Sphere cover - Germans leave French village, 1918

Ruckwarts (meaning backward-going) - the Long March of Grey Uniforms towards the Rhine. A scene drawn by The Sphere special artist Fortunino Matania, showing German soldiers leaving a French village after four years of occupation, while the French inhabitants watch their departure silently but scornfully. Among them are a gaunt old man, a girl, an old woman making the sign of the Cross in thankfulness for her deliverance from German rule and a small boy with a wooden gun - young France in judgment on the ancient foe

Backward Departure Fortunino Inhabitants Matania Retreat Retreating Sphere Villagers

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