The Art of War, part 1

An attractive young nurse lights a wounded soldier's cigarette.

It's like a romantic scene from a old movie,

except this simple color illustration of that moment

was drawn before the golden age of cinema.

It's a postcard from the Great War of 1914-1918

created by the Austrian artist, Hermann Torggler, (1878-1939).

Raucher, Gedenket Durch Eine Spende
Der Verwundeten Soldaten!
~
Smokers, Make a Donation to Commemorate
the Wounded Soldiers!

Offizielle Karte
Zugunsten Der Kriegsfürsorge
No. 23
~
Official card
in aid of war welfare

Herman Torggler is one of my favorite artists, and I used this image in my story from August 2019, Up, Up, and Away!. It's an example of how artists during this turbulent period contributed to their nation's war effort by creating imaginative postcards that were sold for the benefit of wounded soldiers. I suppose it's a kind of propaganda, but it served an honorable goal since in 1914, regardless of which country, veterans and families of servicemen killed or wounded in action did not receive any government assistance. In this case, Torggler's appeal was targeted to civilian smokers who would easily imagine the hardship of a wounded soldier being in hospital but without the solace of tobacco. 

* * *

Another of my favorite Austrian artists, Fritz Schönpflug (1873 – 1951), chose a different theme for his contribution to a soldiers benefit association. In his postcard four stalwart soldiers, each in a different uniform take a heroic defensive stand. The short caption reads: Der Vierbund, or the Quadruple Alliance, which was the German term for the Central Powers in the war. Starting on the left, Schönpflug shows a soldier of the German Empire wearing their distinctive pickelhaube helmet; next to him is a soldier in the pale blue uniform of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; then a soldier in dusky brown of the Ottoman Empire; and finally on the right a soldier from the Kingdom of Bulgaria. 

Before the war, Schönpflug made hundreds of humorous postcards, often lampooning military life in Wien with stinging satire. But he was a skilled artist who knew how to manipulate a drawing and change a comic moment into a courageous image.

The card was never mailed but Schönpflug's signature has the number 915 beneath it which was a shorthand for the year 1915. Bulgaria also officially entered the war on 14 October 1915, so he was tasked with depicting Austria's allies in a way that would make plain their unified power. 

The irony is that in 1915 Bulgaria was a very young country, first established seven years earlier in 1908 as a supposedly constitutional monarchy under its leader, Tsar Ferdinand I. Previously it had been just a principality within the Ottoman Empire though with closer ethnic, religious, and political ties to the Austrian and Russian empires than to the Muslim Turks. 

In 1914 Bulgaria was very familiar with war because in October 1912 it had joined a coalition with Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro to fight the Ottoman Empire over territory in the Balkan region. This First Balkan War lasted only 7 months, 3 weeks and 1 day, but just three weeks after a peace treaty was signed in London, Bulgaria took issue with the settlement and started a Second Balkan War against its former allies Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro as well as the Ottoman Empire and Romania, too. 

The casualties from both Balkan Wars are very disturbing considering that the two  conflicts lasted from 8 October 1912 to 10 August 1913, barely a week over nine months in total. One estimate of casualty deaths in combat listed Bulgaria - 32,000; Greece  - 5,000; Montenegro - 3,000; Serbia - 15,000; and the Ottoman Empire - 30,000. Other estimates are even higher when including death from diseases. And there were hundreds of thousands of civilian who perished in the wars and even more were displaced from their homelands. The messy conclusion of these two short regional conflicts wars set up the conditions that caused all of Europe to explode into war in August 1914. 

Offizielle Karte für
Rotes Kreuz, Kriegsfürsorgeamt
Kriegshilfsbüro
Nr. 370
~
Official card for
Red Cross, War Welfare Office
War Relief Bureau

The notice on the back of this card shows it came from the same welfare office but it now included the Austrian Red Cross as well. The number 370 implies that the series involved many artists, so I may have to start a new collection category.

* * *

This third postcard from the Great War has a painting made by another of my favorite artists, Arthur Thiele, (1860 – 1936). Thiele was German and here he depicts a cavalryman playing his trumpet while what looks like a battle goes on in the background. The caption reads:

Behüt Dich Gott!
Auf Wiedersehen!
~
God protect you!
Until seeing you again!

The curious caption is actually the title of a song from a well-known German opera from 1884, Der Trompeter von Säckingen, by Alsatian composer, Viktor Ernst Nessler, (1841–1890). It is based on an epic poem with the same title by German poet, Joseph Victor von Scheffe, (1826–1886). The storyline from its Wikipedia entry describes the opera best.

The setting is 17th-century Heidelberg and Säckingen, after the Thirty Years' War. The trumpeter Werner loves Maria, the daughter of the Baron, but her father and mother want her to marry the cowardly Damian. Werner proves himself a hero and is opportunely discovered to be of noble birth, so all ends happily.

