Art From The Western Front

In early 1918, Tor Kiefer's regiment, the German Reserve Infantry Regiment 250, had been moved to the Western Front after the end of the war against Russia in the East. Tor's regiment had been stationed at the Eastern Front since early 1915, but in late 1917 Germany won the war against Russia. This enabled the German forces to be repositioned at the Western Front, and from the end of January 1918, Tor's regiment was based between Monampteuil and Laon, behind the Chemin des Dames.

Laon Cathedral by Tor Kiefer, January 1918

On February 2, 1918, Tor wrote to his brother Oskar in Ettlingen: "We're in a bad position here, but we'll be moving out soon".

As the deputy senior physician of his regiment, Tor had several privileges. His quarters, for example, were of a far better standard than those of the average soldier, he had proper paper as well as writing and drawing implements, and his letters home were not censored. During the period of January through March 1918, Tor made several sketches and colored drawings of the surrounding towns and villages in his sketchbooks.

Tor made this drawing of Laon Cathedral in January 1918 from his position at the Western Front.

Monampteuil by Tor Kiefer, February 9, 1918

The Hindenburg Line was the German line of defense in the First World War. It was named in several sections: the Alberich Stellung stretched from St. Quentin to Laon, while the Brunhilde Stellung stretched from Laon across the Champagne Front.


Tor's regiment was involved in heavy fighting along the Brunhilde section of the Western Front during the first few months of 1918.

In February 1918, Tor painted this watercolor of the ruins of bombed buildings in Monampteuil. This small commune was heavily shelled by artillery during the war.

Urcel Behind The Railway Embankment
by Tor Kiefer, March 3, 1918

In early March 1918, Tor made this colored drawing of houses behind the railway embankment in Urcel. Like Monampteuil, Urcel is a small commune in the department of Aisne in Picardy. In this picture, we can see that the roof of the house on the left has been bombed through. Many buildings, such as the Eglise Notre-Dame d'Urcel, suffered great damage during the war.

Apparently, the terrain around Urcel was also heavily shelled, as we can see from Tor's next picture below.

Shell Hole Terrain at Urcel
by Tor Kiefer, March 15, 1918

Tor's color drawing of this shell hole terrain from March 1918 show us how heavily the area around Urcel was being bombed. At the bottom left of the picture we can see barbed wire which means that Tor must have been looking out over a no man's land from the position of a trench.

It appears that much later in life, when he was 84 years old, Tor returned to the trenches of the Western Front and once again sketched the landscape.

In the picture on the left below, we can see Tor's photo of a now overgrown trench in the forest at the Western Front. The picture on the right is Tor's colored sketch of this trench, dated May 18, 1973.