11. Novbr. 191518| 7018| 7136|141Man addiere die Quersummevon 36, also 3+6=9 | der 9t Tagvon 141, also 1+4+1 = 6 | im 6ten MonatDer 9te Tag im 6ten Monatwar der 9. Juniund Friedensschluß im Jahre 1871.19|1419|1538|29Man addiere die Quersummevon 38, also 3+8=11 | der 11t Tagvon 29, also 2+9 = 11 | im 11ten MonatMan addiere die Quersummevon 38, also 3+8=11 | der 11t Tagvon 29, also 2+9 = 11 | im 11ten MonatDer 11re Tag im 11ten Monatist der 11. Novemberund Friedensschluß im Jahre 1915.How long will the war last?until November 11. 1915!18 | 7018 | 7136 | 141Adds to the checksum of 36, so 3 + 6 = 9 | the 9th dayof 141, so 1 + 4 + 1 = 6 | of the 6th monthThe 9th day of the 6th monthwas June 9and peace in the year 187119 | 1419 | 1538 | 29Adds to the checksum of 38, so 3 + 8 = 11 | the 11th dayAdds to the checksum of 29, so 2 + 9 = 11 | of the 11th monthThe 11th day of the 11th month is November 11and peace in the year 1915Vom Oberkommando genehmigt.Approved by the High Command.Reverse:Otto Schloß, Komm-Ges., Berlin O 27. (Ges. geschützt.)
Map of the North and Baltic Seas (labeledNord-See and Ostsee) from a folding postcard of five battlefronts: the Western and Eastern Fronts; North and Baltic Seas, Mediterranean and Black Seas; and the Serbian-Montenegro Front.
Image text: Karten sämtl. KriegsschauplätzeÖsterreichisch-serbisch-montenegrinisher Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch - österreichisch - russischer Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch - belgisch - französ. Kriegsschauplatz.Deutsch-englisch-russisch. Seekriegsschauplatz.Österreichisch - französisch-englischer Seekriegsschauplatz.Preis 20 HellerBei Änderungen der Kriegsschauplätze erscheint Nachtrag. Nachdruck verboten.Verlag Schöler, Wien-DöblingMaps all of theaters of warAustrian-Serbian-Montenegrin theater of war.German - Austrian - Russian theater of war.German - Belgian - French theater of war.English-German Russian - Sea theater of war.Austro - French-English - Sea theater of war.Price 20 HellerFor changes in the battle fronts, an addendum is shown. Reprinting prohibited.Publisher Schöler, Vienna-Döbling
View of Moscow, the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral along the Moskva River. The message on the reverse was dated from Moscow May 29, 1914 (new style); multiple postmarks May 17 (old style; May 30 new style) and May 21 (old style; June 3 new style).
Image text: Москва-Кремль Moscou-KremlinVue généraleReverse:Message dated from Moscow May 29, 1914 (new style); multiple postmarks May 17 (old style; May 30 new style) and May 21 (old style; June 3 new style)
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
Soldiers of the Great War Known Unto God, Cabaret Rouge Cemetery, Souchez, France. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Image text: A Soldier of the Great War Known Unto God
Islamic memorial, Verdun Cemetery and Ossuary. © 2015 John M. Shea
Image text:
". . . the remainder of the [Prussian] Guardsmen fled back into the wood, little knowing that the weak parties that had stopped them were the last line of British resistance.[Footnote to above:] A wounded German officer captured on the western side of the [Nonne Bosschen] wood actually asked a battery commander 'where are your reserves?' The answer was to point to the line of the guns. Obviously disbelieving, the German then said 'what is there behind? and on getting the reply 'divisional headquarters' he exclaimed from the depths of his heart, in German, 'God Almighty!'" ((1), more)
"How long will the war last? Until November 11 1915!18 | 7018 | 7136 | 141Adds to the checksum of 36, so 3 + 6 = 9 | the 9th dayAdds to the checksum of 141, so 1 + 4 + 1 = 6 | of the 6th monthThe 9th day of the 6th month was June 9 and peace in the year 187119 | 1419 | 1538 | 29Adds to the checksum of 38, so 3 + 8 = 11 | the 11th dayAdds to the checksum of 29, so 2 + 9 = 11 | of the 11th monthThe 11th day of the 11th month is November 11 and peace in the year 1915" ((2), more)
"On the evening of 10 November, the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla, consisting of eleven modern destroyers under the command of Korvettenkapitän Wietling in S.56, sailed on the ill-fated mission. The Germans had completely underestimated the strength of the Russian mine defenses and had hardly reached the meridian of Cape Tachkona when first V.75 and then S.57 struck mines. Wietling encountered no Russian traffic behind the 'Forward Position' and proceeded to shell Baltic Port, which was empty of shipping. The bombardment caused little damage. The Germans then turned for home, but ran into the minefields on their way out of the gulf, and V.72, G.90, S.58, S.59, and V.76 hit mines and sank." ((3), more)
"Early in the morning of the 28th cadets seized all the key communication points and demanded that the troops in the Kremlin surrender or face an artillery bombardment. The Kremlin garrison capitulated, only to be machine-gunned by the score when the cadets thought they were being fired on. This was the first great atrocity presaging the coming terror by Whites and Reds alike.Bitter fighting ensued for the rest of the day and during the 29th, and the superior numbers and artillery of the pro-soviet regiments and Red Guards began to be felt." ((4), more)
"[Meriden, Connecticut, November 11, 1918] I had just turned four and I remember . . . awaking one morning in November to my mother asking my father to please turn down the record player. It was about six in the morning. My father had put on the 'Star Spangled Banner' and turned up the volume while I and my four siblings were still asleep. It was Armistice Day, November 11th, and World War I was over. Later that morning, my father, older sister and I walked down to the town square where crowds were celebrating. I became fascinated with a cluster of overhead wires with switchboards and electrical components to handle the trains that crossed right through the center of the square. I had never been down there before and the interruptions or invasions of the patch of sky that appeared between buildings seemed very strange and I asked my father if that were the Kaiser. That was a word that I had heard frequently in conversations between my father and mother. He was the bad guy leading the Germans. It was only a word to me. My father said no, but look over there: that's the Kaiser. And suspended from a pole was an effigy in three dimensions so life-life, I became frightened." ((5), more)
