Drachen Slayer by Ivan Berryman. [Postcard]

Artist: Ivan Berryman [browse all Ivan Berryman]

Aircraft Depicted: Albatros  [other products featuring this aircraft]

The last Austro-Hungarian offensive on the Italian Front, known as the Battle of the Piave River, started on June 15th 1918 with 57 Austro-Hungarian divisions ranged against 58 Italian, 3 British and 2 French who were entrenched along the whole of the front line from the Asiago Plateau in the Alps, along the Piave river, to the marshes at the eastern end of the Venetian lagoon. After initial successes in crossing the Piave in numerous places and establishing shallow bridgeheads from Montello to the Adriatic, the Austro-Hungarian offensive was brought to an abrupt halt, not least by a change in the weather that brought torrential rain and flooding of the Piave which, fuelled by the melting snow of the Alps, swept away bridges, pontoons, barges, horses and men. As the Austro-Hungarians attempted to supply their forward lines with men, weapons, ammunition and materials, the Italian artillery, consisting of 5,500 cannons and trench mortars continued to pound them, directed by the Drachen observation balloons of the 11° Sezione which were in place close to the Italian coastline. Flik 41J's top ace Hauptmann Godwin von Brumowski, flying his notorious red Albatros D.III (Oef) 135.209 replete with white skulls emblazoned on the fuselage, was on hand however, sending one of the balloons down in flames near Passerella on the fifth day of the offensive, its observer, probably Tenente M Zanini, making his escape by parachute. This was Brumowski's 33rd victory of the war and his 34th was to follow just minutes later when he shared in the destruction of an Italian SAML S.2 that was strafing troops on the ground. 

Postcard size 6 inches x 4 inches (15cm x 10cm)