Tinted French Postcard of French Generals de Castelnau, Joffre, and Pau. Joffre was Commander of the French Army at the beginning of the war, and engineered the Allied victory of the Marne. General Pau was brought out of retirement to lead the short-lived Army of Alsace, disbanded to strengthen French forces to the west for the French counterattack at the Marne. De Castlenau commanded the French Second Army at the beginning of the war.
Image text: Nos ChefOur LeadersGen. de Castelnau, Gen. Joffre, Gen. PauJK 9333Reverse:Dated April 20, 1915, and postmarked April 22, to Miss ??? in England.
The Battle of the Marne: Generals Galiénni and French drive the invading Germans back from their approach to Paris, first to the Petit Morin, then the Grand Morin, then the Marne. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) under Sir John French crossed the Grand Morin on September 7 and 8, 1914 arriving on the Petit Morin on the 8th. Galiénni commanded the garrison of Paris, and had launched the initial French attack northeast of the capital on September 5.
Image text: Un Magistral Coup de Balai!ParisG[rand]e MorinP[e]t[ite] MorinA Magisterial Clean Sweep!MarneReverse:Message dated March 25, 1915
Photograph of a village on Lake Van, an area of Turkey populated largely by ethnic Armenians. The area was one of the first targeted on a large scale when Turkey turned on its Armenian citizens. Photo from Ambassador Morgenthau's Story by Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916.
Image text: Fishing village on Lake VanIn this district about 55,000 Armenians were massacred
Bulgarian and German soldiers with a Skoda mountain gun on the Balkan Front.
Image text:
Field gun at the city of Verdun memorial statue. © 2015 John M. Shea
Map of the Northwestern Front from March 21 to August 21, 1918. Despite the caption, the map shows primarily the German offensives against the British sector, Operations Michael and Georgette. From The War of the Nations Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings. © Copyrighted 1919 by the New York Times Company
Image text: The above map shows the battleline when the German offensive of March 21, 1918 was launched, the furthest point reached in that advance, and the territory recovered up to August 21 by the Allies in Foch's counterattack of July 18.
"The Commander-in-Chief, having to summon all the troops to the Meuse front, ordered the evacuation of the occupied territory. The great battle is engaged between Maubeuge and the Donon; on it depends the fate of France, and with it of Alsace. It is in the north that the Commander-in-Chief calls all the forces of the nation to the decisive attack. Military action in the Rhine Valley would distract from it troops on which victory might depend. It is necessary, therefore, to leave Alsace for the present. It is a cruel necessity which the army of Alsace and its chief have submitted to with pain, and only at the last extremity." ((1), more)
"If you can hold your ground the situation appears likely to improve. 4th Division must co-operate. French troops are taking offensive on right of I. Corps. Although you are given a free hand as to method this telegram is not intended to convey the impression that I am not as anxious for you to carry out the retirement and you must make every endeavour to do so." ((2), more)
"This is a night for feast and triumph, Pour oil into the lamp, O Bride,My boy returns a victor from war — Trim well, trim well the wick, O Bride.A waggon stops before the door, beside the well, Light up, light up the lamp, O Bride,My boy returns, bay leaves on his brow — Bring up, bring up the lamp, O Bride.Lo — with grief and blood the waggon's laden — Hold up, hold up the lamp, O Bride.Here lies my valiant son shot through the heart — O . . . snuff out, snuff out the lamp, O Bride." ((3), more)
"Five times the Bulgarians stormed the ridge beyond [Lake Ostrovo] and five times they were beaten back with heavy losses, but on the following day they took one last Serbian position. It was the limit of their advance. By August 26 the Serbs were holding firm. For four more days there was sporadic gunfire as rival batteries opened up on each other's positions, but gradually the fighting died down and, by the end of the month, all was quiet." ((4), more)
"Word of these limited assaults, their success, their meticulous preparation and, most important, the low casualties suffered by the attackers spread like wildfire throughout the French Army. And as it did, some of the poilu's lost confidence in himself and his leaders began slowly to return. Perhaps, he thought (but only perhaps), the pacifists and their papillons might be wrong. Maybe the thing could be done. Not all at once, to be sure, but perhaps the Germans could be beaten." ((5), more)