In the 1890s and 1900s the character of Werner with his trumpet (bugle) proved tremendously popular in Germany as hundreds of different postcards were produced with an image of the gallant 17th century trumpeter. The setting in the small rural town of Bad Säckingen, which is in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany,  close to the Swiss border, was tied to Germany's violent history with France and the disputed region of Alsace-Lorraine which in 1914 was part of the German Empire. 

In the opera there is a slow sentimental song, Behüt Dich Gott!, that includes a famous trumpet solo. My English translation of the title follows a more literal meaning which, I believe, is how Arthur Thiele intended his picture to link this familiar song of the 1880s to a battle scene in 1914. The postcard was sent by a soldier via free military Feldpost and dated 16 October 1914 from Borkum, a tiny island on Germany's North Sea coast, practically part of the Netherlands, and a very long distance from Bad Säckingen. 

* * *

This next postcard artwork of the Great War is unsigned but made by a competent artist who certainly knew how to draw a horse. It shows a few cavalrymen vainly firing their rifles (and shaking a saber!) at a biplane high above them in the blue sky. A description is found printed in a caption on the back.

Ulanen beschießen ein feindliches Flugzeug
~
Lancers fire at an enemy plane

A larger printed caption identifies this card as another benefit for wounded soldiers.

Herausgegeben am Besten von Schwestern des
Verbandes deutscher Krankenpflege-anstalten vom
Roten Kreuz.

Preis 10 Pfg.— Dem Wohlfahrtszweck
fliessen 3 Pfg. zu.
~

Edited as best by sisters of
the Association of German Nursing Homes of
the Red Cross.

Price 10 Pfg. — 3 Pfg.
flows to the welfare purpose.

* * *

Some of the wartime artists took their inspiration from older wars. In this sepia-tone drawing, a fearsome medieval melee of soldiers fight hand to hand with bayonets and swords. There is a struggle over a flag. The back has a caption describing it:

Der grosse Krieg 1914/15.

Eroberung einer französischen Fahne bei Lunéville
~

The great war of 1914/15.

Conquest of a French flag at Lunéville

I believe this depicts, supposedly, the Battle of Grand Couronné from 4 to 13 September 1914, where the German army captured Lunéville, a French town on the border of German-held Lorraine. However a few days later the Germans withdrew, returning it to French forces. According to the Wikipedia entry the German 6th and 7th armies together lost 66,000 casualties, with an estimated 17,000 men killed in this battle. 

The postcard was never sent but on the back is a symbol of a German Iron Cross medal 

for a veterans organization honoring the years 1870 and 1914.
A large caption reads:

Wohlfahrtskarte
des "Reichsverband zur Unterstützung
deutscher Veteranen E. V."

für Kriegsteilnehmer des Heeres und der Marine
~

Welfare card
from the "Reich Association for the Support of
German Veterans E.V."

for combatants in the army and navy

Mindestertrag 3½ Pfg ~ Minimum yield 3½ Pfg.

* * *

The French also produced a great number of artist designed postcards. Instead of a picture, this postcard shows a clay sculpture of a bugler rising from the battleground to call his comrades. The artist is not identified on the card but the name on the model is T. Cartier. I believe this is the work of Thomas Francois-Cartier, (1879–1943), a French sculptor, born in Marseilles, who specialized in creating bronze works in the animalier style, a mid-19th century trend of naturalistic yet romanticized portrayals of animals, particularly dogs and big cats, i.e. lions. The title of this work is printed at the bottom with a quote at the top.

Le Clairon
~
The Bugle

Et sur sa lèvre sanglante.

Gardant sa trompette ardente.

Il sonne, il sonne toujours!

~

And on his bloody lip.

Keeping his fiery trumpet.

It sounds, it still sounds!

The trumpeter stands next to a monolithic gravestone,
that has an engraving of the face of a bearded man and the words:

1914   Quand Même
~

1914   All the same

The image is of Paul Déroulède (1846–1914),  a French author and politician, and one of the founders of the rightwing nationalist League of Patriots. His early career started with the publication of a collection of patriotic poems (Chants du soldat) in 1871 during the time of the Franco-Prussian War. This quote may come from a poem in that work. After France's defeat Déroulède helped organize the League of Patriots to demand the return of Alsace and Lorraine from Germany. His opposition to the French government became so extreme that he was arrested in 1899 and tried for conspiracy against the republic. He was convicted and sentenced in January 1900 to banishment from France so he moved to Spain. When he died in January 1914, six months before war began, his funeral procession in Paris attracted the largest crowds since that of the novelist Victor Hugo. 

Clearly there is more context behind this trumpeter's sculpture that is not easy to recognize in the 21st century. In 1914 French politics was incredibly volatile and a "patriot" had a different meaning depending on whether it came from a leftist or rightist viewpoint. The back of this card has no postmark but was dated by the writer 18 January 1915. By coincidence it was sent to a young woman in Lyon who lived at 12 rue Victor Hugo. 

