Cannon Abandoned by Germans in Retreat Acy, France
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Underwood & Underwood
American, 1880–1931
Cannon Abandoned by Germans in Retreat Acy, France
ca. 1917
Letterpress print
Image: 7 x 6.7 cm
Overall: 8.2 x 14 cm
Gift of Donald K. Weber, 2009
Inscriptions verso (printed in black): No. 39-CANNON ABANDONED BY GERMANS IN RETREAT ACY, FRANCE /
"It was from down there beyond those trees / that the French avalanche came," we heard. / "But we could see only the closed horizon, / and this was hardly surprising, when we con-/sider that looking out over the plain itself, and / knowing that it was occupied at that very / moment by a large number of batteries and / many regiments, we could distinguish nothing / but the undulating landscape, silen and de-/serted. In this strange modern warfare, so / different from that of old, what one sees least / is war itself. The guns are buried. The men / are buried. The words of command, passing / over telephone wires also buried, call forth / from the bowels of the earth torrents of fire / which are like eruption of a volcano. And / the warriors who fight and die, unseeing and / unseen know nothing of their valour, their / triumphs and their reverses, until a "com-/unique" from the staff brings the final / echoes of battle to them in their holes. The / learned officer who is our guide, talks with / the enthusiasm of an expert of the methodical / and occult character of the campaign. / "It is scientific war," he exclaimed and his / short-sighted blue eyes sparkle behind his / spectacles. /
"But far from sharing his joy, I feel sorrow-/ful when I evoke, as I do on every contem-/porary battlefield I visit-great battlefields, no / other fields less immense, in which history / conjures up a vision of brilliant banners / spread, and of the armies of the knights of / old, who fell in teh full light of day, and in / the full flush of joy and pride."-Carrillo. / Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.
"It was from down there beyond those trees / that the French avalanche came," we heard. / "But we could see only the closed horizon, / and this was hardly surprising, when we con-/sider that looking out over the plain itself, and / knowing that it was occupied at that very / moment by a large number of batteries and / many regiments, we could distinguish nothing / but the undulating landscape, silen and de-/serted. In this strange modern warfare, so / different from that of old, what one sees least / is war itself. The guns are buried. The men / are buried. The words of command, passing / over telephone wires also buried, call forth / from the bowels of the earth torrents of fire / which are like eruption of a volcano. And / the warriors who fight and die, unseeing and / unseen know nothing of their valour, their / triumphs and their reverses, until a "com-/unique" from the staff brings the final / echoes of battle to them in their holes. The / learned officer who is our guide, talks with / the enthusiasm of an expert of the methodical / and occult character of the campaign. / "It is scientific war," he exclaimed and his / short-sighted blue eyes sparkle behind his / spectacles. /
"But far from sharing his joy, I feel sorrow-/ful when I evoke, as I do on every contem-/porary battlefield I visit-great battlefields, no / other fields less immense, in which history / conjures up a vision of brilliant banners / spread, and of the armies of the knights of / old, who fell in teh full light of day, and in / the full flush of joy and pride."-Carrillo. / Copyright by Underwood & Underwood.
