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Vestes Bellica Military history archive

Vestes Bellica

Scenes of War - Marches

The transport to the war zone was regularly followed by long marches to the front. In the autobiographical novel Krieg the author (Ludwig Renn, in reality: Arnold Friedrich Vieth von Golßenau, 22.04.1889, + 21.07.1979) describes this as follows:
The transport to the war zone was regularly followed by long marches to the front. In the autobiographical novel Krieg the author (Ludwig Renn, in reality: Arnold Friedrich Vieth von Golßenau, 22.04.1889, + 21.07.1979) describes this as follows: "The marches began the next day. The days were hot, and we were not used to the mountains. In the first days many lay down by the road, in the shade of a rowan tree, with their coats gaping open and a handkerchief on their heads. Then they grew accustomed to it. We crossed several ridgelines and plunged into a deep valley. Beyond it we climbed steeply up through a birch hollow. Already from the heights we had come from we had seen that the village we were to go to lay on the highest crest. The first marches had been short. Today they demanded a great effort of us" (Edition Berlin and Weimar 1979, p. 16).

Figure above: Soldiers on the march. Photo: W. Braemer/ Berlin. Around 1914/15.

Figure below: Infantry crosses a French village. Photo postcard, sent on 30.10.1915.

Arrival of a German marching column in a small town, likely the Western Front. Small-format original photo. Around 1914/15.
Arrival of a German marching column in a small town, likely the Western Front. Small-format original photo. Around 1914/15.
Marching column in a wintry landscape. Original undated photo postcard. Around 1916/17.
Marching column in a wintry landscape. Original undated photo postcard. Around 1916/17.
Reserve or replacement troops on their way to the front pass through a village in the West. Original photo postcard, sent on 09.10.1917. Of interest is the manner in which the rifles are carried.
Reserve or replacement troops on their way to the front pass through a village in the West. Original photo postcard, sent on 09.10.1917. Of interest is the manner in which the rifles are carried.
Troop transport by truck behind the front. Original official photo postcard (welfare postcard).
Troop transport by truck behind the front. Original official photo postcard (welfare postcard).

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