A French officer charging into battle in a watercolor by Fernand Rigouts. The original watercolor on deckle-edged watercolor paper is signed F. R. 1917, and addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon.
Signed F. R. 1917Reverse:Addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon
"The Germans did indeed hold their fire through mid-July, but only because they were engrossed in actions to reinforce their troop strength in the Moronvilliers sector. Having been a subsidiary sector in April and May, this had become by mid-June a principal site of contention, and the Germans responded accordingly, moving a fourth division into a region that previously only three had manned. Anticipating a substantial German offensive, the French chose not to wait, preferring to initiate the attack. Thus, in the early evening of 14 July 1917 (a day marked in previous years by extra rations and the distribution of cheap champagne) the French stormed the German lines."
Martha Hanna's Your Death Would Be Mine is based on the correspondence between Paul Pireaud and his wife Marie. On July 14, 1917, Bastille Day, Paul was serving with the 112th Heavy Artillery Regiment in the Moronvilliers sector northeast of Reims. Paul's battery had come under heavy artillery fire on June 26, and he had written that the 'usual practice' of the German artillerists was to leave them in peace for two or three weeks after such a barrage, as happened in this case.
Your Death Would Be Mine; Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War by Martha Hanna, page 212, copyright © 2006 by Martha Hanna, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2006
1917-07-14, 1917, July, Bastille Day
