The Daily Postcard No. 27

Magnificent early French card entitled ‘Taking a summit in the Vosges’.  Note the two Chasseurs Alpins on the right.  And the shrapnel!  I’m not sure that position is in the bayonet-training handbook either, but whatever works……

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6 Responses to The Daily Postcard No. 27

  1. Sid from Down Under says:

    Gruesome bayoneting and I notice the German is bravely still brandishing his sword. Glad the artist didn’t show spurting blood. I wouldn’t like the cannon shell whistling by by upraised right elbow either.

    The cannon being used by the Chasseurs Alpin looks similar to a small lead model I’ve managed to keep from my 1940s lead soldiers set/s.

    For Margaret: The colours make a good Magic Lantern slide

    • Magicfingers says:

      Duncan the Elder has a fine collection of working ‘toy’ cannon to this day. And blood? We can do bloody postcards too, at some point.

  2. Nick Kilner says:

    Interesting. The faces appear to be photographic, whilst the rest is clearly hand drawn. I’m sure there is a name for this technique..
    The two on the right appear to be identical twins 😉

  3. Margaret Draycott says:

    That’s a gruesome card all round. Must have been a hellish place to fight…not that anywhere was good. Some interesting points made, your right about the twins Nick. Here we go again with questions what are Chasseurs Alpins? Duncan the Elder who is ?

    Why specifically those colours Sid?

    • Magicfingers says:

      I will help with the Duncan the Elder question. By suggesting you put ‘Duncan the Elder’ into the search box at the top right of this page and click ‘Search’ whereby you will get a list of a few posts featuring Duncan the Elder (and possibly the Younger too).

    • Sid from Down Under says:

      At your service Madame – Chasseurs Alpins – French Army elite infantry soldiers trained to fight in mountainous terrain and urban warfare

      Duncan the Elder – I’ve been fortunate to meet him – I’ll let MF tell more but watch out because he’s sure to one day throw in the name Baldrick – so he’d better explain that at the same time

      Colours – vivid and, in the old days of painted glass slides, would show up well when projected through a Magic Lantern

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