Lyduvėnai 1915

Königlich Preußische Reserve Eisenbahn-Bau Compagnie No.5

Lidowiany 14.12.15

This is a German military field post card sent in 1915 from Lidowiany (now Lyduvėnai, Lithuania) to Berlin, Germany. The picture on the card is actually not Lidowiany but Rossienie (now Raseiniai, Lithuania), showing the local German military commander's headquaters (Lyduvėnai is part of Raseiniai district). There is no postmark on the card but fortunately, the author of the card wrote the date and location: Lidowiany 14.12.15 and there is also the seal of his unit: KGL. PR. RES. EISENB. - BAU-COMPAGNIE No.5 which is the abbreviation for "Königlich Preußische Reserve Eisenbahn-Bau Compagnie", a military unit in charge of railroad construction, and No.5 was located in Lyduvėnai from 1915 to 1916. Their mission was to build a huge wooden railway bridge over Dubysa river to link Tauragė and Radviliškis by railway. The bridge was completed in 1916 and it was one of the biggest wooden bridge in Europe. Due to strategic importance, the Germans rebuilt the bridge in steel in 1918. Today's Lyduvėnai Bridge (Lyduvėnų tiltas in Lithuanian) is the 1951 reconstruction and it is the longest and the highest of all bridges in Lithuania. The Lithuanian post issued a commemorative stamp of this bridge in October 2012. See in the link here.

Wooden bridge of Lyduvėnai 1915-1916 which the

 author of the card took part of the construction

(source: miestai.net, not mine)