Postcard report and map of an Austrian victory at Krasnik on August 26, 1914. The three-day Battle of Krasnik, an Austro-Hungarian victory, began on August 23, 1914 when General Dankl leading the Austro-Hungarian First Army, advancing, struck the Russian Fourth Army, and drove them back towards Lublin. Russia is shown in green, Austria-Hungary yellow, and Germany blue.
Image text: Österreichische Siege, 26. 8. 1914Das österreichische Kriegspressequartier meldet: Westlich der Weichsel errichten unsere Kräfte im Anschluß an die deutschen Verbündeten unter kleinen Kämpfen gestern den Abschnitt des Komionka Flussen zwischen Kielce und Radom. Oestlich der Weichsel warfen unsere Siegreich vordringenden Kräfte am 23 August bei Krasnik auf dem Wege nach Lublin eine starke Gruppe zweier russischer Korps zurück. Ueber 1000 Russen, darunter viele Offiziere, fielen unverwundet in unsere Hände. Eine Anzahl Fahnen, Maschinengewehre und Geschütze wurden erbeutet. (19)Austrian victories, 26 8th 1914The Austrian war press bureau reports: West of the Vistula our forces were increased by the addition of our German allies in fighting yesterday at the section of the Komionka River between Kielce and Radom. East of the Vistula our victorious forces advanced on 23 August at Krasnik, and drove a strong group of two Russian corps back to Lublin. About 1,000 Russians, including many officers, fell uninjured into our hands. A number of flags, rifles and machine guns were captured. (19)Reverse:Message dated February 7, 1915. Field postmark 9 Res. Div.B.Z. KriegskarteVerlag der B.Z. am Mittag, BerlinB.Z. War cardPublishing the B.Z. at noon, BerlinSEE HERWIG, PP. 92, 93
A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
The 12th company advancing through shell fire to supply the 1st Battalion, 32nd Landwehr Infantry Regiment. A watercolor painting by Otto Oettel of the German 32nd Landwehr dated September 29, 1916.
Image text: signed: Oettel Sep 29 1916 - L32Reverse:12th company goes ahead through shell fire to supply the 1st battalion L32 [Translation courtesy Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust]
The Royal Palace in Bucharest, Romania. A postcard altered to show the German flag flying over the palace.
Image text: Bucuresti. Palatul Regal, Königliches SchlossBucharest. Royal Palace
German Minnenwerfer (Mine Thrower) Trench Mortar crew with their officer. The reverse is dated November 2, 1918, nine days before the Armistice.
Image text: German Minnenwerfer (Mine Thrower) Trench Mortar crew with their officer. The reverse is dated November 2, 1918, nine days before the Armistice.
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
"The Austrian war press bureau reports: West of the Vistula our forces were increased by the addition of our German allies in fighting yesterday at the section of the Komionka River between Kielce and Radom. East of the Vistula our victorious forces advanced on 23 August at Krasnik, and drove a strong group of two Russian corps back to Lublin. About 1,000 Russians, including many officers, fell uninjured into our hands. A number of flags, rifles and machine guns were captured." ((1), more)
"August 24th.—The Battalion went into the line at Cuinchy at 3 p.m. in relief of the 1st Berks. Life in the trenches on the La Bassée front was quite different from what it had been at Bois Grenier and Laventie. The sense of war was always present. The visible difference was the slightly elevated site on a ridge. Deep trenches could be dug because there was natural drainage in its medium loam or clay, sand, and chalk. In the absence of rock it was easy to mine and counter-mine. Mining was the primary activity, and the only novelty in trench warfare the Battalion found in its new area." ((2), more)
"In the course of the afternoon, the bombing swelled to such a pitch that all that was left was the feeling of a kind of oceanic roar, in which individual sounds were completely subordinated. From seven o'clock the square and the houses on it were subjected to fifteen-inch-shell bombardment at thirty-second intervals. There were many that did not go off, whose short, dull thumps shook the house to its foundations. Throughout, we sat in our basement, on silk-upholstered armchairs round a table, with our heads in our hands, counting the seconds between explosions. The witticisms dried up, and finally the boldest of us had nothing to say. At eight o'clock the house next door came down after taking two direct hits; its collapse occasioned a huge cloud of dust." ((3), more)
"Ludendorff eliminated the option of extending the offensive when he informed Mackensen on 24 August [1917] that the Alpine Corps and the Austrian 13th ID would be transferred to Italy at the beginning of September. . . . The decision handed down from OHL caused much frustration among Austro-German commanders on the Romanian Front, beginning with Mackensen. He realized now that he would not be able to add the conquest of Moldavia to his many laurels. He left the front and returned to Bucharest on 23 August. A few days later he recorded his disappointment: ' Under tactically favorable conditions, a very promising operation could have been made which would have had significant political consequences. It is very regrettable that they make me dependent on events on other battlefields.'" ((4), more)
