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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
Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
The destruction of the Italian airship, City of Ferrara by an Austro-Hungarian seaplane on June 8, 1915.
Postcard from a series on the Armies of the European War of 1914. The French Army included units from its African colonies including Morocco and Senegal, and the Départment of Algeria.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
"Daybreak. The sun rises, indifferent to the field of horror. Everywhere we see nothing but cadavers and shapeless human remains, pasturage for the rats which were more courageous than the crows, whose fear kept them away. . . .But what is this? Has Hell opened up under our feet? Are we right at the rim of a furious volcano? The trench is filled with flames, with sparks, with bitter smoke, the air is unbreathable. I hear hissing, crackling, and alas, yes, the cries of pain. Sargeant Vergès has scorched eyes. At my feet two miserable creatures are rolling on the ground, their clothes, their hands, their faces on fire, like human torches. And in the trench everything is on fire — blankets, tent cloths, sandbags. The Germans had just fired some sort of incendiary liquid on us." ((1), more)
"On arriving at Dixmude at 1:05 A.M. I observed a Zeppelin apparently over Ostend and proceeded in chase of the same. I arrived at close quarters a few miles past Bruges at 1:50 A.M. and the Airship opened heavy maxim fire, so I retreated to gain height and the Airship turned and followed me.At 2:15 he seemed to stop firing and at 2:25 A.M. I came behind, but well above the Zeppelin; height then 11,000 feet, and switched off my engine to descend on top of him. When close above him, at 7000 feet I dropped my bombs, and, whilst releasing the last, there was an explosion which lifted my machine and turned it over. The aeroplane was out of control for a short period, but went into a nose dive, and the control was gained." ((2), more)
"Italy struck first, along a five-hundred-mile front. Her armies quickly spread over the Trentino and, on the [east], crossed the Isonzo River, and reached Montfalcone within four days of the declaration of war. It seemed for the time as though there were to be no effective resistance by the Austrians, who had indeed been forced by a Russian menace to send to their eastern front an army of 700,000 men . . ." ((3), more)
"There was very considerable activity on the French front [from June to September 1915], with a number of encounters in which the French, like the British, were handicapped, though in a less degree, by lack of munitions and heavy guns.On the 7th June parts of the French XI. Corps attacked and captured the German salient of Touvent farm between Hébuterne and Serre on a front of a mile, and in fighting which continued up to the 13th June held it against counter-attacks. Further east, 6th–16th June, the salient south of Quennevières, between the Oise and the Aisne, was the scene of an attack on a front of four brigades, which brought a small gain of ground." ((4), more)
"On June 7, 1915, at the end of my convalescent leave, I rejoined the depot of the 72nd and 272nd infantry regiments at Morlaix. I stayed only a few days. I was not at all comfortable there. At the time I wrote a friend, 'I am leaving the depot for fear of losing my morale, which I value above all.' In these depots, one meets a group of soldiers and even officers who cling desperately to the dreary but safe existence characteristic of a small garrison town in the rear. In order to remain there as long as possible, they are capable, if not of evil actions, at least of a host of mean little maneuvers." ((5), more)
(1) French infantry Corporal Louis Barthas documented his war experiences in a series of notebooks. On June 6, 1915 he was fighting in the Second Battle of Artois when he turned into a trench that had just been subjected to a flamethrower attack, a weapon first used in February, 1915 by the Germans. Barthas remained in the same trench as two man burned in the attack, he and his men expecting the two to die shortly. One died the same night, the other lingered, sometimes delirious, before being taken to a first-aid station the next day.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 77 & 80, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(2) Excerpt from the report of Sub-lieutenant Reggie Warneford of Royal Navy Air Squadron Number 1. At 1:00 AM the morning of June 7, 1915, Warneford took off from Dunkirk on his first night flight, flying a Morane Parasol monoplane, a two-seater modified as single-seat scout. British Intelligence had identified Zeppelin sheds at Evere, Belgium, and the British Admiralty had just notified the Squadron that three Zeppelins were returning to their base from Britain. Two Henri Farman planes took off to bomb the Zeppelin sheds, and destroyed one shed and L.38 (Luftschiff — Airship — 38). Warneford took off to intercept the returning Zeppelins, his plane armed with six 20-pound bombs. His opponent — L.37 — had a crew of 28 and was well-defended by four side-mounted machine guns that kept Warneford at a distance. The Zeppelin could fly at a higher altitude, and it was not until it started to descend for landing that Warneford could get above it to drop his bombs. The airship had no defenses on its upper surface.Warneford flew over the massive machine, and had dropped five of his six bombs when L.37 burst open in flames with a force that flipped over the plane. The pilot dove to get away from burning debris and to regain control, his engine struggling. The Zeppelin's hulk landed on convent outside of Ghent, killing a man on the ground, and all but one of its crew. Warneford's engine died, and he glided to a landing in a field well behind German lines. His fuel line had been cut, but he was able to patch it with a cigarette holder and handkerchief. He was awarded the Victoria Cross and the French Cross of the Legion of Honor. Returning from Paris on June 17 after the ceremony for the latter, he was ordered to bring a new Farman biplane back to base. Eager for Warneford's story, American reporter Henry Needham joined him. The plane, perhaps too hastily assembled, crashed immediately after takeoff, throwing the men from the plane, killing them both.
The Zeppelin Fighters by Arch Whitehouse, pp, 84, 85, copyright © 1966 by Arch Whitehouse, publisher: New English Library, publication date: 1978
(3) Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on May 23, 1915, while the Austro-Hungarian Army was advancing against Russia in its northeast province of Galicia in the Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive. Despite the strain of opening a new battle front, Austria-Hungary benefited from natural defenses against Italy, holding the high ground along their shared border, and having the Isonzo River as a barrier in Italy's northeast.
The Nations at War, a Current History by Willis John Abbot, page 250, copyright © 1917, Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Leslie-Judge Co., publication date: 1917
(4) French Commander Joseph Joffre maintained an offensive posture through 1915, a strategy he called 'nibbling' at the enemy, and one that resulted time and again in heavy casualties. Although the French shell shortage was not as critical as that of Great Britain or Russia, it still left the French with inadequate ammunition and guns to counteract the artillery of the Germans and their defensive posture. Joffre conducted major offensives in the first half of 1915 in Artois and Champagne, but also smaller attacks along the entire front. In the attack at Quennevières, French losses were 134 officers and 7,771 men.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos by J. E. Edmonds, page 109, copyright © asserted, publisher: Macmillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1928
(5) Excerpt from the memoirs of French historian Marc Bloch, a sergeant, later adjutant, with the 272nd and 72nd infantry regiment in the Argonne. He was on convalescent leave from January 5 to July 13, 1915, during which he wrote the first, and most substantial part, of his Great War memoir. He began writing again while in Algeria after having fought on the Somme.
Memoirs of War 1914-15 by Marc Bloch, pp. 167, 168, copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988, publisher: Cambridge University Press, publication date: 1988
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