UPDATE:

There was something familiar about the image of Paul Déroulède that triggered a memory of one of my other stories on a French political postcard. In my story Music as Metaphor from 15 January 2015, days after a terrible terrorist attack in Paris, I featured a postcard of a band made up of French politicians. The face of Déroulède is in the upper right corner as the leader of the the Ligue des Patriotes  or League of Patriots. 

* * *

My second French postcard links to Cartier's bugler with a impressionist painting of a troop of French drummers and buglers. They march down a street dressed in blue jackets and bright red trousers. A caption reads: Les Zouzous, a nickname for young soldiers from the Zouave light infantry regiments of France's North African colonies, principally Algeria. The zouave soldiers wore distinctive uniforms characteristic of their North African origin with short open-fronted jackets, baggy trousers, sashes, and a chéchia, a fez-like head-dress. The artist is not identified except for the initials L.V.C. painted in the lower corner.

There is no postmark but the writer sent the postcard
to another soldier of the 3rd Zouave regiment
staying in a temporary hospital in Marney, (?) France
and finishes their message offering best wishes for: 

une bonne sante et que cette mauvaise guerre sera finie en 1917

~
to good health and that this bad war will be over in 1917 

* * *

My last art work depicts another regimental trumpeter blowing his instrument and holding a rifle too. (Actually it's a crudely colorized photo, but it fits with my trumpeter theme anyway) The frilly black-green plume on his hat marks him as a Bersagliere, a soldier in the special troop of marksmen in the Italian Army's infantry corps. The plume is made of hundreds of feathers from the black capercaillie bird, a Eurasian wood grouse. This distinctive decoration on the Bersagliere's uniform served a practical purpose of camouflage and as a sunshade for the marksman's shooting eye. The postcard's sender has added a translation of Sharpshooter under the imprint on the card. 

The soldier's bugle is unusual because unlike other bugles, this one has a single piston valve. This gives the instrument a second overtone series that is one whole-step lower in pitch which greatly increases the melodic potential of its bugle calls. I suppose this is should not be unexpected for an Italian musical instrument but Italian army bugle calls must have been far more complicated than those of other nations as I've never seen it used in any other bugle corps. 

The two 5 centesimi stamps have the face of King Victor Emmanuel III and a postmark of either 2 or 12 October 1914, coincidently sent almost the same week as the postcard of Thiele's cavalry trumpeter. It was mailed to James J. Martin of Lincoln, England. The writer here added a rubber stamp of his name and address: Michele Atlante di Gius, Bari (Italy), which is a port city on the Adriatic Sea on the heel of Italy's boot-shaped peninsula. 

Please send me, if
you can, some English
papers with war pictures.
Thanks for.
Your friend
M. a. d. G.

When the Great War started no one, from Kaisers down to generals, politicians, journalists, and eventually to the proverbial man-in-the-street, expected the war to last more than a few months. The expectation was that like the two recent Balkan Wars, or the Russo-Japanese War, or the Spanish-American War, the conflict would be brief and end quickly. No one expected or understood the terrible consequences that would come from over 4 years of total global warfare. It was unimaginable.

By 1914 photography was already a well-established tool for documenting a war, and it was used by all the belligerent nations to promote and define their national goals. Though a good writer might describe a war in bold, even terrifying words, once a reader saw a picture of a battlefield's devastation their emotional response was intensified more than any polished prose could accomplish. 

Fine art was an even older and more familiar medium that people were accustomed to seeing in advertisements, propaganda, posters, and postcards. What intrigues me is the way artists used their imagination and artistic skills to provoke a more immediate reaction from the viewer. People were moved to contribute to a veterans' charity because the image of an attractive nurse and handsome soldier sharing a moment caught their attention. It's the essential quality of all advertisements. Grab the eyes. Then persuade. 

In the 21st century we daily, even hourly, endure an endless barrage of competing media trying to change our focus. People in 1914 probably felt the same, even though the scale of their media was smaller, required live voices, and was only on printed paper. But these small postcards were important because this was a media that people regularly used for communication and the images were how they interpreted what was happening in this tempestuous time. I hope that Michele Atlante di Gius's English friend was able to oblige and send him British postcards if not newspapers with pictures of the war. 

The Bersaglieri were renown for their unique style
of marching in parades, and that tradition continues
in the Italian army corps of our modern time too.
It's a very unusual style so I can't resist finishing
with a short video of a Bersaglieri band in Bologna, Italy
on the occasion of the rally for the 6th Bersaglieri Regiment.

I can't decide who has the more impressive technique,
the tuba players or the trombonists.
In any case it is a brass method
that must require lips of steel.

Watch out for the little mascot
who follows the band. 
Apparently they start training
at a young age in Italy.

This topic of art in the Great War of 1914-18
is one which I plan to revisit soon
as I have acquired many more postcards on this theme.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where it's always best to follow a nurse's direction.