WW1 Photos & Info.

Series of French postcards of a French boy soldier posing for a photograph with a dog wearing a German Pickelhaube, 1915.
The first postcard's title in the top left translates to: "Against all dangers we are on guard", and the second postcard to: "The Teutonic hound will be tamed by us." The title in the third postcard translates to: "Against the invader, we know how to defend ourselves".
The Teutonic invader hound in this propaganda postcard is obviously represented by the dog; small and puny compared to the French soldier-boy.
What's your thoughts on these postcards? ⬇️

French soldier posing for a photograph inside the Fort de Vaux at Verdun, November 22, 1916.
This photograph, colourised by 'DURIEZ Frederic' on Flickr, was taken today 107 years ago inside the Fort de Vaux during the Battle of Verdun.
The following is excerpts of a French Lieutenant's (translated) diary of his experiences at the Fort de Vaux in June 1916.
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"We had scarcely arrived at the right of Fort de Vaux, on the slope of the ravine, when there came an unprecedented bombardment of twelve hours. Alone, in a sort of dugout without walls, I pass twelve hours of agony, believing that it is the end.
In front of us are not less than 1,200 guns of 240, 305, 380, and 420 calibre, which spit ceaselessly and all together, in these days of preparation for attack. These explosions stupefy the brain; you feel as if your entrails were being torn out, your heart twisted and wrenched; the shock seems to dismember your whole body. And then the wounded, the corpses!
Never had I seen such horror, such hell. I felt that I would give everything if only this would stop long enough to clear my brain. Twelve hours alone, motionless, exposed, and no chance to risk a leap to another place, so closely did the fragments of shell and rock fall in hail all day long.
I bury three comrades in a shell-hole. We are without water, and, with hands that have just touched the poor mangled limbs, we eat as if nothing were wrong. We are laid flat by one that bursts a few yards away. So many of them fall at one time that we no longer pay any attention to them. We tumble into a ravine which we have named Death Ravine.
At last we enter the village (Vaux) - without suspecting that the Germans are there! The commanding officer scatters us along the steep hill to the left and says: "Dig holes, quickly; the Boches are forty yards away!" In two minutes the village is surrounded, while the German batteries get a rude jolt.
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German Kaiser Wilhelm II with Austro-Hungarian Emperor Charles I during a visit to the front, 1917.
Today 107 years ago, on November 21, 1916, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I of the House of Habsburg died and was succeeded by his grand-nephew Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary.
As a result of a developing pneumonia and old age, on the evening of November 21, 1916, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I died inside the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the same place he was born, at the age of 86.
During her life, Emperor Franz Joseph's wife Empress Elisabeth had given birth to 4 children, but only 1 son to inherit the Austro-Hungarian throne, Crown Prince Rudolph, who committed su***de in 1889.
This left Emperor Franz Joseph's brother's eldest son Archduke Franz Ferdinand as the next heir in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne, who was assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.
The next Habsburg heir in line was 29-year-old Charles, Emperor Franz Joseph's brother's eldest grandson, who until 1914 had lived his entire life unanticipating that one day he would succeed his grand-uncle as Emperor of Austria-Hungary.
Upon the passing of Emperor Franz Joseph on November 21, 1916, Charles assumed the title of King Charles I of Austria. He was formally coronated on December 30 as King Charles IV of Hungary, making him Emperor of Austria-Hungary - and the last one.
Almost 2 years after his coronation, in October 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Army was decisively beaten by the Italian Army in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, resulting the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on October 30, 1918, as Hungary proclaimed independence.
On November 11, 1918, Charles issued a manifesto recognizing the Austrian people's right to determine the future form of government, essentially abdicating the throne, but never explicitly saying so: "I did not abdicate, and never will. I see my manifesto of 11 November as the equivalent to a cheque which a street thug has forced me to issue at gunpoint".