"In the afternoon there was an officers' meeting, at which we were told that the following night we were to take up a position of readiness to the right of the main Cambrai—Bapaume road, not far from Beugny. We were warned of the danger from a new breed of rapid, agile tanks.I paraded my company in battle order in a small apple orchard. Standing under an apple tree, I addressed a few words to the men, who were drawn up in front of me in a horseshoe arrangement. They looked serious and manly. There wasn't much to say. In the course of the last few days, and with a kind of sweepingness that is only to be explained by the fact that an army is not only men under arms, but also men fused with a sense of common purpose, probably every one of them had come to understand that we were on our uppers. With every attack, the enemy came forward with more powerful means; his blows were swifter and more devastating. Everyone knew we could no longer win. But we would stand firm." ((5), more)
"Anyhow, we're scrapping like dogs,like gamecockswith masters relentlesslyand furiously betting one anotherand themselves into frenzy:when it's over, one'll be ruined,and the other no better off.And their birds will have slashed each otherand bled to death . . ." ((6), more)
(1) Postcard caption of August 26, 1914, reporting on the Battle of Krasnik that was fought during the prior three days. Four Austro-Hungarian armies had advanced from Galicia. Attempting to seize the rail line between Warsaw and Kiev, the First Army under General Dankl moved north, and was virtually unopposed until colliding with the simultaneously advancing Russian Fourth Army. Dankl encircled the Russian right flank. Outnumbered three to two, the Russians were driven back, but remained a fighting force.
The Battle of Krasnik, August 26, 1914 by B.Z. am Mittag, Postcard face, publisher: B.Z. am Mittag, publication date: 1914
(2) Entry for August 24, 1915 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. Cuinchy, France, was in mining country, near towns such as Auchy-les-Mines and Noeux-les-Mines. Dunn writes further of the 'tactical advantages of a mine successfully blown', which could deal a staggering blow to even a well-entrenched enemy, leaving many dead, and survivors stunned.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 145, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(3) Sebastian Jünger on what he calls 'the legendary heart of the Somme,' the village of Guillemont, August 24, 1916 when the battle was in its eighth week. His platoon moved into Combles led by a runner wearing the first steel helmet the author had seen. The helmet, the runner's expressionless face, and monotonous voice signaled that Jünger's platoon was moving into a 'new and far harsher world.' They were still in reserve, and, after being given their own steel helmets, would take the front line the morning of the 25th.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 95, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(4) The German Mărăşeşti offensive began on August 6, 1917 in hopes of destroying Romania's army and seizing Moldavia, the only part of the country not occupied by Central Power forces. The German-Austro-Hungarian Oituz offensive began two days later. German General August von Mackensen had commanded a Central Power army in the initial invasion of Romania in 1916. With Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, General, Erich Ludendorff commanded the German army. Bucharest was and remains the capital of Romania. OHL, Oberste Heeresleitung, was German Supreme Army Command.
The Romanian Battlefront in World War I by Glenn E. Torrey, pp. 231–232, copyright © 2011 by the University Press of Kansas, publisher: University Press of Kansas, publication date: 2011
(5) Excerpt from German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger's memoir Storm of Steel. Jünger was wounded on the third day of Germany's 1918 Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, in March, and returned to his regiment on June 4. The last German offensive of the war, the Champagne-Marne Offensive, ended on July 17. The counter-offensive that would end with Allied victory began the next day. The 'new breed of rapid, agile tanks' was the British Whippet tank, first used on August 8 in the Battle of Amiens.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, pp. 276–277, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(6) Stanza from 'Gamecocks' a poem by Edmond Adam, dated May 14, 1918. Wounded on August 21, 1918, the author died on the 24th after receiving the Légion d'honneur.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, pp. 235–235, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
