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Austrian soldier and prisoner of war Franz Hausterecker sends Pentecost greetings to his brother and sister-in-law from Russia in a hand-painted Russian POW postcard dated April 15, 1918. He is in good health, hopes they are too, and that he will see them soon. In 1918 Easter was March 31; Pentecost May 19.
The salute of General Black Jack Pershing, Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Force, landing in France, June, 1917. Pershing landed in Boulogne on June 13.
Queen Elizabeth of Belgium presents a gift to Cpt. (?) Desmet, possibly prior to or after a flight, as she is wearing flight gear. Behind them flyers and ground crew are in, on, and around an SE5A.
A poem beneath a United States flag calls on American boys to show the Kaiser.
The United States Department of Justice Registration Card of Alien Female Anna Geiselmann of New York City. Issued July 8, 1918.[page]Photograph of Anna Geiselmann signed on the left side by her, and on the right by Sgt. Peter J. Pfeifferleft thumb print of registered personNOTE. — The issuance of this registration card does not relieve the registrant from full compliance with any and all laws and regulations now existing or hereafter made concerning the conduct of such alien females.[Note: following pages blank other than as noted below.][Page]Indorsements[Page]Indorsements Continued[Inside and outside back cover]Blank
"April 15, 1918Frohe Pfingst-grüsse aus Russland 1918Aus weiter Ferne sendet Dir samit Gemahlin dein Brüder Franz.Bin bis heute Gesunds und hoffe von Dir dasselbe. Auf ein baldiges Wiedersehn.Happy Pentecost greetings from Russia in 1918From afar, your brother Franz sends to you and your wife.I'm healthy so far and hope the same for you. See you soon." ((1), more)
". . . the British were saved by a combination of their own peril and the sound common sense of their Commander and his Chief-of-Staff, 'Tim' Harrington. In order to provide the essential reinforcement for the sagging line in the Lys valley, they decided to shorten their line around Ypres; so during the night of April 15th/16th, with what must have been infinite and heartbreaking reluctance, Plumer superintended the voluntary relinquishment of all the ground won at a cost of some quarter of a million casualties less than a year before.Back from Houthulst and Poelcappelle, from Passchendaele itself, from Broodseinde and Polygon Wood, the troops wound their silent way through the communication trenches treading the graveyard of unnumbered friends." ((2), more)
"You are about to enter this great battle of the greatest war in history, and in that battle you will represent the mightiest nation engaged. That thought itself must be to you a very appealing thought and one that should call forth the best and the noblest that is in you. Centuries of military tradition and of military and civil history are now looking toward this first contingent of the American Army as it enters this great battle. You have behind you your own national traditions that should make you the finest soldiers in Europe to-day. We come from a young and aggressive nation. We come from a nation that for one hundred and fifty years has stood before the world as the champion of the sacred principles of human liberty. We now return to Europe, the home of our ancestors, to help defend those same principles upon European soil. Could there be a more stimulating sentiment as you go from here to your commands, and from there to the battlefield?" ((3), more)
"[King Albert] agreed to extend our right as far as the outskirts of Ypres. He did not intend to deprive himself of reserves at the moment when the battle was about to break on us.In actual fact, on the 17th, it was launched from Lake Blankaert to Langemarck, following the expected rhythm. Our outposts were lost and our front line was submerged. The preparatory bombardment, however, fell on empty trenches and abandoned gun emplacements. Our artillery, still intact, replied from its withdrawn positions and smashed the assaulting troops. Supported by our fire, our reserves advanced and, with a magnificent burst, recaptured in its entirety the lost terrain, taking 900 prisoners.However brilliant this result, we only learned much later that the Belgian Army had outwitted a pincer movement designed to encircle all the British troops in the Ypres salient." ((4), more)
"During the middle of April, at a time when the crisis in both French and British effectives was particularly acute, the American Army in France comprised only five fighting divisions. One of these, the 1st was about to join the French First Army, three others (2d, 26th, and 42d) were holding quiet sectors of the front, and the remaining one (32d) had temporarily distributed its infantry among French divisions to complete its training.This infantry constituted, therefore, the sole direct help which the American Army was furnishing to fill the gaps in the French Army. Counting the black troops which were serving with our divisions, the total amounted to 23,000 infantrymen, which, as can be seen, was far from meeting such pressing needs as ours." ((5), more)
(1) Austrian soldier and prisoner of war Franz Hausterecker sends Pentecost greetings to his brother and sister-in-law from Russia in a hand-painted Russian POW postcard dated April 15, 1918. He is in good health, hopes they are too, and that he will see them soon. In 1918 Easter was March 31; Pentecost May 19.
Pentecost Greetings from Russia, 1918 by Franz Hausterecker, Front, publisher: self, publication date: 1918
(2) 'Their Commander' was General Herbert Plumer who led the British Second Army through most of 1918. German commander Erich Ludendorff launched his second great offensive of that year, Operation Georgette, the Lys Offensive, on April 9, driving the British and their Portuguese allies back and from the ground gained at great cost in the 1917 Third Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Passchendaele.
1918, the Last Act by Barrie Pitt, page 122, copyright © 1962 by Barrie Pitt, publisher: Ballantine Books, Inc., publication date: 1963
(3) Excerpt from 'Remarks to the Officers of the 1st Division,' delivered on April 16, 1918 by General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Force. The Division arrived in France in June, 1917, and had spent the intervening months in training or holding a quiet sector of the front in Lorraine. When Pershing spoke, the second of German General Erich Ludendorff's 1918 Spring Offensives, Operation Georgette, the Lys Offensive, was in progress. It had followed immediately after the Somme Offensive Operation Michael. Both were directed at the British front, and both captured substantial ground.
World War I and America by A. Scott Berg, page 462, copyright © 2017 by Literary Classics of the United States, publisher: The Library of America, publication date: 2017
(4) The War Diaries of Albert, King of the Belgians were assembled by General R. Van Overstraeten from the monarch's diary and other sources. This selection is from what Van Overstraeten refers to as his 'general succinct framework' and describes an action in Operation Georgette, the April 17, 1918 attack on Belgian forces, north of the British forces holding Ypres. In the 1914 Battle of the Yser, the Belgians had inundated part of the flat coastal land to stop the German offensive. They maintained the tidal flooding for the remainder of the war.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, pp. 203–204, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(5) French General and Allied Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch on the state of the American Expeditionary Force in mid-April, 1918, after Operation Michael and during Operation Georgette, the first and second of five German offensives in 1918, both of which had driven British forces back from ground they had taken at great cost in 1916 and 1917. British commander Douglas Haig looked to newly appointed Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch for reinforcements. Foch had for months pressed for a unified command and a reserve force that could seize the offensive when the opportunity presented itself, and was sparing in providing troops from his reserve.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 306, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
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