Letter to Jack, 19th June 1918

handel_vangoh said...this reminds me of my grandfather...
tears are rolling when I read this...
I am simply thankful for the courage of people ahead of my generation...
June 30, 2008

gerhard said...Prices in Austria increased up to 1000% between 1913 and 1918.
Beef (1 Kilogramm)
1913: 1,60-2,20 Kronen
1918: 7,20-16,00 Kronen
1 Egg
1913: 7 Heller (1 Krone=100 Heller)
1918: 51 Heller
Wages (industrial workers)
1913: 80 Heller-1,52 Kronen (p.hr.)
1918: 2,28-2,93 Kronen
June 22, 2008

Rocco said... "casualties of the 48th Division for june 15th -16th were 922 men (206 artillery men). The Division caught 25 enemy officers, 515 NCO's or soldiers, 188 wounded and buried 576 Austro-Hungarians.
The 23rd Division had 556 casualties, caught 230 prisoners and 127 wounded.
In the night between 21-22th june, a company of the 10th Duke of Wellington's (hey Jono!) penetrated the enemy front at Ave, killing 50 Austrian soldiers, taking 31 prisoners and suffering 21 casualties."
(from George Henry Barnett-William Blackwood & Sons, Edimburgh and London, 1923) -translated from Italian, corrections welcome!
21 June 2008

Anonymous said...What a great letter, Harry seems really up and wanting to share his feelings, the attitude of the prisoners must have made them all feel positive and hopefull for an ending. Good luck Harry we are all rooting for you.Linda
June 19, 2008

Anonymous said...I, too, was anxiously awaiting word of Harry. He was in the very battle in which Edward Brittain, brother of the writer Vera Brittain, was killed. They were even from the same place, Derbyshire. (The Brittains resided in Buxton). I loved Harry's attitude of "we really gave them hell!" Obviously, he was still pumped up from battle!
Cecilia
June 19, 2008
Edward Brittain has been mentioned earlier by readers. "Rocco" has located his grave. Click

Anonymous said...Harry mentions in passing that after the war he will be able to say more. Hope that means that he's mentally in good shape - we read so much that so many of the men never spoke about the war afterwards. He sounds chipper - good.
June 18, 2008

Blogger John said...Very Coooooooooool!!!!
June 18, 2008

Blogger Kittybriton said...I have to admit that I wasn't previously aware that Roumania was fighting during this war! It certainly sounds as though the morale of the Austrian forces is flagging.
June 19, 2008

Blogger Nanny (Shirley) said...Can't help about the currency however I am SO GLAD that Harry is OK - Shirley
June 19, 2008

Anonymous said...What a relief to finally hear from Harry. It's good to know that everything's 'going on all right' with him, even though he must have had a tough time lately. It's difficult for any of us to contemplate the things he's experienced being so near the front line.
Jackie
June 19, 2008

Paul from Canada said...According to
http://www.econlib.org/library/Mises/msEnc1.html,
the Austro-Hungarian Krone was worth about $5.75 US in August 1914. It went thorough a period of devaluation during the war.
June 18, 2008

Blogger M Oneby said...I found a paper titled "The Currency Problem in Austria" by E.H. Vogel, published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science in 1921. The first of seven pages is viewable at the following website:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1015214

The value of 1 USD is listed for the following dates:
Aug 1918: 5.12 kronen
Dec 1915: 7.85 kronen
Dec 1916: 9.56 kronen
Nov 1918: 15.82 kronen
The paper lists many more post-war values as the krone continued to rapidly depreciate in value. The last listing is 846 kronen on July 23, 1921.
June 18, 2008

SoldierGirl2008 said...In 1918, a 2-pound loaf of bread was sold for 0.57 Kronen... so you could buy 7 pounds of bread for the 2 Kronen. In 1921, the 2-pound loaf was already sold for 7 Kronen!
I hope this gives you a feeling about what the money was worth...
Greetings from Germany!
June 18, 2008

Anonymous said...There was a 2 krown coin:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Österreichische_Krone

Its weight was 10g and contained 83.5% of silver. So the value of the note was at least the the value of 8.35g of silver. If you look up the price of silver in Pounds in 1918 you will probably get a measure for the notes worth.
June 18, 2008

Anonymous said... Here is an article in english about the Austrian Crown:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_crown
It seems, that the currency lost a lot of its value during WW1 due to inflation. The consumer prices rose sixteenfold during the war...
June 18, 2008