THE DIGGERS GAME

Image: Members of the Australian Army Medical Corps playing cards on deck aboard the troopship HMAT Euripides.

Soldiers in the Great War often endured long periods of waiting. They could be sailing on a troopship to Egypt or Europe, waiting during the lull before a battle or convalescing in a hospital. To pass the time, soldiers often turned to a favourite hobby – playing cards.

Apart from recreation, cards also served a higher patriotic purpose and over the course of the war the plain card deck became a cardboard weapon. The National Museum of Playing cards in Belgium is staging an exhibition on Great War playing cards. The Kartonnen wapens exhibition runs until the end of the year.

In a recent interview Museum Curator Filip Crème said the Germans were the first to realise the power of playing cards. The German Army produced propaganda decks showing German war heroes, famous generals and battle scenes. The cards were popular with German troops and almost one million decks were produced by November 1918.

The French were also masters at using playing cards for propaganda. One deck printed for French soldiers shows a cartoon of German Emperor Wilhelm playing his last card. The British and American Armies used them in a similar way, and to teach their soldiers basic French vocabulary.

Back in Australia, Euchim War Game playing cards were invented in 1915 - 1916. They came in cardboard boxes of 50 and allowed seven different games to be played. Individual cards showed Victoria Cross winners, popular commanders, Allied leaders and ships, weapons and military vehicles. The lid of each box proclaims ‘passed by the Censor’.

The Sydney Stock and Station Journal of November 1916 advertised the Euchim War Game for one shilling a set and card decks with names like Silver Bullets, Trench Football and Get Rid of the Huns.