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1914 reality ... even for hardware collectors.

945 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Bayonetcollector
Something interesting came out of the crash of my old PC. I forgot all about it but ...
The attachment is a poster printed and distributed by the German army at the very start of WWI in Belgium. It speaks for itself and I made a translation that (I hope) says what it was all about ... no more, no less!
Because it is my mother tongue it strikes me that it must have been printed in a hurry. There are, at least, 20 errors or typos in this very short old Flemish text. This poster was made for the city of "Namen" ("Namur" in French because it is Walloon country) I know, you all are collectors of real things, weapons, gear etc. Please go a step further and try to follow my drift.
The original text, addressed to the civilians, reads like this (translation is word by word, IMHO it's the only way to give the utmost reality to the interested reader):

Flemish text:
MESSAGE
The Belgian and French soldiers must be delivered, as prisoners of war, before 4 o'clock at the prison.
The civilians which will not follow this order will be condemned at forced labour for life. Every soldier that will be found will be shot immediately through the head ... Every street will be occupied by a German watch which will take ten hostages per street, these will be guarded severely. If there would be an attack in the street, the hostages will be shot through the head.
The residents of Namur have to understand that there is no greater or more cruel murder than the existence of the town or the lives of the inhabitants if they decide to attack the German army.
The General:
Von Bulow.
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I started collecting because I was interested in the military history of WWI. I have learned about obscure battles that were fought in Roumania and old Austria-Hungary. To pick up a WWI rifle from those countrys and then relate a historical battle that it might have been in thrils me to death! I even recently learned that the European side of my family gave their lives for their homeland. Had I been there rather than Viet Nam, I would have been fighting against them! WOW!

Yes, I do enjoy collecting!
dg13
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