Fortunino Matania

Artist: Fortunino Matania
Medium: Limited edition Lithograph print on Paper
Size: 15" x 10" (381mm x 254mm)
Date: 1916
Signature: Signed by Artist

This is a Signed Limited edition print.

Repulsing the Famous Prussian Guard at Ypres (World War I). One of a series of 12 artist proof signed prints produced for the Sphere & Tatler in 1916, 'With the British Army on the Western Front'. The searchlights showed the Germans advancing straight on the Allies, a few hundred yards to the south of Zonnebeke. The attacking troops were exclusively composed of the Prussian Guard. Suddenly the German ranks opened and the machine-guns appeared. The situation was critical, and the British general immediately gave the order for a bayonet charge.

A colonel dashed forward at the head of his regiment crying, " For honour and England". The opposing front ranks met in a terrible shock, and the bayonets frequently went home at the same moment. This hand-to-hand combat lasted for an eternal half-hour, and the troops, on both sides fought with the grimmest determination. Before the irresistible onslaught of the British soldiers the Prussian Guard reeled and broke.