Summary

Black and white photo postcard, World War I era, showing five German soldiers of different rank, but all appearing to be officers, posing for the camera in front of a building. The postcard has not been mailed.

During World War I around 11 billion letters and postcards were sent from the front free of charge through the German Army Postal Service. 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. It was acquired by Museum Victoria with a group of other German postcards from World War I.

Physical Description

Black and white photo postcard showing five German soldiers/officers posing for the camera in front of a building. Four of the soldiers/officers are sitting on chairs in the front row and one soldier/officer, who seems to be of higher rank indicated by his epaulettes and award, stands in the middle of them in the back. The two outside soldiers/officers/ hold a cigarette and have their trousers tucked into their boots. Thwo of the men are wearing a simple tunic, another soldier wears a similar tunic with different collar, while the other two's uniform jackets differ in style and decoration. It seems like the men display different service ranks. The postcard was not sent. It shows some signs of wear around the edges.

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