1918 My Covers

GERMAN EMPIRE
MISCELLANEOUS
POSTCARDS
1918

The 1918 postcard page has now been split into four separate pages as it was beginning to get unwieldy. All 1918 Official postcards are now on this page. Official postcards are cards that were issued by the Reich’s post office, had pre-printed (indicia) stamps and were widely available throughout German towns and cities.

Secondly Printed to Private Order postcards are postcards that were generally issued by entities that were advertising an event or commemorating an anniversary, and also had pre-printed stamps, but were not widely available throughout Germany (most were only available at the event they were commemorating).

Thirdly Other postcards are postcards that fall into the same general category as printed to private order however they do not have pre-printed stamps.

Finally, Miscellaneous postcards is where you will find postcards that do not fit into the first three categories (i.e. they are not official, they do not have pre-printed stamps, and they do not commemorate an event).

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Quick Links:
AUF POSTEN, RPPC GREMSMÜHLEN, FOND FAREWELL, ROMANTIC POSE No. 6380/2 and ROMANTIC POSE No. 6380-5

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AUF POSTEN
(Post On)
(4th Feb 1918)

This hand-drawn Feldpost card (by artist Lud. Glaser) shows a German soldier in the trenches smoking a large pipe and checking the mail. The card has a feldpost cancel dated "4.2.18" but unfortunately the unit number cancel is too degraded to see. The reverse of the card shows it was printed by 'Druck v. Verlag "Der Kolben" Konstanz' and there is no number to indicate it was part of a larger series of cards.

PICTORAL POSTCARD
(GREMSMÜHLEN)
(5th Apr 1918)

This postcard shows a leisure boat on a lake in Germany. The German title is "Partie aus Gremsmühlen" roughly translated into English "Game from Gremsmühlen". The reverse side has a BAHNPOST cancel dated 5th Apr 1918.

FOND FAREWELL
(3rd May 1918)

This postcard shows a German soldier saying farewell to his wife/lover as he heads off to war. The reverse has a 7½ Pf Germania stamp cancelled "Guderup 3.5.18".

The poem roughly translated reads as follows:

Zwar bringt das Scheiden Gramen
Doch gross ist auch das Glück
"Kehrt nach dem Abscheidnehmen
Der Sieger uns zurück!"

Parting is not what we want
But luck is also great
"Return after the separation
The winner comes back!"

ROMANTIC POSE No. 6380/2
(30th Jul 1918)

This postcard shows a German soldier talking to his wife/lover. The reverse of this postcard has a feldpost cancel as well as a unit stamp inscribed "S.B. 4. Batterie. Ers. Batl Füssartl-Regt 18". This postcard appears to be part of a set as it bears the number 6380/2 and a similar postcard below, from the same soldier, is from the same series but marked 6380/5.

The poem at the foot of the card translates roughly as follows:

Denkt ich über mein Geschidfe,
Blickt dein Bild mich tröstend an,
Wie im Kummer, so im Blücke
Ist es stets ein Talisman.

I think about my actions,
Does your picture look at me comfortingly,
as in grief, so in a glimpse
It is always a talisman.

ROMANTIC POSE No. 6380-5
(4th Oct 1918)

This postcard shows a German soldier talking to his wife/lover. The reverse of this postcard has a feldpost cancel and another military stamp inscribed "S.B. 4. Batterie. Ers. Batl Fossartl-Regt 18" and appears to be written by the same soldier as the postcard above.