French commander Joffre opens an Easter egg to reveal Alsace. The sender sent kisses to Jeanne Charbonnel on April 10, 1915. April 4 was Easter.
Image text: Paques 1915Joffreà la France qui l'a bien méritéeEaster 1915Joffreto France who has well deserved herSigned HArmenoul 1915Handwritten:Bons baisers10-4-15Reverse:Bons baisers10-4-15
Wooden cigarette box carved by Г. САВИНСКИ (?; G. Savinskiy), a Russian POW. The Grim Reaper strides across a field of skulls on the cover. The base includes an intricate carving of the years of war years, '1914' and, turning it 90 degrees, '1918.'
Image text: ПДМЯТЬ ВОИНЬ 1914-18To the memory of the soldiers 1914-18Reverse:19141918Г. САВИНСКИ (?)G. Savinskaya
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
French (and one British) soldiers in what appears to be a hastily-improvised line. An official photograph on the British Front in France taken May 3, 1918. French reserves came to the aid of the British during the German Offensives of 1918. Operation Michael on the Somme had been fought from March 21 to April 5, and Operation Georgette on the Lys River from April 9 to 29.
Image text: Reverse:Official photograph taken on the British Western Front in France. British and French alongside each other waiting for the Boches. 5/3/18.
"In Memorium [Easter 1915]The flowers left thick at nightfall in the woodThis Eastertide call into mind the men,Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, shouldHave gathered them and will do never again." ((1), more)
"The VultureDescribing circle after circlea wheeling vulture scans a fieldlying desolate. In her hovela mother's wailing to her child :'Come, take my breast, boy, feed on this,grow, know your place, shoulder the cross.'Centuries pass, villages flame,are stunned by war and civil war.My country, you are still the same,tragic, beautiful as before.How long must the mother wail?How long must the vulture wheel?" ((2), more)
"I thought we were going over the top tonight, but it has been postponed — a state of things which will inevitably lead to soul-outpourings. My state of mind is — fed up to the eyes; fear of not living to write music for England; no fear at all of death. Yesterday we had a little affair with a German patrol, which made me interested for 5 minutes; after which I lapsed into the usual horrid state of boredom. O that a nice Blighty may come soon! I do not bear pain and cold well, but do not grumble too much; so I reckon that cancels out. One cannot expect to have everything, or to make one's nature strong in a week." ((3), more)
"The last spasm of the first German offensive occurred on April 4, when the enemy struck between the Somme and Montdidier. Though the Germans had sixteen divisions in their front line and the French only seven, the French had eight divisions in reserve, and they intervened rapidly. The French also had ample artillery, 588 75-mm and 378 heavy pieces. Showing little interest in infiltration tactics, the Germans attacked in dense formations and suffered heavy casualties. The following day First Army counterattacked. Instead of a tightly coordinated offensive, its individual corps launched separate attacks after brief artillery preparations, but the corps advanced as much as one and a half kilometers." ((4), more)
(1) "In Memorium [Easter 1915]' by Edward Thomas. An English writer, Thomas began writing poetry in 1914, after being encouraged to do so by the American poet Robert Frost. He enlisted in the Artists' Rifles in July 1915, and was promoted to Lance-Corporal by November. Thomas's June 1916 application for a commission in the Royal Artillery was accepted in September. By the end of the year he was a 2nd Lieutenant and volunteered to serve overseas. In February 1917, he was serving in the Arras sector, where the British were preparing a major offensive. On April 9, 1917, in the first hour of the Battle of Arras, Edward Thomas was killed by a shell.
The Collected Poems of Edward Thomas by Edward Thomas, page 58, copyright © R. George Thomas 1978, 1981, publisher: Oxford University Press, publication date: 1981
(2) 'The Vulture' by Russian poet Alexander Blok, dated April 4, 1916 (March 22 Old Style). The translator points out that the vulture, in the original Russian, is a kite, a bird of prey as well as a scavenger.
The Twelve and Other Poems by Alexander Blok, page 140, copyright © 1970 by Jon Stallworthy & Peter France, publisher: Oxford University Press, publication date: 1970
(3) 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 'April 4 or 5th', 1917 in the preparation for the British Arras Offensive. Gurney was a private in the Gloucestershire Regiment then in the Fauquissart-Laventie sector. A 'Blighty' was a wound that would send him back to Blighty, to England.
War Letters, Ivor Gurney, a selection edited by R.K.R. Thornton by Ivor Gurney, page 152, copyright © J. R. Haines, the Trustee of the Ivor Gurney Estate 1983, publisher: The Hogarth Press, publication date: 1984
(4) Germany's Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, was launched on March 21, 1918 against the British Third and Fifth Armies in fog that obscured the attackers. The Germans used Hutier infiltration tactics that focused on breaking through weak points, leaving strong defensive points to be taken by following forces. The British, particularly the Third Army, were overwhelmed and driven back. With no reserves, they called for assistance from the French. Newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch had been calling for a unified command and general reserve for months, and now had both. Commanding the French Army, Henri Philippe Pétain and the French First Army used his new tactics of well-prepared attacks with limited, but achievable goals. The French 75-mm field gun had been used successfully through the entire war, but the French in 1918 had more heavy guns they could bring to bear.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, page 440, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
