The battlefield near Verdun, the Meuse River (Maas), and the Argonne Forest, viewed from the German line looking southwest. During the 1916 Seige of Verdun, the road and a light rail line from Bar-le-Duc were the sole source of supply for the besieged city.
Image text: Labels: Argonnen (Argonne Forest), Verdun, Maas (Meuse River), Bar-le-Duc.Reverse:Panorama des westlichen Kreigschauplatzes 1914/15Die Argonnen. Von Verdun bis Reims.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the Western theater of war 1914/15 from Compiègne to Arras.The panoramic postcard series includes with their 9 sections No. 400 to 408 the entire western front from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 407Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.Logo: W&N AGL
The Western Front, 1914 and 15. The Imperial German eagle is a crow feeding on carrion, perched on a cross bearing scenes of the destruction of its advance and retreat through France and Belgium: the shelled and burned cathedral of Reims, the ruination of the city of Arras, a destroyed town, deaths both military and civilian in Belgium. France held its territory along the border with Germany, and turned back the German advance in the Battle of the Marne, but Belgium and northern France remained occupied through the war.Accused of war crimes, Germany, labeled on the map by "Kulturland?", defended itself by speaking of its superior culture.Spain, Holland, and Switzerland remained neutral during the war, and are show in green. Italy joined the Allies in May, 1915, possibly shortly before the card was printed, which may explain the use of red for its name and border.
Image text: [On the cross:] Reims, Après le Passage des Allemands, Arras!, Belgique[On the map, the countries of] Angleterre, Hollande, Espagne, Suisse, Italie, Belgique, France, Kulturland? [Germany, and the cities of] Douvres, Calais, Paris, Arras, Reims, Maubeuge, Verdun, Nancy, Epinal, and BelfortReverse:M. Mantel édit., Lyon, 3, Rue Mulet
A New Years postcard, 1917, of Germania wooed while Cupid draws attention to the angels and devils battling overhead. On the wings of the demons are the rondels of the Allies and a Maltese cross of the Germans. The Cannon by the lovers has been spiked and disabled. The card, illustrated by ADE, was from Leutnant Michel Liebhold, an officer on anti-aircraft train 61.
Image text: Glückwunsch zum JahreswechselCongratulations for the New YearMichel Liebhold, 1917Reverse:Absender: Leutnant Liebhold, O. Flak Zug 61, Groß-Auheim bei HanauFeldpostFrom: Lieutenant Liebhold, O. Flak Train 61, Groß-Auheim near HanauField mail (Flak is Fliegerabwehrkanone, an anti-aircraft gun.)
"Flandern 1918 Prosit Neujahr!" — Happy New Year! from Flanders, 1918, a church steeple is in the distance, woods, and a green field. In the foreground ruins of a building and a bare tree. German watercolor.
Image text: Flandern 1918 Prosit Neujahr!Happy New Year! Flanders, 1918.
"Cursed be those whose pride, ambition or squalid self-interest have unleashed such a plague upon Europe, plunging us into such terrible suffering, and ruining so many of the towns and villages of our beautiful country, perhaps forever! . . . But today you too, my dear friends, have your duty laid out before you. Consider this — you are the hope of tomorrow. Yours is the young generation which will have to replace those killed on the field of honour . . . Whatever the outcome of the terrible conflict, the genius of the French people must live on. Those of us who have willingly sacrificed our lives and who tomorrow will perhaps be dead . . . confidently leave this task to you." ((1), more)
"Here I will wish you a happy new Year, full of keen experiences, and quietly joyful times of fallowness.May the War end soon, and let us dream again, but nobly and to active ends. May England grow dearer, sweeter in herself (for we deserve better weather and more amiable smiles) and in our memories. And may the President of the Women Musicians be preserved to sanity." ((2), more)
"On the third day, January 1, 1917, Rasputin's body was found. In their haste, the murderers had left one of his boots on the ice near the hole. Divers probing beneath the ice in that vicinity brought up the corpse. Incredibly, before he died, Rasputin had struggled with sufficient strength to free one of his hands from the ropes around him. The freed arm was raised above the shoulder; the effect was that Rasputin's last gesture on earth had been a sign of benediction." ((3), more)
"It had been, as Edward wrote on New Year's Eve, such 'a rotten year in many ways—Geoffrey and Tah dead and we've seen each other about a week all told. . . . F. is in hospital at present so the C.O. and I are the only officers who joined the Bn in 1914.' The War had gone on for such centuries; its end seemed as distant as ever, and the chances of still being young enough, when it did finish, to start life all over again, grew more and more improbable. By 1918 I had already begun to have uncomfortable, contending dreams of the future. Sometimes I had returned, conscience-stricken and restless to civilian lie while the War was still on, and, as in its first year, was vainly struggling to give my mind to learning. In other dreams I was still a V.A.D., at thirty, at forty, at fifty, running round the wards at the beck and call of others, and each year growing slower, more footsore, more weary." ((4), more)
(1) Excerpt from a letter from Adjutant Henri Boulle of the French 76th Infantry who was killed in the Argonne on January 1, 1915. A teacher before the war, he wrote the letter to his students the prior day, December 31, 1914.
They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918 by Ian Sumner, pp. 44, 45, copyright © Ian Sumner 2012, publisher: Pen and Sword, publication date: 2012
(2) Ivor Gurney, English poet and composer, writing to the composer Marion Margaret Scott, President of the Society of Women Musicians from 1915 to 1916, on January 1, 1916. Gurney was a private in the Gloucestershire Regiment. His letters to Scott in previous months wish her improved health, and refer to overwork and 'weak nerves.'
War Letters, Ivor Gurney, a selection edited by R.K.R. Thornton by Ivor Gurney, page 54, copyright © J. R. Haines, the Trustee of the Ivor Gurney Estate 1983, publisher: The Hogarth Press, publication date: 1984
(3) Grigori Rasputin had been lured to the scene of his murder on the night of December 29–30, 1916, by Prince Felix Yussoupov, one of the wealthiest men in Russia and husband to a neice of Tsar Nicholas II. Yussoupov fed the monk poisoned cake and wine, but after two hours, Rasputin was still alive. Yussoupov then shot him. With his co-conspirators, the bound and dumped the body in the Neva River. Besides his freed hand, Rasputin was found with water in his lungs, indicating he was still breathing when disposed of.
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie by Robert K. Massie, page 380, copyright © 1967, renewed 1995 by Robert K. Massie, publisher: Random House, publication date: 2011
(4) Vera Brittain served in the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Tah was Victor Richardson, who was severely wounded on April 9, 1917, in the Battle of Arras. He died 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. 399–400, copyright © Vera Brittain, 1933, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1978, originally 1933
