WW1 17: postcards

This is a selection of World War 1 postcards.

In World War 1, postcards and letters were the main means of communication between soldiers and their loved ones.

It usually took only two days for mail to reach soldiers on the Western Front in France.   Food and clothes parcels were also posted to the troops.

Some postcards showed scenes of the war, others were humorous cartoons, designed to keep the spirits up, or conveyed sentimental messages to wives and sweethearts.

Soldiers were not allowed to include information of where they were serving, or important details about the war which might be of use to enemy spies. All letters and postcards had to be read and passed by a censor, and some have a censor’s stamp on them.

Receiving regular mail helped to keep up soldiers’ morale while they tried to survive in horrendous conditions.

This is a postcard made from silk!

Silk postcards or ‘silks’ were extremely popular with British soldiers serving in France.

They were created by Belgian and French women refugees made homeless by the war, as a way of earning money.

Patriotic or sentimental designs were embroidered in colourful silk thread on a mesh backing, then mounted in a cardboard frame.

Did you know?
Postcards were also used on the Home Front in Britain to send short messages to friends and family, often in the same town or village. They were the equivalent of a mobile phone call or text message today!