"When the sound of victorious guns burst over London at 11 a.m. on November 11th, 1918, the men and women who looked incredulously into each other's faces did not cry jubilantly: 'We've won the War!' They only said: 'The War is over.' . . .For the first time I realised, with all that full realisation meant, how completely everything that had hitherto made up my life had vanished with Edward and Roland, with Victor and Geoffrey. The War was over; a new age was beginning; but the dead were dead and would never return." ((6), more)
"Bells are ringing. The air is full of their peals. Soldiers dance with ecstasy. They brandish flags. They wave bouquets of flowers. It is a pleasure to witness their delight. Tragedy was looming over them. The 1919 class . . . they were just on draft for reinforcements. Within six months they would all have been killed. At noon, we heard of the flight of the Kaiser to Holland.At three o'clock, I was informed by telephone from Paris of the terms of the armistice. . . . The only chance that this unparalleled war shall not entail further war, lies in vigorous action by international Socialism during the peace discussions. God grant it may play its full part! And now, for the moment, we must savour the gladness of salvation and echo the soldiers' words: 'The war is over.'" ((7), more)
(1) After a major German assault on the Ypres salient on October 31, 1914, the French and British believed the Germans were spent, and would concentrate on the Eastern Front to halt a Russian advance. They were wrong, and the Germans were preparing another massive assault for November 10. Delayed by poor weather, it broke on the French and British the next day. The Allies held, solidifying the Western Front that ran from Switzerland to the North Sea. The war would last four more years.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1914, Vol. II, October-November by J. E. Edmonds, page 439, copyright © asserted, publisher: MacMillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1925
(2) A numerology postcard predicts peace on November 11, 1915, three years to the day before the armistice of 1918. The prediction is based on comparable dates for the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. No doubt further calculations could be used retrospectively to account for the three years. Other postcards provide comparable predictions.
How long will the War last?, face of postcard, publisher: Otto Schloß, publication date: 1915
(3) German Rear Admiral Hugo Langemak hoped to catch Russian transports in the western Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, but struck Russian minefields losing seven of his eleven destroyers. Most crew members were rescued, with sixteen killed. Cape Tachkona is on the northern tip of Dagö Island at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. Baltic Port is Baltiski, now Estonia, on the southern shore of the Gulf.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, pp. 211–212, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(4) Forces supporting the Bolshevik Revolution did not immediately secure Moscow, Russia's second city, but were opposed by a conservative Committee of Public Safety that included the officer cadets who took the Kremlin and slayed some of its defenders on October 28 (November 11 New Style). Support for the Bolsheviks was strong in the army and its many soviets. The Red Guards was the military wing of the Bolsheviks initially apart from the army, though many of its members were former soldiers.
Red October: the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 by Robert V. Daniels, page 207, copyright © 1967 Robert V. Daniels, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1967
(5) John Cavanaugh speaking of his recollections of Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, in Meriden, Connecticut.
John Cavanaugh: Armistice Day, 1918 by John Shea, none, publication date: 2018-11-11
(6) Excerpt from Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth. Brittain served in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), on the Western front. Her brother Edward was killed on June 15, 1918 serving with the Royal Artillery on the Italian Front. Roland Leighton had been Brittain's fiancé. He died on December 23, 1915 after being shot by a German sniper while inspecting wire defenses in Hébuterne, France on a moonlit night. Richardson and Thurlow were both friends first of Edward befriended by Brittain. Victor Richardson, was severely wounded in the head on April 9, 1917, in the Battle of Arras. Blind and hospitalized, seemingly recovering, he was visited by Brittain and his family, but died of a cerebral abscess on June 9. Geoffrey Thurlow was killed in action at Monchy-le-Preux, southeast of Arras, on 23rd April 1917.
Testament of Youth: An Autobiographical Study of the Years 1900–1925 by Vera Brittain, pp. 460, 463, copyright © Vera Brittain, 1933, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1978, originally 1933
(7) Entry from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government based in Paris on November 11, 1918. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had renounced the throne and fled to the Netherlands, which had remained neutral through the war, as Wilhelm Hohenzollern on the 10th.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 387, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
