With the British Army in Flanders & France

Saved.  Apparently.

An Italian-manufactured card, despite the French writing, featuring a captured German Taube surrounded by French officers, the photo taken in Salonika, on the Macedonian Front.  Continue reading →

Literally, ‘We don’t worry because we will have them with that’.  Hommage to the famous French 75 mm quick-firing field gun, introduced in 1898, and recognised as the first true modern artillery piece. Continue reading →

English Hussars on the way to the front, optimism on their smiling faces.  Another early postcard, this time French, and is that really a pith helmet I spy?  I do believe it is.  The officer in the background leading these cavalrymen had presumably previously served in hotter climes.

In these times of stress and anxiety, with most of us pretty much stuck inside now for the duration, we are going to need to find things to do to keep safe and sane (and let’s be fair, there’s only so many times you can shampoo the cat), so as a thank you to those of you who have supported me and this website over many moons now, and so there’s a little something to look forward to each day, there will be, for the foreseeable future, a Daily Postcard for your delectation.  The cards are mainly, with a few exceptions, British, French, German, Italian & Austro-Hungarian, the images covering a range of subjects from death and destruction to patriotism, propaganda, romance and humour.  Some, such as this one, have nothing worth showing on the reverse; others feature a range of postmarks and censor’s stamps of all sorts, and messages in a range of languages for you linguists to get your teeth into.  This first card is a very early one – the artist apparently had no idea what a British Tommy of 1914 looked like so we have a soldier looking more akin to a Boer War serviceman than an Old Contemptible – complete with pith helmet!  And a sailor brandishing a cutlass, too!  The enemy might be different, but the message, my friends, is as true today as it was back in 1914.

Oh, and never fear, these daily posts will in no way interfere with the general running of this site – there will still be plenty of posts of the usual nature as we continue to visit the cemeteries between Poperinge & Ypres in the coming weeks.

Keep safe, people.