ABSTRACT
This chapter examines sensorial aspects of the German Army on the Somme in the period 1914-16 through the medium of a series of sixty-two paintings by Albert Heim which recently came to light in Spain. These were commissioned by General-Leutnant Theodor von Wundt, a professional soldier who served on the Somme from September 1914 to October 1916. This chapter focuses at five paintings for what we can deduce of the battlefield and its rear areas. They reveal a world of vivid colour, conviviality and comradeship, ample food, alcohol and tobacco and warm sun, all elements of the not especially arduous life of a German infantry brigade staff in the first two years of the war. In other words, a recognizable sensorium, and one not yet totally reconfigured by the war. Food supply was a major source of concern for the Central Powers from the beginning of the war, partly but not entirely because of the British blockade.
