WW1 Military Field Post Cards

Here's one from my collection:



Feldpostkarte: (Field post card)
An (To)
Benno Wiedemann
Vereinslazarett (military hospital run by a volunteer organization)
Leverkusen b[ei] Köln/Reihn [error for Rhein] (Leverkusen near Cologne on the Rhine)

Augsburg, d. 14.11.14 (14 November 1914)

Mein lieber Herr Wiedemann!
My dear Herr Wiedemann!
Vielen Dank für beide Karten. Freut
Many thanks for both cards. It pleases
uns alle, daß es Ihnen soweit wieder besser
us all that so far you're doing better.
geht. Mit Gottes Hilfe werden Sie auch wie-
With God's help you will also
der gesunden. Peter erhielt gestern auch
recover. Yesterday Peter also received
eine Karte von Ihnen. Ist immer auch hier.
a card from you. He's still here, too.
Hat das schönste [????]. Ist [????????].
Has the most beautiful [????]. Is [????????].
Bei uns ist auch alles gesund. Herr Rauch ist [????] (deleted?)
Everyone's fine at our place. Herr Rauch is [????]
Soldat im Garnisonslazarett hier.
a soldier in the garrison hospital here.

Recht herzl[iche] Grüße
Very cordial greetings
von der ganzen Familie.
from the whole family.
Es grüßt Sie vielmals [????] Schwenk
Many greetings from [????] Schwenk

I expect that Florian can decipher the words that baffled me. I thought at first that the writer's first name might be Josef, but it doesn't have a long "s" in the middle.

Hi erilaz,

Here's my guess (but I am afraid I do not speak German, so I have to rely on dictionaries):

Hat das schönste [perhaps zu omitted? machen??].

Ist [Kammerunteroff(i)z(ier).??].
As for Kammerunteroffizier compare K in Karte just above. Offz = Offizier .
Duden Dictionary, however, lacks this headword: https://www.duden.de/suchen/dudenon...nteroffizier but if you look up Kammer https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Kammer , in sense 3 it says : Raum, Aufbewahrungsort für Bekleidung und Ausrüstungsgegenstände o. Ä., Gebrauch: Militär.

Bei uns ist auch alles gesund. Herr Rauch ist Sanitäts- (in Latin script)
soldat im Garnisonslazarett hier.

Es grüßt Sie vielmals [Josef??] Schwenk
I'd be inclined to agree with your original reading Josef as Horst does not fit either.

Regards,

Florián

Can anyone help with this one? I think this was an Austrian field post card, but it looks to have been posted on a ship. The lighter postmark appears to be from the SMS Osepel(?) and the heavier cancel is from Pola, which I think is now the port city of Pula, Croatia.

I have enhanced the back just a bit to darken the manuscript, but it still is not clear to me what language it is.

K u. K Kriegsmarine SMS Csepel
SMS Csepel on Wiki : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Csepel

It is German written in the old Kurrent script

Too bad Florian isnt around to decipher it.

@erliaz, can your parse out a translation?

This Feldpost card is interesting. It has been written to a bosnian officer of croatian ethnicity, who if he survived the war was almost certainly, also an officer in newly formed Kingdom of SHS after 1919. This guy if he survived the war was probably in command after the war to some men that he was fighting against 1914-1918. Letter is also interesting as it was written by a child, his niece, who longs for her uncles return.

I seem to be slowly acquiring examples from all the combatant nations. Here's a British card. This type seems quite impersonal, but I understand the need for secrecy regarding troop movements.

GregAlex----Pola was one of the Austro-Hungarian Naval Base and shipbuilding yard at the northern end of the Adriatic and was home for many types of ships, most notably, the submarines and torpedo boats. U-boat covers from Pola are very collectable!

From the Wikipedia information about the Csepel, thanks to that link from vayolene:

"On 27 January 1916, Novara, Csepel and Orjen departed Cattaro on a mission to attack the shipping in Durazzo harbor. En route the two sisters accidentally collided with each other and had to return to port although the cruiser continued the mission. Csepel was under repair until 21 April."

So the Csepel was completing repairs in Pola on April 20, when that postcard was cancelled, probably preparing to return to sea the following day. In fact, the submarine cancel that Rick2 posted was postmarked just a few days earlier.

The Csepel was out of port for less than two weeks, when a U-boat torpedoed her and blew off most of her stern on May 4. She was extremely lucky not to have sunk, but instead was towed back and repaired *again*.



I would still love to get a translation of the manuscript on the card, if anyone would like to dive into the German acript.

Hi lithograving and GregAlex,

Glad to be back online again.

Here's as much as I've been able to grasp from this scribble so far:

20/IV. (19)16

Lieber Herr Krammer !

Liebe Karte gute ................
erhalten, haben sehr viel Arbeit
morgen geht es wieder um die
See. Hoffentlich bekom(m)en wir
wieder gute Arbeit. Somit meinen
herzlichsten See................ u(nd)
hoffe auf "Wiedersehn". Ihr treuer
dankbarer Diener
Schindl

Regards,

Florián

So far so much but giving up:

20/IV. (19)16
Lieber Herr Krammer !
Liebe Karte gute vormittags...freude......
erhalten, haben sehr viel Arbeit
morgen geht es wieder um die
See. Hoffentlich bekom(m)en wir
wieder gute Arbeit. Somit meinen
herzlichsten See................ u(nd)
hoffe auf "Wiedersehn". Ihr treuer
dankbarer Diener
Schindl

The gist of it:

Your kind card, a morning pleasure to read, received - have had a lot to do - tomorrow putting to sea again - hoping to get a good job again - my best sailor's regards - hoping to see you again - yours truly - grateful servant Schindl

Thank you Florian! Very nice to have you back!

GregAlex....WOW, stern blown off by a French Sub??? Must have been built pretty good.

My contribution from WW I...

Judging by the perforations around the edges, that must have been a letter sheet. That would make things difficult for the censors, I wonder how they managed.