"Next to attack was Mangin, with an opening move on 17 August, developing into a full and very successful local assault between the Aisne and the Oise on the 20th. A further assault by the British 3rd Army opened on the 23rd, followed by a second combined Rawlinson and Debeney attack which in the event achieved little. Yet another British attack, by the 1st Army on the northern end of the Cambrai to the Aisne Hindenburg Line, opened on 26 August and was complemented by renewed vigorous pressure by Mangin at the southern end, forcing the Germans to withdraw from positions carefully prepared for the winter." ((6), more)
(1) The Paris communiqué of August 26, 1914. French Plan XVII had failed, and the French had fallen back after initial advances into their lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. Although recognizing the danger presented by the German forces in Belgium, French Commander Joseph Joffre had not yet recognized how far to the west they would advance before turning to cross south into France. Joffre had brought General Paul Pau out of retirement to lead the Army of Alsace which he was now decomposing to move to his left wing.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. II, 1914, p. 117, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(2) Conclusion of a telegram from Sir John French, commander of British forces in France, to General Smith-Dorrien at 5:00 A.M., August 26, 1914. Retreating southwards after the Battle of Mons on August 23, believing his men to be exhausted, and concluding that the proximity of the Germans would force him to fight during the day, Smith-Dorrien informed French of his decision to prepare for battle at Le Cateau, France. On his right, General Douglas Haig continued retreating, leaving Smith-Dorrien dangerously exposed on both flanks, as units of the French Groupe d'Amade were on his left, but with a significant gap between the French and British. The German attack drove in Smith-Dorrien's right flank, but a French cavalry corps under Sordet arrived in time to support his left flank. That night, after the battle, the British continued their retreat. In the Battle of Le Cateau, the British suffered 7,800 casualties in a force of 40,000, and lost 38 guns, numerous wagons and stores of supplies. Commanding the German First Army, General von Kluck concluded that the British were retreating to the west, the Channel coast, and possibly a return to England.
Military Operations France and Belgium, 1914, Vol. I, August to October by J. E. Edmonds, page 136, copyright © Second Edition 1925, publisher: MacMillan and Co., Limited, publication date: 1925
(3) 'The Flickering Lamp' by the Armenian Turkish poet Daniel Varoužan or Varujan, translation by Aram Tolegian. Varoužan was tortured, mutilated, and killed on August 26, 1915, victim of the Armenian Genocide.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, page 376, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
(4) Aware Romania was about to join the Allies in the war against Austria-Hungary, and anticipating an offensive by the Allied forces — French, British, Russian, and Serbian — against the Bulgarian position in northern Greece, Bulgarian forces mounted a preemptive blow against the Allies, striking along the front held by Serbian troops on August 17, 1916. Bulgaria would continue to prove effective in preventing Allied aid to Romania.
The Gardeners of Salonika by Alan Palmer, page 78, copyright © 1965 by A. W. Palmer, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1965
(5) The offensive of French commander in chief Henri Pétain to recapture lost territory at Verdun opened with a bombardment on August 11, 1917 that lasted until the 20th, with 3,000 guns firing 3,000,000 shells. The infantry assault began on the 20th and went on until the 26th when Pétain had achieved his objective. In ending the French army mutinies, Pétain had promised his army that he would make greater use of artillery and other weapons before any infantry assault, and that his objectives would be clear and limited. His Verdun offensive met these conditions, and demonstrated how successful they could be. His soldiers responded, seeing that every battle need not be a slaughter. Pétain was recapturing territory lost in the German siege of 1916.
Dare Call it Treason by Richard M. Watt, page 245, copyright © 1963 by Richard M. Watt, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1963
(6) Summary of Allied attacks after Battle of Amiens, begun on August 8, 1918 through August 26. French General Charles Mangin had struck the first blow in July in the Second Battle of the Marne, to begin reducing the Marne Salient, eliminating it entirely with subsequent attacks. In the Battle of Amiens, Generals Henry Rawlinson commanding the British 4th Army and Marie-Eugène Debeney the French 1st Army had driven the Germans back 12 miles, and continued their attacks later in the month.
Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914-18 by Anthony Clayton, page 173, copyright © Anthony Clayton 2003, publisher: Cassell, publication date: 2005
