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Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion moving into position on September 24, 1915, the night before the beginning of the Champagne Offensive. From Soldier of the Legion by Edward Morlae, an American and a Sergeant in the Foreign Legion.
Map of the plan for the Allied Offensive in France showing the situation on September 24, the eve of the infantry assault. An Anglo-French would attack eastward in Artois (with the British at Loos) as the French attacked northwards in Champagne. From 'Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos' by Brigadier-General J.E. Edmonds.
A French Schneider 105mm L from La Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux, France. First put into service in late 1915, 1,300 of the guns were in service in 1918. A heavier weapon than the French 75, it was more effective against entrenched troops. © 2014 John M. Shea
Austrian Mountain Rangers 'resting in the shade of southern flora' on the Italian front. The card was postmarked from Berlin on January 5, 1916.
Postcard report and map of an Austrian victory at Krasnik on August 26, 1914. The three-day Battle of Krasnik, an Austro-Hungarian victory, began on August 23, 1914 when General Dankl leading the Austro-Hungarian First Army, advancing, struck the Russian Fourth Army, and drove them back towards Lublin. Russia is shown in green, Austria-Hungary yellow, and Germany blue.
"The pace was accelerating. The strain was beginning to wear off. From right and left there came a steady murmur of low talk. In our own column men were beginning to chaff each other. I could distinctly hear Soubiron describing in picturesque detail to Capdeveille how he, Capdeveille, would look, gracefully draped over the German barbed wire; and I could hear Cadeveille's heated response that he would live long enough to spit upon Soubiron's grave; and I smiled to myself. The moment of depression and self-communication had passed. The men had found themselves and were beginning their usual chaffing. And yet, in all their chatter there seemed to be an unusually sharp note. The jokes all had an edge to them. References to one another's death were common, and good wishes for another's partial dismemberment excited only laughter. Just behind me I heard King express the hope that if he lost an arm or a leg he would at least get a médaille militaire in exchange. By way of comfort, his chum, Dowd, remarked that, whether he got the medal or not, he was very sure of getting a permit to beg on the street-corners." ((1), more)
"25th September [1915]The first day of the great offensive. Anyhow, despite everything, we are optimistic; the surprise, our numbers, panic among the Germans, poison gas, I don't know—the Allies talk of so many infallible methods.The weather which has been threatening for two or three days has definitely grown worse; it is pouring with rain. The bombardment began at 4 o'clock this morning. They are the Engish guns we can hear in the direction of Ypres.. . . At midday we received some news. The English have taken Looz; the French are advancing in Champagne. At 5 o'clock this afternoon it was announced that the English have taken Hill 70 and Hulluch. In Champagne a breach has been made, through which the French cavalry has been launched.At 9 o'clock this evening it was put out that Souchez has been taken. Elsewhere the advance has been stopped by bad weather. The English have lost Hulluch after heavy counter-attacks. In Champagne we have captured twenty-five kilometres of front line. This is not yet the real victorious break-through." ((2), more)
"One o'clock in the morning. At 7 it will have been seventy-two hours since, without interruption, we have been frightfully bombarded—seventy-two hours of endless, deafening uproar, which even the steadiest nerves can hardly endure!. . .This is becoming frightful. An explosion throws me against a wall of a trench. A Lieutenant tells me a shell struck in his shelter also. I rush out and see that all the bombproofs on the slope are burning. A shell striking an ammunition magazine causes a formidable explosion. The French keep on firing into the fire. How I hate them!How I admire the French artillery! They are the master gunners. We really cannot imitate them, I regret to say. Continuing to fire into the fire, the enemy provokes a more violent explosion than the preceding ones.God knows what they have blown up now! From this moment I have lost all sensation of fear." ((3), more)
"Dawn on the 27th [September 1915] was breaking as I rejoined C Company and, incidentally, the rest of the battalion and once again we were near our original front line from which we made our advance. . . . When dawn broke we found that the ground on which we halted was strewn with dead and wounded — some of the wounded I recognised, having seen them there when we went over the day before.I was very glad to get into some form of shelter as the men were looking very much the worse for wear. We called the roll and the result was shattering to say the least of it as I had little more than half my platoon left, and so far as I could see, other platoons were no better. Rifles were cleaned and examined, but it was a ghastly parade and I am afraid I could not see well enough to know whether a rifle was clean or not." ((4), more)
"Austro-Hungarian losses were astonishingly high; between 1st and 25th September their force in the East fell from 500,000 to 200,000, and the proportions of loss were also remarkable—in IV Army, 30,000 'missing', 10,000 wounded, 7,000 sick, 2,000 killed. It was already notable that, in the Austro-Hungarian army, twice as many officers reported sick as were wounded. In the German army, this proportion was reversed. It was good evidence of the different quality of the allied armies." ((5), more)
(1) Sergeant Edward Morlae recounting some of the black humor of soldiers of the French Foreign Legion moving into position for the Champagne Offensive the night of September 24/25, 1915. They turn from this to a discussion of the 'German methods of making war' including hand-grenades, poison gas, flame-projectors, vitriol bombs, and explosive bullets. In the trenches, they move to the front line ahead of other units who complain until they realize it is 'La Légion' moving to the fore. The Legion is passed by the Moroccan Division. Both units suffered heavily in taking the Butte de Souain. Of the 3,200 men in his regiment who entered the September 25 attack, only 852 would pass in parade after the battle later. Most of Morlae's men were Americans.
A Soldier of the Legion by Edward Morlae, pp. 21-23, copyright © 1916, by the Atlantic Monthly Company; 1916, by Houghton Mifflin Company, publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co., publication date: 1916
(2) Most of the entry for September 25, 1915 from the diary of Albert, King of the Belgians, the day French Commander Joffre launched his great offensive of autumn 1915, the Anglo-French attacks in Artois and Champagne. The over-estimated the element of surprise in the offensive, in part because of the sheer numbers involved, 1.5 million on the Allied side, and nearly as many on the German. The English first used poison gas in their part of the offensive, Battle of Loos, but poorly. It was released from cylinders, in winds that, in some cases, blew the gas back to the English lines.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, pp. 64, 65, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(3) Part of a letter found on a German office slain in the French offensive in Champagne. He began writing at 1:00 AM, after nearly three days of continuous bombardment.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, p. 314, 315, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(4) From an account by Captain Wyllie, Royal Scots Fusiliers writing in 1952 of the Battle of Loos.
The Battle of Loos by Philip Warner, pp. 168, 169, copyright © Philip Warner 1976, publisher: Wordsworth Editions Limited, publication date: 2000 (originally 1976)
(5) The great German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive had achieved the aims of German Commander-in-Chief Erich von Falkenhayn, leaving Russia in no position to launch an offensive for the foreseeable future. Falkenhayn had called a halt in early August. Claiming to misunderstand Falkenhayn, German commanders Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff pushed on at the northern end of the front. To the south, Austro-Hungarian Commander-in-Chief Conrad von Hötzendorf, chaffing under German command, but helpless without German aid, carried on his own Hapsburg offensive, his own until he had to turn, once again, to Germany for aid.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, pp. 190, 191, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
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