Street Barricade at Château-Thierry

William James Aylward's charcoal, gouache, and watercolor drawing documents an American military position during World War I in the French town of Château-Thierry. Two soldiers man a rubble barricade constructed from debris and wooden planks, flanked by damaged buildings. Beyond the fortification, intact civilian structures—including a coiffeur shop—recede into the middle distance under a clouded sky. Aylward's mixed-media technique captures both the tactical reality of trench warfare and the collision of military necessity with urban civilian space, rendering the physical toll of modern combat on the French landscape.