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Monument to the Polish volunteers who fell in the Third Battle of Artois, May 9, 1915, at La Targette. Across the front of the monument is inscribed "Za Wasza I Nasza Wolnosc", For your freedom; for our freedom. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Memorial to the French Moroccan Division at Vimy Ridge. The face commemorates the Division's victory at the Second Battle of Artois, in which the Moroccan Division broke the German front for the first time and took Hill 140, their objective.Listed on the sides of the memorial are the sectors and battles where the Division fought:1914The ArdennesAugust 28 — La Fosse a l'EeauAugust 30 — BertoncourtSeptember 1 — AlincourtThe MarneSeptember 6 to 9 — Coizard, MondementDecember 30 — Ferme d'Alger1915BelgiumJanuary 28 — Nieuport, la Grande DuneArtoisMay 9 — la Cote 140June 16 — Ravin de SouchezChampagneSeptember 25 — Butte de Souain, Bois Sabot1916the SommeJuly 4 — Assevillers, Bellov en Santerre, Barleux1917ChampagneApril 17 — Moronvilliers, Mont sans Nom, AuberiveVerdunAugust 20 — Cumieres, Bois des Corbeaux, Forges Regnieville1918LorraineJanuary 8 — Flireythe SommeApril 26 — Villers-Bretonneux, Bois de Hangardthe AisneMay 30 — Vauxbuin, ChazelleJune 12 — AmblenyJuly 18 to 20 — Dommiers ChaudumSeptember 2 to 8 — Terny-Sorny, Moulin de Laffaux, AllemantNovember 11 — VictoryNovember 17 — Entered Chateau-Salins © 2013, John M. Shea
View over the battlefield of the Loretto Heights, France. Notre Dame de Lorette, a pilgrimage site, stood on the Heights, and was, with Vimy Ridge, part of the high ground seized by German troops in the Race to the Sea after the Battle of the Marne in 1914. French commander Joffre hoped to capture Loretto Heights and Carency, a village the Germans had fortified, in the First Battle of Artois in December, 1914. He tried to take the hill again in mid-February, 1915.
The poet, novelist, and political activist Gabriele d'Annunzio speaking in favor of Italy's entry into the war on the side of the Entente Allies, and against 'Giolittismo' at the Costanzi Theater in Rome, May, 1915. Giovanni Giolitti was five-time Prime Minister of Italy, and opposed intervention in the Great War. Illustration by Achille Beltrame.
1898 postcard of German Southwest Africa including scenes of the capital of Greater Windhoek, a square in the city, and Major Leutwein, Governor from 1894 to 1904.
"It has become siege warfare again as in France." ((1), more)
". . . the new chief of the [French] Tenth Army, Gerneral d'Urbal, on May 9th [1915] at 10 A.M., launched [the Artois offensive] against the Vimy Ridge.In the centre the success was immediate. In less than an hour on a front of four miles and for a depth of two or three, the enemy's positions were captured; more than 6,000 prisoners, 20 guns, 100 machine guns, remained in our hands; the crest at its culminating point, hill 140, was reached and even passed. The German artillery ceased firing and we had the impression we had broken through. Unfortunately, this satisfaction was of short duration.Our reserves were too far in rear to follow up our success or widen the breach while there was yet time. . . . On the Lorette plateau and farther along, towards Pont-à-Vendin, we had gained little or no ground, while to the north of La Bassée the British had very nearly completely failed." ((2), more)
"To wrap up this day of emotions, we saw a French airplane hit the ground right between the two front lines. That night one of our patrols courageously went out to bring back the aviator, but he was burnt to a crisp, the airplane having caught fire when it crashed.The next day, no order having arrived for us to participate in the battle — about which no one appeared particularly upset — we made our customary trip up to the front-line trenches to relieve the battalion which was there." ((3), more)
"A new attack, which we undertook on the 11th [May, 1915], failed under flanking fire coming from the villages of Carency, Souchez, and Neuville-Saint-Vaast, and it was evident that these points of resistance must be captured before trying to advance to the ridge." ((4), more)
"Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet and demagogue, returned from his 'exile' in France, arriving in Rome on 12 May [1915] to be welcomed by a massive crowd of nearly 100,000. In his first address, from his hotel balcony, he told them: 'For three days a stink of treason has been suffocating us. . . . Romans, sweep away all the filth, chuck all the garbage back into the sewer. . . . Friends, it is no longer time for talk but for action.' The next day he declared: 'If it is a crime to incite citizens to violence, I shall boast of this crime. . . . Form platoons, form citizens patrols.' A thousand students, led by some professors, tried to storm the parliament building and then searched the streets 'for friends of Giolitti to assault.' Troops were called out to protect persons and property. The demagogues quickly termed these le radiose giornate — 'the Radiant Days' — pointing to these events as evidence of 'massive' support for intervention." ((5), more)
(1) Jack Churchill writing to his brother Winston from Gallipoli. Quoted in Martin Gilbert's The First World War, a Complete History, page 161.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(2) Excerpt from French General Ferdinand Foch's account of the first day of the Second Battle of Artois. The British launched a simultaneous attack at Aubers Ridge. In 1914's Race to the Sea, German troops were very effective at seizing and holding high ground in the battles that shaped the Western Front. From October 4, 1914, German forces held high ground in Artois including Vimy Ridge and the plateau of Notre Dame de Lorette. The First, Second, and Third Battles of Artois were failed French attempt to regain these heights. The Allies did not capture Vimy Ridge for two more years, finally succeeding in April 1917.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 208, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
(3) Corporal Louis Barthas was 35 when he was mobilized, and served in a unit held in reserve on May 9, 1915 during the Second Battle of Artois. Despite initial success in the center of the French line, the reserves were too far removed to help exploit the situation. The British were fighting the same day at Aubers Ridge on the French left.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 61, 62, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(4) The great French offensive to seize the high ground of Vimy that began on May 9, 1915, advanced on a front of four miles, to a depth of two or three miles. But on either flank, there was no advance, and further progress could not be made without the reinforcements who were seven miles back. The French, including the Moroccan Division that had broken the German line, could not hold their position. In the coming days, the French proceeded as General Foch wrote, taking Carency on May 12. French Commander Joffre continued the Second Battle of Artois until June 24. The Germans held Vimy Ridge until the Canadians took it in 1917.
(5) On April 26, 1915, the Italian Ambassador to the United Kingdom signed the Pact of London committing Italy to enter the war on the side of the Entente Allies one month later. Prime Minister Antonio Salandra and Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino were strong supporters of war against Austria-Hungary, Within Italy there was significant irredentist support for seizing ethnically Italian territory from Austria-Hungary, particularly Trentino and the port city of Trieste. There was also significant sentiment to remain neutral. Former (and future) Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, who had held office during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 and 1912, recognized that Italy was unprepared for war.
The Origins of World War I by Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig, page 384, copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003, publisher: Cambridge University Press, publication date: 2003
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