Painting depicting a German trench being overrun by a British tank, 1917. Artist: William Francis Phillips.
The following is excerpts of an anonymous Danish-German soldier's account of the first day of the First Battle of Cambrai, November 20, 1917 - today 106 years ago. Translated by myself:
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"At 7 AM on November 20, the British opened an artillery bombardment on our positions with the effect as if the world was going under. The dug-outs shook, and it was impossible to escape them during the bombardment.
Under protection of the destructive artillery fire, the British tanks advanced. A massive assembly of around 300 tanks crawled slowly towards the German lines, spewing death and decay around them. These tanks were unstoppable and advanced over corpses, shell holes, and trenches, deeply infiltrating the German lines and cutting off multiple regiments in the space of two hours.
The Germans put up a desperate resistance, which resulted in bitter and bloody close quarter battles. All resistance was futile. Behind the 300 tanks followed the British infantry, which took 12,000 German prisoners before noon.
During the bombardment, I lay in a small dug-out and waited for the artillery to cease. By 9:30 AM I thought it seemed like "occupation weather", and I crept out from my hideout. I saw nothing of our own troops. The earth was torn by shells. In a valley further away lay the wreck of an airplane. I felt alone and foreign, abandoned and cut off, and I realized I was now in captivity.
I ran back into the dug-out to collect my things, but whilst doing this, I heard someone make noise by the entrance. There were several who spoke, but in a language I didn't understand; they were British. Shots were fired, and the bullets hissed down into the dug-out. They shouted something I didn't understand. I stood alone in the middle of the dug-out and didn't know what to do. Should I keep calm or go up to them?
At once I heard something jumping down the stairs. I knew it was a hand-grenade, and in the next moment the dug-out would be blown apart alongside myself.
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British soldiers with a ditched Mark IV tank in a German trench during the First Battle of Cambrai, November 20, 1917.
Today 106 years ago, on November 20, 1917, the First Battle of Cambrai began on the Western Front.
Following the conclusion of the Third Battle of Ypres, the British were desperate for success. An offensive was planned towards the French city of Cambrai, as this was fresh ground that hadn't been ravaged much by the war.
Cambrai was also an important supply hub for the Germans. The attack were to be carried out by the British Third Army, which would deploy more tanks at once than ever before in the war, as well as new artillery techniques to break through the German lines.
On November 20, 1917, following a hurricane bombardment, the British attacked at Cambrai with 476 tanks and 110,000 infantrymen. As the British infantry only attacked 20 minutes after the bombardment, the Germans were caught by surprise and the British broke through in numerous places.
In six hours, the British advanced further at Cambrai than in 3 months in Flanders. By the end of the day, the British had advanced 6 km along a 11 km wide front, taking 4,200 prisoners.
The British consolidated their positions and attacked the next day on November 21, which did not go as smoothly, as German reinforcements were sent in and offered stiff resistance.
The fighting was especially fierce at Anneux and the Bourlon Woods near Cambrai. After a week of futile attacks, the British offensive was called off on November 28, the Germans still being in possession of Cambrai.
Then on November 30, the Germans launched an incredibly ambitious counter-attack with gas and Stormtrooper infiltration tactics. The attack took the British by surprise, who were pushed back and by December 7, the frontlines were the same as it had been on November 20.
In the First Battle of Cambrai, the Germans had suffered 54,720 casualties, of whom 8,817 were deaths, and the British had suffered 75,681 casualties, of whom 10,042 were deaths, and nearly 180 British tanks were destroyed.

British Private Flanders posing for a photograph in his uniform, August 5, 1914.
Colourised by Colourising History
The photographed British soldier, 19-year-old Private Walter William Flanders of the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment, was killed today 109 years ago.
Private Flanders arrived on the Western Front on November 5, 1914 and was sent to the trenches of Zillebekke in Flanders around November 17.
Less than 48 hours after arriving on the frontlines, on November 19, 1914, today 109 years ago, his trench was struck by a shell, burying an entire section and killing Private Flanders and three others. However, as his body was never found, he has no known grave and is instead mentioned on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres.
Walter's older brother, Valentine Flanders, enlisted in the 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and was sent to France in 1916. Wounded on July 1, 1916 on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Valentine went missing at Monchy-le-Preux in April 1917 during the Battle of Arras, and was never seen again. Valentine Flanders is mentioned on the Arras Memorial to the Missing.
R.I.P and Lest We Forget 🙏🥀➕
#1914

Fallen German soldier decomposing next to a collapsed dug-out at Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme, November 1916.
Colourised by .colours.
Today 107 years ago, on November 18, 1916, the Battle of the Somme officially came to an end on the Western Front, having begun on July 1, 1916.
In the Battle of the Somme, the British had suffered some 419,000 casualties with 95,000 deaths, and the French 200,000 casualties with 50,000 deaths. The German losses range wide from 434,000 to 729,000 casualties, with some 164,000 deaths.
With a total of 1 - 1.3 million casualties and over 300,000 deaths, the Battle of the Somme is the single bloodiest and deadliest battle of the First World War, as well as one of bloodiest in the history of warfare.
300,000 men - 300,000 individuals, each with personalities, lives, families and dreams, all dead in just 4,5 months across a 26 km wide front of French countryside.
I want you to ponder for a moment about just how colossal 300,000 men really is. When reading casualty counts for battles, one dead soldier easily turns into nothing but a mere number in our minds. So try to visualize the following instead:
Try to imagine a room with 100 people in it, 100 different individuals. Now multiply that room with 3,000. Every single person in those 3,000 rooms would be dead in order to represent the death tally of the Battle of the Somme. It's such an insane loss of life, our minds can't physically visualize so many people at once - dead or alive.
The Battle of the Somme has gone down in history as perhaps the most infamous battle of the First World War due to its tremendous amount of bloodshed, perfectly symbolizing the futile and violent nature of the Great War.

Austro-Hungarian soldiers inspecting a captured Italian M1916 Obice da 305/17 howitzer, November 17, 1917.
These photographs, colourised by .photo and , were taken today 106 years ago, by Austro-Hungarian (Czech) war photographer Jindřich Bišický in the town Zompicchia near Udine, which was conquered by the Austro-Hungarians during the Battle of Caporetto in October 1917, along with this Italian howitzer.
By October 1917, the Italians had some 33 Obice 305/17 howitzers ready for service. After the chaotic retreat of Caporetto, 9 of these fell into Austro-Hungarian hands.
These were accompanied by some 3,152 other Italian artillery pieces, 1,712 mortars, 3,000 machine-guns and 300,000 rifles, all of which the Italians lost during the retreat from Caporetto.

French soldiers defending a position from a hill in the Vosges, November 15, 1916.
This photograph, colourised by 'greatwarincolour' on Tumblr, was taken today 107 years ago.
Although this photograph is likely a staged scene, it does accurately depict the ferocity of the fighting in the Vosges mountains during the First World War. The following is excerpts of the translated letter from French soldier André Larrue of the 27th Chasseurs Alpin Battalion, describing a French attack on April 6, 1915, during the Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf:
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"We were in quite a calm location, 500 m from the Boche, when the day before Easter, we were told that we were going up to the nearby ridge that same evening to attack a small German blockhouse just 90 m from our trenches. You can imagine how that darkened the mood, especially the idea of fighting on Easter Sunday.
The weather was obviously unfavorable. My Corporal was sadly singing "Salut ô mon dernier matin", which made us even more gloomy. The artillery would start the bombardment at 1 o'clock and the attack was set for 4 o'clock. Everyone got ready for whatever might befall us.
At 1 o'clock the heavy guns came into action and gradually the bombardment increased. The Boche returned fire but without doing much harm, whereas our shells fell right among them. Soon everything was rumbling. Shells, bombs and aerial torpedoes sent trees flying up into the air and rocks too.
At 3:50, everyone in positions! The Boche shells rained down on our trenches. Wounded men turned back, faces covered in blood. At 4 o'clock: "En avant !" That fearsome cry rang out. We ran forward into battle as the bullets rained down. In a single leap the blockhouse was surrounded. It was nothing more than a smoking heap of stone full of horrifyingly mutilated Boche corpses.
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Pictures of German Kaiser Wilhelm II in an Ottoman Field Marshal uniform during a state visit to Istanbul, in which he met the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V, October 1917.
Colourised by and 'KraljAleksandar' on DeviantArt.
Today 109 years ago, on November 14, 1914 the Ottoman Empire declared a Jihad, promoted and backed by Germany, encouraging Muslims worldwide to join the Ottoman forces in the First World War.
The Ottoman Empire had entered the First World War on the side of the Central Powers on November 1, 1914, when Russia declared war following the Black Sea Raid.
The Ottoman state was officially a caliphate, with its Sultan Mehmed V being the global religious leader of Islam. Both the Young Turk movement and the Germans saw the potential propaganda machine in a call for Jihad, an Islamic holy war, in order to unite worldwide Muslims in fighting for the Central Powers and against the Allies.
Although the Ottoman Empire was the Muslim epicenter of the world, there were millions of Muslim colonial subjects in both France and Britain who could cause large-scale rebellions in the respective colonies, forcing the Allies to redirect troops headed for the frontlines and potentially force the Allies to lose said colonies, which the Germans might seize instead after the war was won.
On November 14, 1914, at the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, Ali Haydar Efendi, Custodian Of the Fatwa (Fetva Emini), proclaimed a Jihad against the enemies of the Central Powers, the Allies, who were thus declared enemies of Islam. The declaration encouraged Muslims worldwide to take up arms against the Allies in the name of Islam.
In the following years, the Germans invested large sums of money in order to promote this Jihad aimed towards Muslim Allied soldiers, notably British Indians and French African colonial troops on the Western Front.
In sectors with Muslim soldiers, leaflets were dropped over the Allied lines by planes, encouraging the soldiers to desert their positions and join the Germans instead, whom the Germans claimed would treat them better than the British or French.
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British military policeman escorting a wounded German prisoner, with a French cameraman following behind, November 13, 1916.
This photograph, colourised by , were taken today 107 years ago near St. Pierre-Divion during the Battle of the Somme.
By the time the Battle of the Somme came to an end on November 18, 1916, the British Commonwealth forces had suffered some 419,000 casualties among 95,000 deaths, and the French 200,000 casualties with 50,000 deaths. The German losses range wide from 434,000 to 729,000 casualties, with some 164,000 deaths.
With a total of 1 - 1.3 million casualties and over 300,000 deaths, the Battle of the Somme is the single bloodiest and deadliest battle of the First World War, as well as one of the bloodiest in the history of warfare.

Photographs of Italian Bersaglieri troops with an M1914 Fiat-Revell machine-gun overlooking the Adige Valley of the Alps, ca. October 1918.
Today 106 years ago, on November 13, 1917, the First Battle of Monte Grappa began on the Italian Front, as part of the First Battle of the Piave.
After the disastrous Battle of Caporetto in October 1917, the Italians had withdrawn and established their defenses on the Piave river and at Monte Grappa in the Alps, after a retreat of over 80 km. The Italians had constructed fortified defenses in the mountain range around Monte Grappa, with the intent of turning it into an impregnable fortress.
On November 13, 1917, with support from German Alpine units, the Austro-Germans attacked the Italians at Monte Grappa and on the Piave river.
The Austro-Germans met fierce resistance from Italian Alpine troops on Monte Grappa. By November 14, the attackers had captured the Mount Peurna and advanced 3 km towards the Piave, at the cost of heavy losses. Fighting was fierce in the freezing mountainous terrain.
On November 15, the Austro-Germans attacked with a much stronger force than previously, pushing the Italians back at Monte Grappa and inflicting big losses on the defenders. On November 17, the Austro-Germans attacked again at Monte Grappa, but failed to achieve any notable success. The Monte Grappa sector became a theater for continuous fierce counter-attacks from both sides.
On November 22, only 2 km from the summit of Monte Grappa, the Monte Pertica saw heavy fighting as its trenches changed hands seven times, with the Austrians eventually holding them. The battle continued through December 1917, which introduced deadly snowstorms.
The Austro-Germans captured more mountains, including the key peaks of Monte Tomba and Asolone, from which they could see Venice.
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Russian soldiers sitting around a bonfire on the Eastern Front, ca. 1916.
Colourised by .
Yesterday 109 years ago, on November 11, 1914, the Battle of Łódź began on the Eastern Front.
After the Battle of the Vistula River in September 1914, the Russia could now invade the German industrial region of Silesia, and planned to do so for November 14, 1914, with their 5th Army. Intercepted and decoded Russian wireless messages passed this information on to the Germans.
Instead of meeting the Russian attack head on, the Germans shifted their 9th Army north in front of the Russian 1st Army defending Warsaw. Further southwest, the Russian 2nd Army protected the city of Łódź.
On November 11, 1914, the German 9th Army attacked the Russian 1st Army on their left flank, where the Germans enjoyed a numerical superiority in troops. The offensive took the Russians completely by surprise, who were pushed far back with many prisoners taken. The Russians withdrew to Warsaw, creating a 50 km gap between the Russian 1st and 2nd Armies, and a gap between Warsaw and Łódź.
The Germans turned south and attacked the Russian 2nd Army at Łódź in an attempt to encircle them, forcing the Russians to withdraw. On November 14, the Russian 5th Army invaded Silesia but on November 16, the attack was called off, and the Russians were sent to Łódź. In just 2 days the Russian 5th Army marched 116 km.
Then on November 18, the newly arrived Russian 5th Army attacked the Germans in freezing cold conditions, but broke through. On November 23, the Russian 1st Army attacked too at Warsaw and broke through as well.
Suddenly the Germans were in danger of being encircled and were forced to withdraw. The Russians anticipated thousands of German prisoners, but the Germans got away.
Inconclusive fighting continued till November 29, when the Russians decided to withdraw from Łódź to a more defensible line near Warsaw. The Germans entered Łódź on December 6, 1914.
In the Battle of Łódź the Germans had suffered some 35,000 casualties, and the Russians 70,000 casualties with an extra 25,000 prisoners.

French Maréchal Foch with Allied representatives in front of his train in the forest of Compiègne, after signing the Armistice, November 11, 1918.
The rest of the photographs show soldiers and civilians from various nations celebrating the news of the Armistice. Colourisation credits: Pic 1) , Pic 3) , Pic 4) , Pic 5) .leonard, Pic 6) , Pic 7) , Pic 8) , Pic 9)& 10) .
Today 105 years ago, on November 11, 1918, the Armistice of Compiègne was signed, ending hostilities of the First World War on the Western Front.
With the military situation hopeless, revolution spreading throughout Germany and a population demanding peace, the Germans and Allies agreed to negotiate an armistice on November 5, 1918. On November 6, the German delegation, led by political Matthias Erzberger, departed for France. He arrived on November 8.
The immediate terms of the Allies Armistice demanded cessation of hostilities on land, sea and air, the evacuation of German-occupied areas and withdrawal to behind the Rhine river, the surrender of much military matériel and Allied POWs, and the abdication of German Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The Armistice were to be signed on November 11 in the French forest of Compiègne, inside of French and Allied Commander-in-Chief Foch's private train.
On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated, as the German revolutionaries proclaimed the republic of Germany. He went into exile in the Netherlands the following morning. The new German Chancellor Ebert instructed Erzberger to sign the Armistice. Also on November 9 the French launched the Operation Vrigne-Meuse, the last battle of the war.
At 5:10 AM on November 11, 1918, the Armistice was signed in the Compiègne forest, with Foch as the main Allied representative. It was decided the Armistice would come into effect at 11 AM - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
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As all eyes tomorrow, November 11, will be focused on Remembrance Day and the anniversary of the Armistice of Compiègne, today I thought I'd tell the story of the official last soldier to die in the First World War - U.S. Private Henry Gunther, who famously died at 10:59 AM on November 11, 1918, a minute before the Armistice would come into effect.
Henry Nicholas John Gunther was born on June 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland in the USA into a family of German heritage. This could have partially influenced Gunther's decision not to voluntarily enlist when war was declared on Germany in April 1917, although Gunther would later prove that he considered himself an American above all else.
In September 1917, Gunther was eventually drafted into the U.S. Army at the age of 23 and was assigned to the 313th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division. It was with regret he became a soldier, having lived good life back home in Baltimore.
Gunther arrived in France in July 1918, having been promoted to Sergeant, and was sent to the trenches on September 12. Gunther was described as a soldier devoted to his duties, despite his personal feelings about the military.
However, Gunther developed a distaste for the poor conditions on the frontlines and verbalized his frustrations in a letter back home. The passing of the Espionage Act of 1917 essentially illegalized critiquing the U.S. Army. Therefore, when Gunther's letter was intercepted, it resulted in him being demoted from Sergeant to a Private, something which would torment him, and due to his German heritage, made his comrades question with whom his national sentiments lay.
As the war progressed, it became apparent the Allies would emerge its victors, and in October 1918 the Germans began Armistice negotiations with them. At 5:10 AM, on November 11, the Armistice of Compiègne was signed, but a ceasefire would only come into effect at 11 AM.
Tragically, 2,737 soldiers would be killed in these final hours of the war, with Gunther becoming the very last.
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Photographs relating to the French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, November 10, 1920.
These photographs were all taken today 103 years ago, November 10, 1920, or the following day.
The idea of a tomb of an unidentified French soldier killed in the war, symbolising all of the French Army's losses, was first proposed in late 1916, but did not materialise until the end of the war.
On September 19, 1919, the French parliament adopted the burial of an unknown French soldier within the Panthéon in Paris, which was later changed to under the Arc de Triomphe.
The choosing of the unknown soldier was to be made by an ordinary yet worthy French soldier in the Citadel of Verdun.
On November 8, 1920, this task was placed upon 21-year-old French 2nd class soldier Auguste Thin from the 132nd Infantry Regiment, 6th Army Corps, who in 1918 had distinguished himself in combat in Champagne, being gassed in the process, and whose father had gone missing in the war.
The French Army selected 8 unknown soldiers, all confirmed to be of French origins, who fell on the main French battlefields of the Western Front: Verdun, Somme, Champagne, Artois, Aisne, Marne, Flanders and Lorraine.
On November 10, 1920, all were exhumed from their original graves, placed in coffins and transported to Verdun for the designation ceremony.
The 2nd photograph, colourised by , shows Auguste Thin in the Citadel of Verdun choosing the 6th coffin for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which he explained:

"A simple thought occurred to me. I belong to the 6th Corps. Adding the numbers of my regiment, the 132nd, equalled the number 6, which I held onto. My decision was made: it would be the 6th coffin I come across."
The 6th coffin was immediately transported to Paris and placed under the Arc de Triomphe, shown on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th photographs, colourised by and .of.the.past.
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was unveiled on November 11, 1920 for Armistice Day, but the unknown soldier was only placed in it on January 28, 1921.

German Kaiser Wilhelm II and his son the Crown Prince Wilhelm at a military ceremony on the Western Front, 1918.
Today 105 years ago, on November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the Imperial German throne, a position he had held since 1888. For a detailed post regarding his abdication and the Kaiser's post-war life, see my previous post today.
Crown Prince Wilhelm, son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, was named Commander of the German 5th Army in August 1914 despite being completely inexperienced for the role. He and his 5th Army is most notable for launching the Battle of Verdun in February 1916, after which the Crown Prince was dismissed from his command, instead serving as commander of the Army Group German Crown Prince, a position he held until the end of the war.
In November 1918, just a few days before his father's abdication, the Crown Prince described the dire situation in Spa, Belgium - German Army Headquarters:

"In the middle of a group, the Emperor was standing in the garden. I shall never forget this scene of half-a-dozen people in their grey uniforms against the background of the late autumn flowerbeds, withered and drained of colour. Apart from them, not a soul in sight and no sound disturbed the silence. All around only the rising circle of wooded hills, their pale colours of green, red-brown, yellow and red shining gloriously through a mantle of autumnal mist.
The Emperor stood there as though he had just halted with the others from his agitated pacing up and down. He was talking to (Quartermaster General) Groener and (Foreign Minister) von Hintze, who were next to him, with vigorous, expressive gestures of his right hand.
In between, his gaze sought out the aged General Plessen and the Field Marshal, who just nodded silently and gazed into the distance. While the Emperor went on speaking by himself, the others listened, bowed and heavy-hearted, as though frozen into silence because they saw no way out.
Catching sight of me, my father beckoned me over and moved a few steps forward to greet me. Only now, when I was facing him, could I see how distraught he looked and how his face, grown so sallow and emaciated, twitched and shook..."