Summary
Black and white picture postcard with photograph depicting destroyed houses in the French village of Longuyon during World War I. Most of the postcard is illegible, but it is written in Suetterlin, a version of German.
Around 11 billion letters or postcards were sent from the front free of charge through the German Army Postal Service during World War I. Millions more letters were sent to the front by families and friends at home. From 29 April 1916 onwards postal service stations were set up at every army command station in order to monitor the content of the mail and to create reports on the content. The transmission of classified military or rebellious and discouraging information was prohibited.
It is not known how this particular postcard came to be in Australia.
Physical Description
Black and white picture postcard used as army postal service/ Feldpost. The image shows the rubble of destroyed houses in the French village Longuyon. It shows signs of wear. On the back is handwritten text in Suetterlin, an old German style of handwriting.
Significance
The black and white picture postcard is an invaluable record of a theatre of war. It is part of a postcard series especially printed for the German army postal service. Through its iconography it depicts themes like communication with family and friend at home and life at the front.
More Information
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Purchase
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Date Written
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Place Depicted
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Inscriptions
Front: Longuyon Back, printed text: Herausgegeben von der Feldbuchhandlung der V. Armee; Translation: Published by the army postal service publisher of the V. army Date stamp: Bayer. Feldpost Exped. des Alpenkorps; 28. 8. 16; Translation: Bavarian Army Postal Service of the Alpine Corps, 28. 8. 16 Handwritten: Obers_________ H_______ [illegible] / __________________ 10._____ [illegible] / Feldpost Herrn / Wilh. O_____ / Celle Zöllnerstr. 43 26 Aug. 1916 / Mein lieber Herr _____ / A___ ____ _____ _____ ___ / _____ den besten Grüße u. hoffe / dass es Ihnen gut geht, was [ich] / ___ ____ auch von mir be- / haupten kann. Hoffentlich / ist der Frieden nicht all[zu?] ____ / dass ich [dieser?] ganz wieder _____ / ______ zum ______ _____ kann. ____ / m________ryl. G_____ _____ David. Translation: [illegible] / Field post Mr / Wilh.[elm] O_____ / Celle Zöllnerstr. 43 26 August 1916 / My dear Mr ________ / ___ ____ _____ _____ ___ / _____ the warmest greetings and hope / that you are well, which [I] / ___ ____ can claim / of me. Hopefully / peace is not all [too] _____ / that I can _____ _____ / once again to ______ ______. / _____________ _____ _____ David.
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Classification
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Overall Dimensions
137 mm (Width), 86 mm (Height)
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References
Information on World War I German postal service from German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) web site [Link 1] accessed 9/2012.
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Keywords