Phoney War correspondence from Mailly le Camp

Found at a flea market last Sunday: an exceptionnal batch eight written postcards , all from Mailly le Camp , the large French training camp that was occupied after June 1940 and bombed by the Raf on May 3rd 1944, causing terrible Lancaster crew losses.

All cards were written by th esame soldier betwwen November 13th 1939 and Jnauary 10th 1940 and describe the absurdity of the phoney war. Note that several cards sold at military shops are obviously old stocks as some soldiers still have WWI gear.
I talked to the man's granddaughter who mentionned the man called André survided the war as Pow .






I translated what's most relevent.

"This moring we had manoeuvers and fough thanks, I'd be more useful at Charmoy . They don't know what to invent to keep us busy. I might as well leave a month and come back , it 'd just as good. At least we are inside which is better than out . If I wasn't so far I'd bring you a doggy, because we picked up many abandonned dogs on the front line in evacuated houses, I can tell you they are fat"

 

a few more with the gentleman's pic









"My friend is buying military cards for his son who is collecting them for his son. He offered me one. The entire camp is a shooting range these days , the 313 is still here and three months are needed for officers to improve their ranks, so we left Coulommiers on the 16th September and the 314th will possibly be replaced on Dec 16th. We are waiting patiently as the war is far from over. Everything here is flooded".

 

time for another






"On the picture I have the place were I was at gun number. Today we fired like hell and our ears were buzzing madly in the evening. For supper we had sardines as starter, then Beefsteak , ratatouille, gruyere and half a pint of wine. But tonight we got a little extra for our good shooting scores, so we got a additional pint of wine and a cigar on behalf of the Lieutenant. I was a bit upset because of the aimer who caused us to miss four targets . The officirs were shouting at us but it didn't last long. "

 

Shall I post more of this archive or did this thread go unheeded or are you bored to death? Just let me know the translation takes some precious time.

 

Agreed, more would be good.

 

ok, here is the next one and a romantic card too.



Countless kisses, I'm dreaming of kisses, in my neck , on my lips , you kisses so well that I'm burning feverishly from them..... A pretty dary one for 1939-1940!

January 10th 1940

"This morning it froze really hard and despite the cold we had night maneuvers and returned at 9 am . Later today we will return to the shooting range . Luckily I'm wearing my gloves as we don't shoot enough to get our 75er warm. Three of us were called in sick with the flu and only 4 of our barrack go on maneuvers "

 

Hi Skip, these are ultimeat cool. I like them all and if you have others like these-please post them. BTW, this guy has nice handwriting. I can make out a few words even if I know almost no French words. This last pic looks like a Matinee Idols couple in some love scene. I take it his gal was named Madeleine? SHe is very pretty too.

 

"Please, sir, I want some more."

 

Mailly , November 19th 1939,

"Today is Sunday, it's rest day but we are not allowed to leave the camp. However those who to go to mass are allowed to do so, so we use this opportunity to go out of the camp and go to Mailly village, which isn' t any bigger than Bucy (his hometown) . There is nothing but bars and military shops. Tonight there was a heavy storm and rain and we only slept one hour. "

 

Mailly, November 14th 1939,

"This is the entrance of the camp, our barracks are on the left on the right the officer housings , the soldier's bars and the officer mess + the weapon depot. There is also a school for officer children . You'd better not hang around in Mailly after dark because the arabs aren't easy to get along with , but don't worry I go to bed early".

 

Ok your translation is just a little of, but not bad. Ok if My dyslexia does not kick in it says.

My dear Madalene and Therese on the picture I have marked where I am at "Work"=Maneuver, on 4th place. Today we have given return fire and tonight our ears are buzzing. Et=And at 11 hour we have eaten sardines,

Got to go Emergency!

Either way Great post cards and a great fined thats for sure.

 

Good stuff Skipp; your English is much better than my French!

 

Keep em coming Skip. Also, your English is better than mine :-D

 

Spaniard thanks for turning this fine thread into a sterile linguistic discussion... Had you read it , you would have noticed I gave a summarized translation of all articles , and since you want to teach me lessons , I'm sorry to tell you you are wrong.





retourner = go back . In this context it has nothing to do with return fire.

aller au tir (familiar) = go practise shooting (with 75er shells in this case).
Manoeuver is practise shooting an has a military translation.
(Harraps : manoeuvrer = manoeuvring (mil).)

and if I added started in front of sardines it's only to show people they eat them seperately and not with the beefsteak.

if I did not translate 11 oc'clock (not relevant)

and yes I kwow et = and since I was about 2

I was going to add a new translation and card, but since I had to justify myself with this, I no longer have the time to do so.

 

Skipper,

great cards! Please send more of them. I suppose the good looking girl seems to have been a reason to march to France......mmmhhhh;-)

Regards

Ulrich

 

I agree, would love to see more.

 

"Wie Gott in Frankreich" as the Germans say. , Ulrich , as a German speaker you would love to read my thread about an Austrian who was madly in love of a Normandy girl during the war.
http://www.ww2f.com/militaria/21994-wwii-romeo-juliette.html

 

Skipper,

i loved to read your thread! It is nice to read this letters which are full of real love. And to read how it ends made me sad. What a nice couple they would have been.

Thanks for it!

Regards

Ulrich

 

Mailly Jan 4th 1940,

"It's not so cold any more, you must be happy about that too, besides, we had some rain. I have been on duty for 42 months and a half now, so we really deserve our pay , especially as the officers are not on the ridge with us. According to those who had leaves , you had more snow home than we had here. I believe you haven't suffered too much from the frost though."