WW1 '14-'16 fortification engineer's impressions - sketches
Posted: 01 Oct 2017, 19:18
Here's the sketches made by my great grandfather in 1914-1916 during his service as a fortification engineer on the Western Front and Eastern Front.
They came to me via my grand aunt (of whom I have a ton of documentation, including the "Arier-Nachweis" of the NSDAP-era and a ton of correspondence, some in Kurrent [the irritatingly flowing German late 19th century script...] ), once I've had the time to go through everything that's there I might encounter further items of general interest here and might make a list for those interested.
Some of the items here are primarily impressions quickly sketched, some are intended humorously and some are impressions of memorial markers found in the field and the zone immediately adjacent.
Of particular interest here might be some of the impressions on improvised field fortifications and some ironic comments on razor-wire-laying in no-man's land (the most dangerous thing short of artillery bombardment a fortifications engineer could encounter - here represented as "to roll a hoop - fortification engineer's style") as well as the occassional stab against logistics troops (drawing of a horse being cared for by a trooper labelled "the horse and the ass" ).
Don't know if it will be actually useful to anyone, but at the very least it's a little bit of mood building for the upcoming '14-'18 build .
(edit: I forgot to mention - all these sketches are executed on repurposed standard issue field post-cards)
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The note mentions that the items from the war are preceded by a drawing from school in 1908 (that's the big one) and some assorted school and work related items not shown here in any detail.
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The weird impressionistic bulbous things in a night sky of dashes are meant to be illumination flares.
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Assorted field fortifications, drainage culverts, firing positions (on display, if only cut off, here is the wicker construction of most German trenches) dugouts and blockhouses as well as the effect of shelling on the network of dirt roads in the sectors behind the front covered by enemy artillery.
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"Rolling hoops", camouflage for immediate rear area buildings, relaxation, slightly overstated fortifications engineer field load-out, taking a shower, a view of countryside yet unspoilt by the war.
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Field memorials from both the Great War and the Wars of Unification caught in the immediate rear and sometimes in former no-man's land of the front lines.
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Drainage constructions (probably civilian in the northern sector of the Western Front), memorial stone, improvised telegraph lines, "peace" (mind you this is from '16 and shows a bloke at a beautifully maintained grave-site, a dead rose and a cross marker on a hill... peace indeed) and a magpie on telegraph wires (why not ).
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"The horse and the ass", fresh orderly grave-sites next to a ruin, farmhouse with integrated windmill (no idea where an why).
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And the weird final page of the folder... it's files by the Royal Regional Court (probably Royal Prussian, maybe Royal Bavarian or Royal Würtemberg..ian), 2nd civil chamber in the lawsuit of Gerhard vs Gerhard (escalated family issues? inheritance problems? divorce? I have no idea whatsoever ) put to the files in 1907 and to be kept until 1915 (I suppose that was either criminally ignored or the cards where stored in it after '15 ) ...weird .
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So I hope this was of some interest to you folks .
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
They came to me via my grand aunt (of whom I have a ton of documentation, including the "Arier-Nachweis" of the NSDAP-era and a ton of correspondence, some in Kurrent [the irritatingly flowing German late 19th century script...] ), once I've had the time to go through everything that's there I might encounter further items of general interest here and might make a list for those interested.
Some of the items here are primarily impressions quickly sketched, some are intended humorously and some are impressions of memorial markers found in the field and the zone immediately adjacent.
Of particular interest here might be some of the impressions on improvised field fortifications and some ironic comments on razor-wire-laying in no-man's land (the most dangerous thing short of artillery bombardment a fortifications engineer could encounter - here represented as "to roll a hoop - fortification engineer's style") as well as the occassional stab against logistics troops (drawing of a horse being cared for by a trooper labelled "the horse and the ass" ).
Don't know if it will be actually useful to anyone, but at the very least it's a little bit of mood building for the upcoming '14-'18 build .
(edit: I forgot to mention - all these sketches are executed on repurposed standard issue field post-cards)
=>
The note mentions that the items from the war are preceded by a drawing from school in 1908 (that's the big one) and some assorted school and work related items not shown here in any detail.
=>
The weird impressionistic bulbous things in a night sky of dashes are meant to be illumination flares.
=>
Assorted field fortifications, drainage culverts, firing positions (on display, if only cut off, here is the wicker construction of most German trenches) dugouts and blockhouses as well as the effect of shelling on the network of dirt roads in the sectors behind the front covered by enemy artillery.
=>
"Rolling hoops", camouflage for immediate rear area buildings, relaxation, slightly overstated fortifications engineer field load-out, taking a shower, a view of countryside yet unspoilt by the war.
=>
Field memorials from both the Great War and the Wars of Unification caught in the immediate rear and sometimes in former no-man's land of the front lines.
=>
Drainage constructions (probably civilian in the northern sector of the Western Front), memorial stone, improvised telegraph lines, "peace" (mind you this is from '16 and shows a bloke at a beautifully maintained grave-site, a dead rose and a cross marker on a hill... peace indeed) and a magpie on telegraph wires (why not ).
=>
"The horse and the ass", fresh orderly grave-sites next to a ruin, farmhouse with integrated windmill (no idea where an why).
=>
And the weird final page of the folder... it's files by the Royal Regional Court (probably Royal Prussian, maybe Royal Bavarian or Royal Würtemberg..ian), 2nd civil chamber in the lawsuit of Gerhard vs Gerhard (escalated family issues? inheritance problems? divorce? I have no idea whatsoever ) put to the files in 1907 and to be kept until 1915 (I suppose that was either criminally ignored or the cards where stored in it after '15 ) ...weird .
=>
So I hope this was of some interest to you folks .
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz