Postcards

[vintagebobt]

 

Orchestra and "GAFF" Party Cottbus Germany Dec 26th 1916

[FROGSMILE]

16 hours ago, vintagebobt said:

All are super images, and real snapshots in time.  I am sure that @Robert Bueschelwill be interested in all these Cottbus photos.

The captions and names annotated on the back read:

 

Souter NF (Northumberland Fusiliers).

Tich Nash annotation indiscernible, but badge looks like King’s Own Lancaster I think.

Tom Lewis RE (Royal Engineers).

Beaumont N Div (Royal Naval Division).

Jack Harrison Canadian Scottish (badge similar to Black Watch).

Dolly Morgan SLI (Somerset Light Infantry).

November 24th 1917

Frankfurt am Oder.

The other photo card shows a French comrade whose written on the back:

 

The 31st March 1918

To my friend Aubrey

an affectionate keepsake (token of friendship)

[from] Dinel (?) Henri (Henry Dinel)

Plouray, Morbihan (Brittany)

France

 

NB.  I would not be surprised if the Dinel family still lived at Plouray.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 23 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[vintagebobt]

3 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

All are super images, and real snapshots in time.  The names above read:

 

Souter NF (Northumberland Fusiliers).

Tich Nash annotation indiscernible, but badge looks like King’s Own Lancaster I think.

Tom Lewis RE (Royal Engineers).

Beaumont N Div (Royal Naval Division).

Jack Harrison Canadian Scottish (badge similar to Black Watch).

Dolly Morgan SLI (Somerset Light Infantry).

November 24th 1917

Frankfurt am Oder.

The other photo card shows a French comrade whose written on the back:

 

The 31st March 1918

To my friend Aubrey

an affectionate keepsake (token of friendship)

[from] Dinel (?) Henri (Henry Dinel)

Plouray, Morbihan (Brittany)

France

 

NB.  I would not be surprised if the Dinel family still lived at Plouray.

 

 FROGSMILE thank you for sorting out the information. I will post some more over the weekend

 

 

 

 

 

[GWF1967]

Royal East Kent Yeomanry (The Duke of Connaught's Own) (Mounted Rifles).

 

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear All,

I attach a group of unknown 53rd Battalion, AIF lieutenants in the NSW area, circa 1914.

This, on the off-chance that some GWF members would be interested how officers of the newly-forming Australian Imperial Force were attired.

Kindest regards,

Kim.

 

[GWF1967]

M.G.C. - R.N.D. cap badge, M.G.C. shoulder titles. Overseas Service chevrons, and a unit patch upper arm.   Photograph by Chapman, Swansea. The word "Waliser" is written on the back of the card. 

 

 

[seaJane]

Seeing as it has just been the 103rd anniversary of the Zeebrugge Raid, I post a selection from a book of postcards I bought off e-Bay a while back. They were designed to be detached and used, but are still intact in their booklet with guard tissue between each card.

 

sJ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FROGSMILE]

Very interesting SeaJane, thank you for posting.  I had forgotten just how many submerged vessels that there were as a result of that action.  Brave men indeed!

Edited 25 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[ilkley remembers]

@vintagebobt Interesting collection of photographs. I have a similar collection of about 30 photographs which were collected by Sgt John Power of West Yorks Reg. Indeed he appears in on of your photographs, on the far left here. 

 

 

Power is also shown seated 2nd from the left on this photo

 

As @FROGSMILE has indicated the state museum in Cottbus have a large collection of photographs of the camp and are intending to put them online I sent copies of all mine across for their archive and if you want the email address then I can PM you

 

Regards,

 

I R

 

 

[vintagebobt]

2 hours ago, ilkley remembers said:

@vintagebobt Interesting collection of photographs. I have a similar collection of about 30 photographs which were collected by Sgt John Power of West Yorks Reg. Indeed he appears in on of your photographs, on the far left here. 

 

Power is also shown seated 2nd from the left on this photo

 

As @FROGSMILE has indicated the state museum in Cottbus have a large collection of photographs of the camp and are intending to put them online I sent copies of all mine across for their archive and if you want the email address then I can PM you

 

Regards,

 

I R

 

 

Wow, great spot there. Yes please, I will have the email address to pass on the photos, thanks again  Bob

[FROGSMILE]

7 minutes ago, vintagebobt said:

Wow, great spot there. Yes please, I will have the email address to pass on the photos, thanks again  Bob

 

Both collections of photos, yours and 'ilkley remembers', seem an amazingly complete record of POW images that truly reflect a sense of community (albeit an enforced one) and it will be a great thing, I feel, if the municipal museum can indeed have copies to add to their collection and perpetuate the memory of these men from over a hundred years ago.  I'm sure that @Robert Bueschelwill be pleased to see them arrive.

 

Edited 26 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[vintagebobt]

 

[vintagebobt]

On the back of this one "Cottbus Gaff 1916"

[vintagebobt]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FROGSMILE]

19 minutes ago, vintagebobt said:

On the back of this one "Cottbus Gaff 1916"

 

It's interesting how in the theatrical world, especially in the military and naval elements of those times, there was a much stronger tradition of cross-dressing due to the absence of real females.

[FROGSMILE]

25 minutes ago, vintagebobt said:

 

The lowermost photo is straightforward and clearly identifies the sender as from the 4th Durham Light Infantry,  but the photo of the three soldiers is something of a conundrum.  It seems to say:

Jes (Jesse?) Bamfreep, 11th Border Regiment.

Joseph Craig, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Foster H Dayle [of] Bedford, Halifax Co, Nova Scotia, Canada.

This doesn't match perfectly with the man stood centrally (with lanyard) who going by his shoulder title is from a light infantry regiment, also perhaps Durham.

Edited 26 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[ilkley remembers]

@vintagebobtI have messaged the email address to you for Robert Bueschel. He is actually a forum member but do not think that he is a regular visitor. The museum apparently has a significant collection of images and Robert is able to identify some of the locations. 

 

Looking through the photographs that you have posted many photo's in your collection are very similar to mine such as this one which was a play/opera called The Rival Chaviliers(sic). The theatre is reffered to as the Cottbus Empire and it seems that men from all nationalities took part in the performances along with an orchestra. The photographer is Paul Thurman.

 

John Power was captured in Oct 1914 just a few weeks after he arrived in France and remained at Cottbus until 1918 when he was transferred to an internment camp in Holland and repatriated in November 1918. He had been a pre war regular in the 2nd West Yorks and was from a family who lived on the outskirts of Bradford.

 

The chap in your collection must have been known to John and seemed to have shared an interest in the performing arts

 

Edward

[FROGSMILE]

Is John Power the fellow (sergeant) in uniform, as that is not the cap badge of the West Yorkshire Regiment that he's wearing?

Edited 26 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[ilkley remembers]

2 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

The lowermost photo is straightforward and clearly identifies the sender as from the 4th Durham Light Infantr

 

The 4th DLI were I think an extra reserve battalion who provided a large number of recruits for the RND in Aug/Sept 1914 some of whom were sent virtually untrained to Belgium so he may have been captured then. 

 

[FROGSMILE]

5 minutes ago, ilkley remembers said:

 

The 4th DLI were I think an extra reserve battalion who provided a large number of recruits for the RND in Aug/Sept 1914 some of whom were sent virtually untrained to Belgium so he may have been captured then. 

 

That's very interesting Edward, I wasn't aware of that.  It's intriguing that he still thinks of his unit as 4th DLI rather than RND.  No wonder he doesn't look very happy (and yet ironically it probably saved his life).

Edited 26 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[ilkley remembers]

1 minute ago, FROGSMILE said:

Is John Power the fellow (sergeant) in uniform, as that is not the cap badge of the West Yorkshire Regiment that he's wearing?

No he isn't its just one of the photo's of the concert party. The two 'ladies' are similar to the ones in @vintagebobtphotograph. Some of the cards have names on the back and the female roles may have been taken by French soldiers. Certainly the idea of gender fluidity seems to have been common in these productions a surprisingly modern trait I suppose. Over the last couple of years at least prior to lockdown I have seen all female productions of both Hamlet and Romeo and juliet

 

[FROGSMILE]

1 minute ago, ilkley remembers said:

No he isn't its just one of the photo's of the concert party. The two 'ladies' are similar to the ones in @vintagebobtphotograph. Some of the cards have names on the back and the female roles may have been taken by French soldiers. Certainly the idea of gender fluidity seems to have been common in these productions a surprisingly modern trait I suppose. Over the last couple of years at least prior to lockdown I have seen all female productions of both Hamlet and Romeo and juliet

 

Which one is John Power then?  I assumed he was in one of the photos as you mentioned his name.

 

I think that the all male ensemble was more common than we realise back then.  There was still a little of the outdated social attitude that 'respectable women' did not appear on the stage.  Very unfairly those that did were oft labelled 'loose women'.  A reflection of very different times. 

[ilkley remembers]

2 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

That's very interesting Edward, I wasn't aware of that

 

Whole companies of DLI and Northumberland Fusiliers seem to have been transferred at very short notice from their depots at Newcastle into the RND. I think a similar thing happened with men from the Kings Own Yorks LI. The DLi seen to have been awash with recruits and the TF battalions were perhaps up to full establishment. My grandfather who was a territorial with the 1/6th DLI in Darlington was transferred into the Royal Engineers with whom he served out the war

[ilkley remembers]

John Power is on the second photo dramatically entering the stage and about to draw his sword whilst his adversary stares grimly into the distance

[FROGSMILE]

14 minutes ago, ilkley remembers said:

 

Whole companies of DLI and Northumberland Fusiliers seem to have been transferred at very short notice from their depots at Newcastle into the RND. I think a similar thing happened with men from the Kings Own Yorks LI. The DLi seen to have been awash with recruits and the TF battalions were perhaps up to full establishment. My grandfather who was a territorial with the 1/6th DLI in Darlington was transferred into the Royal Engineers with whom he served out the war

Thank you for explaining the circumstances, it adds a different facet to the eventual usage of Extra Reserve battalion men in 1914.  Given the very different traditions of the Army and RN it can't have made for an especially smooth marriage.

 

NB.  Unfortunately this significant development is not mentioned by Brig EA James against his entries for the Extra Reserve battalions, although he did inevitably miss some of the more obscure outcomes for units.

Edited 26 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE