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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.
Russian soldiers resting in the field. Card postmarked November 28, 1916.
Copy of 'Vieux Charles,' the 1916 Spad VII of French ace Georges Guynemer, landing at Olde Rhinebeck Aereodrome, Rhinebeck, New York, September 15, 2013. © 2013 John M. Shea
'Warmest regards from the Somme . . . ' from Robert Künger, September 21, 1916, presumably pictured with his machine gun crew. Translation couresy of Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
Intermission at a French theater, 1915. Women and a girl knit, socks perhaps, for soldiers at the front, as does a Red Cross nurse seated between two sleepy soldiers, one — from an Algerian regiment — visibly wounded. An older man reads the news. Illustrated by A. Guillaume, the postcard is captioned in the languages of the Entente Allies, French, English, and Russian.
"In the evening, the shelling waxed to a demented fury. Ahead of us, coloured flares went up in a continual stream. Dust-covered runners reported that the enemy was attacking. After weeks of drumming, the infantry battle was about to begin; we had come at the right time." ((1), more)
"The night was very dark and the confusion great. Wheels creaked and scrunched; frightened horses slid forwards by leaps and bounds; cart grated against cart; whips twanged and swished; and agitated voices shouted and cursed in one and the same breath.. . . All around us were fires; even in front of us buildings were blazing. My driver said that some of the soldiers thought that they were already surrounded by the enemy. We reached the village of Gorodenka and orders were given to halt. On one side of the village the mansion of a large estate was in flames. Camp-beds and straw were brought and, by the side of a large lake, we wrapped ourselves in our plaids and tried to sleep. . . . In the half-light of dawn, we heard heavy gun carriages thunder by, followed by the tramping of foot soldiers. Behind them came bronirovanny [armoured motors]. . . . It was very cold and damp on the lake bank." ((2), more)
"Spad XII S382 arrived at N.3, then based at St. Pol-sur-Mer to support the British Passchendaele offensive, in July 1917. Guynemer used it to attack a DFW C.V on the 5th, but it was damaged by the enemy observer and was sent back for repairs until the 20th. On July 27, Guynemer used S382 to shoot down an Albatros scout with eight machine gun rounds and one cannon shell, killing Leutnant der Reserve Fritz Vossen of Jasta 33. He downed a DFW over Westroosebeke the next day using two shells and 30 bullets, but damage from its return fire forced him to send S382 back to the shop until August 15." ((3), more)
"High-explosive shells of quite exceptional ferocity were coming down all the time, one of which just missed killing me that evening.Towards morning, the machine-gun suddenly started rattling away, as some dark figures were approaching. It was a patrol from the 76th Regiment come to get in touch with us, and one of them was left dead. Mistakes like that happened quite frequently at that time, and one didn't spend too much time anguishing over them." ((4), more)
"Monday, July 30th [1917], midnight. Brandhoek.Cars came for us at 5 p.m. and here we are. By the time you get this it will be history for better or for worse. By 6 a.m. our part will have begun and everything is organized and ready up to the brim. That we have 15 Theatre Sisters tells its own tale. We have 33 Sisters altogether, and they are all tucked into their bell-tents with hankies tied on the ropes to be the first one to be called when the first case comes in.. . . Some Grandmothers (15-inch guns) on each side of us are splitting the air and rocking the huts, and everything except the Field Gun drumfire, which hasn't begun yet, is joining in. Fritz is sending his over too, with an ugly whang. The illumination is brighter than any lightning: dazzling and beautiful. Their new blinding gas is known as mustard-oil gas; it burns your eyes — sounds jolly, doesn't it? — and comes over in shells. I wonder how many hundreds or thousands have got only four more hours to live, and know it?" ((5), more)
(1) German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger left Cambrai, France on June 25, 1917, ordered to Flanders, where the British had already begun their artillery bombardment in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 161, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(2) Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, describing some of the events of the night of July 26–27, 1917 in the aftermath of the collapse of the Kerensky Offensive and the piercing of the Russian line by German and Austro-Hungarian forces. Farmborough had served since March, 1915, and it was only in the last few days that she felt threatened as she and the other sisters were verbally attacked by the soldiers. She recognized, 'for the first time. . . that our soldiers might become our enemies and were capable of doing us harm.'
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 289, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(3) On July 28 and 28, 1917, French ace Georges Guynemer flew the new Spad XII modified to implement an armament he had proposed: a cannon that fired a 37 mm shell through a hollow propeller shaft. The breech of the gun extended back between his legs, and he would have had to reload it for the second shell he fired on the 28th. The Albatros scouts were some of Germany's leading fighter planes. DFW manufactured over 2,000 of the two-seater reconnaissance C.V, with another 1,250 produced under license by other firms. British General Douglas Haig would launch the battle of Passchendaele on July 31.
SPAD XIII vs. Fokker D VII: Western Front 1916-18 by Gutman, page 169, publisher: Osprey
(4) German Lieutenant Ernst Jünger left Cambrai, France on June 25, 1917, ordered to Flanders, where the British artillery bombardment in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, was in progress.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger, page 165, copyright © 1920, 1961, Translation © Michael Hoffman, 2003, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 2003
(5) K. E. Luard, Royal Red Cross nurse and sister-in-charge at the Advanced Abdominal Station at Brandhoek, Belgium, writing the night before the opening of the Battle of Passchendaele, the Third Battle of Ypres. Brandhoek is roughly midway between Poperinge and Ypres, seven kilometers west of the latter.
The Virago Book of Women and the Great War by Joyce Marlow, Editor, pp. 315–316, copyright © Joyce Marlow 1998, publisher: Virago Press, publication date: 1999
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