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Shared headstone of Paul Wiegandt, Unteroffizier (Sergeant), died June 3, 1918, and Heinrich Balg, Musketier (Infantryman), died June 6, 1918, Dormans German Cemetery, Dormans, France. © 2014 by John M. Shea
Headstones at La Nécropole Nationale de Pontavert. The cemetery contains the remains of 6,815 soldiers, 67 of them British, 54 Russian, and the remainder French. Of the total, 1,364 are entombed in the ossuary. © 2014 by John M. Shea
Map of United States troop sailings from Canada and the United States to Great Britain, France, and Italy. Over 2,000,000 Americans sailed, divided roughly equally between Britain and France.
'Warmest regards from the Somme . . . ' from Robert Künger, September 21, 1916, presumably pictured with his machine gun crew. Translation couresy of Thomas Faust, ebay's Urfaust.
Edito Card of an Hanriot HD.1. Introduced in late summer, 1916, the French Hanriot HD.1 was primarily flown by the Belgian and Italian air services. This plane is in the colors of the Belgian Air Corps. The white thistle on the fuselage was the symbol of the squadron of Willy Coppens, Belgium's leading ace of the war. The sawtooth pattern on the tail identified an individual pilot. Each patrol of three planes had an identifying cowling color. Coppens, as the leading ace, insisted on an all-blue plane.
"The 7th Machine-gun Battalion held the Germans at bay, and gradually the attack died down. Meanwhile the 4th Infantry regiment relieved the French in the town of Château-Thierry. On June 3, the 9th Machine-gun Battalion of the 3rd Division relieved the 7th Machine-gun Battalion and on leaving the town for its short rest, the latter unit was given the highest praise by the French in orders:"The episode of Château-Thierry will remain one of the most remarkable deeds of this war. It is a pleasure for us all to know that our valiant allies have shared with us there."Contrary to popular belief, there was no gap in the line at Château-Thierry as there had been after March 21 in front of Amiens. The French lines were intact and the German drive had reached its limit." ((1), more)
"— On the 27th May, on the bridges across the Aisne, for whose destruction no orders were ever issued, German and French soldiers were crossing over side by side. The fact was that the Germans had been ordered to reach their objectives without stopping to make prisoners.— The 4th. A shell from the super-gun fell in the Rue des Gravilliers on some children coming out of school.— The 4th. Clemenceau has secured the adjournment sine die of a question on the military situation. Difficult and stormy sitting. He was tired. He referred to Foch as falling asleep over his map. There were 370 votes against 110." ((2), more)
"The following recommendations are made on the assumption that at least 250,000 men can be transported in each of the months of June and July by the employment of combined British and American tonnage. We recommend:(a) For the month of June: (1) Absolute priority shall be given to the transportation of 170,000 combatant troops (viz., six divisions without artillery, ammunition trains, or supply trains, amounting to 126,000 men and 44,000 replacements for combat troops); (2) 25,400 men for the service of the railways, of which 13,400 have been asked for by the French Minister of Transportation; (3) the balance to be troops of categories to be determined by the Commander-in-Chief, American Expeditionary Forces.(b) For the month of July: (1) Absolute priority for the shipment of 140,000 combatant troops of the nature defined above . . ." ((3), more)
"In the black recesses of Belleau Wood the Germans had established nest after nest of machine guns. There in the jungle of matted underbrush, of vines, of heavy foliage, they had placed themselves in positions they believed impregnable. And this meant that unless they could be routed, unless they could be thrown back, the breaking of the attack of June 2nd would mean nothing. There would come another drive and another. The battle of Château-Thierry was therefore not won and could not be won until Belleau Wood had been cleared of the enemy.It was June 6th that the attack of the American troops began against that wood and its adjacent surroundings, with the wood itself and the towns of Torcy and Bouresches forming the objectives. At 5 o'clock the attack came, and there began the tremendous sacrifices which the Marines Corps gladly suffered that the German fighters might be thrown back." ((4), more)
"On the 7th, another Mention, this time for having: 'shot down an aeroplane and four balloons in less than a month,' brought me the Order of Leopold. . . .On June 5, 9, and 10, I brought off my sixth, seventh, and eighth victories, over, respectively, Houthulst, Zonnebeke, and near Armentières, to the south of Ypres in the British zone. This zone, like that of the coast, was very strongly defended by the enemy, and I came back with three bullet-holes and three splinter-tears in my main planes." ((5), more)
(1) American machine gunners and French colonials held the town of Château-Thierry on May 31, 1918 during the German Aisne Offensive, the third German offensive of 1918. The defenders prevented German forces from crossing the Marne River, blowing the bridge over it. The first German offensive, Operation Michael, had been launched on March 21 against British forces which, though driven back, held Amiens.
The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas, page 90, copyright © 1920, by George H. Doran Company, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1920
(2) Entries for June 4, 1918 from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government writing in Paris. The German advance in Operation Michael in March 1918 put the French capital within range of 'the Paris gun,' a new weapon that could throw a shell into the stratosphere before its violent end. On May 27, the Germans launched the Aisne Offensive, which quickly crossed that river, and advanced on Paris, reaching the Marne River and within 50 miles of the city before being stopped. Some French politicians demanded the sacking of Allied Commander in Chief Ferdinand Foch and French Army Commander Henri Philippe Pétain, a move blocked by Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. By securing the adjournment sine die, Clemenceau had ensured there was no specification of when the subject of the command of the Army would again be addressed.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 351, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(3) Excerpt from a report by American Commander-in-Chief General John J. Pershing on the June 5, 1918 agreement between Allied Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch, Lord Alfred Milner, member of the British War Cabinet, and Pershing. In urgent need of troops after three German offensives since March 21, the British cut their transport of food to the United Kingdom. Pershing, who had been building an American Army in preparation for 1919 offensives, cut his transport of materiel in order to delivery men. His troops would use tanks, planes, and other weapons provided by his allies.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, pp. 188–189, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(4) Excerpt from an account on the Battle of Belleau Wood by Josephus Daniels, U.S. Secretary of the Navy. American machine gunners and French colonials held the town of Château-Thierry on May 31, 1918 during the German Aisne Offensive, the third German offensive of 1918. The defenders prevented German forces from crossing the Marne River, blowing the bridge over it and holding against German attacks that continued through June 2. The battle for Belleau Wood continued into July.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, pp. 200–201, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(5) Excerpts from the memoir of Willy Coppens, Belgium's greatest ace in World War I with 37 victories, all but two of them observation balloons. After repeated attempts to bring down a balloon, Coppens was finally successful when he was provided with 20 French incendiary bullets, which he used sparingly. Balloons were heavily defended with anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes.
Flying in Flanders by Willy Coppens, pp. 177, 179, publisher: Ace Books, publication date: 1971
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