Not the most interesting card, you might think, to begin the final post in this series of Daily Postcards, but when have I ever let you down? The scene shows civilians in the Grande Place in the centre of Ypres (Ieper) in 1914, the Cloth Hall behind already showing the effects of the first German bombardments of the war.
No civilians in this shot from a few years later,…
…and here’s the Cloth Hall at the war’s end. None of which is really the point of this final Daily Postcard. The real point is written on the reverse of the first card, and it makes for chilling reading:
‘going to try and get my own back for what they did at [to] my Brother I will have them first chance I get’
Postscript
I hope you’ve enjoyed this delve into the Great War postcard collection. I hope it has given you a little something to look forward to each day in these weird times in which we currently live. And who knows what the future may bring – perhaps one day we’ll do it all over again.
However, it has actually taken far more time and effort, frankly, to put together than I anticipated; I think a total of 144 Great War postcards have been featured in the series, along with not far off half that number of reverse sides. So leaving you with this card of the French cemetery at foot of the Sattelkopf in the Vosges, sold, as the reverse (below) tells us, at the cemetery canteen (perhaps by the girl in the above photograph),…
…it’s time to return to the meat and drink of this site, because we still have many more places to visit, and there are many more tales to be told, the first of which, a two-parter as tragic as any that have come before, should be with you very soon indeed……
thank you for the daily card- I have learnt a lot even if I have not commented on many of them . they have been a marker each day of another tragic time in all our lives across the globe – I will miss opening my email to read what it contains but stay safe yourselves
Most interesting series, I’ve read every one. Very time consuming no doubt for you MF to put together but much appreciated at this end. A great collection of cards, I’d never have guessed at the sheer variety of scenes and messages.
Fantastic! this has been absolutely wonderful my friend and a very, very welcome distraction from everything else that has been going on. You really do have an amazing collection and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say thank you very much indeed for taking the time and effort to share them with us in this way. It has been a veritable feast, and a truly educational one at that.
I echo what the comments above say M this has been a most interesting series of daily cards such diversity. These last ones of Ypres finishes it off perfectly especially when you see the cloth hall now in all its glory, and the peace card says it all. Thankyou for the effort you have put into this as Morag says learnt a lot.
Look forward to further posts now of a different nature, hope to see the commenters in the future too.
Thank you all. Glad you enjoyed them and found them of interest.
FDP50
And a swath of sadness swept the land,
Immense sorrow for our merry band,
Maidens wailing, old men failing,
A heartache few could understand.
Grateful thanks.
That’s brilliant! Bless ya! And now they’re back, at least on a weekly basis.
That was lovely Daisy, glad there back.