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
Image text: Aux Morts de la Division MarocaineSans Peur Sans PitiéA la mémoiredu Colonel Pein, Ct. de la 1re Brigade. du Colonel Cros, Ct. de la 2me Brigadedes Officiers, S/Officiers et Soldats de la Don MarocaineTombé ici glorieusement les 9, 10, & 11 Mai 1915Le 9 Mai 1915 les Régiments de la Don Morocaine s'elancant a 10 Hres des tranchées de Berthonval et brisant de haute lutte la résistance des Allemands atteignirent d'un bond la cote 140, leur objectif, rompant pour la premiere fois le front ennemiTo the Dead of the Moroccan DivisionFearless PitilessTo the Memoryof Colonel Pein, Commandant of the 1st Brigade, of Colonel Cros, Commandant of the 2nd Brigade,of the Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Soldiers of the Moroccan DivisionGloriously fell here May 9, 10, & 11 1915On May 9 1915 the Regiments of the Moroccan Division, darting at 10:00 hours from the Berthonval trenches, and breaking the resistance of the Germans in a hard-fought struggle, reached Hill 140, their object, breaking the enemy's front for the first time.
King Constantine of Greece in military uniform.
Image text: König Konstantin von Griechenland(König der Hellenen).King Constantine of Greece(King of the Hellenes).4710Logo: NPGOrig.-Augn. von E. BieberHofphot., Berlin V.Original photo by E. BieberHofphot., Berlin W.
Folding postcard relief map looking north from the River Aisne to the Oise Canal, from Compiègne to Soissons, and from Noyon to St. Gobain, France. A hand drawn arrow indicates Pimprez, marked with an 'X'.
Image text: Reverse:Cards number 2101 (left/west) and 2102 (right/east). Kunst-u. Verlagsanstalt Schaar & Dathe, Komm.-Ges. a. Akt, Trier.
Map of the 1918 German offensives on the Western Front from The Memoirs of Marshall Foch by Marshall Ferdinand Foch. © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc.
Image text: German OffensivesOf Mar. 21 (Picardy)Of May 27 (Aisne-Marne)Of July 15 (Champagne-Marne)Of Apr. 9 (Flanders)Of June 9 (Compiegne)Front and situation of the German Armies March 20, 1918 (on the eve of the offensive)Front at the end of the offensiveScale of miles
"Lorette — a sinister name, evoking scenes of horror, gloomy woods, sunken roads, plateaus and ravines taken and retaken twenty times, where for months, night after night, we cut each other's throats, massacred each other incessantly. We made that little corner of the earth a human charnel house, by the criminal obstinacy of our top brass, who knew quite well that nothing decisive would come from this petty style of fighting a war, these nasty little attacks. But they imagined that in this war of attrition, this cruel game, the Germans would be the first ones to be worn down.'Je les grignote [I'm nibbling away at them],' says paunchy old Joffre — a phrase that the press picks up like a rare pearl, and this futile, bloody offensive dragged on for several months." ((1), more)
"Friday, June 2, 1916.The attitude of the Greek Government has become impossible; the fact of its collusion with the Bulgarian Government is obvious. The personal complicity of King Constantine cannot be doubted.I have had a long talk with Sazonov on this subject, and he has empowered me to telegraph to Paris that he approved here and now of any measures France and England may think necessary to take against Greece.Between the Adige and the Brenta the Italians are beginning to recover. The Austrian offensive has been almost held up." ((2), more)
"One of the largest of these mutinies took place on June 2 [1917] outside Cœuvres, a modest town about eight miles southeast of Soissons and situated on the edge of the Forest of Vollers-Cotterêts. . . .On June 2 the 310th received orders to leave Cœuvres and march to Bucy-le-Long, a town northwest of Soissons. The troops knew what this meant—a return to the trenches. They would not go. Colonel Dussange, the regimental commander, reported later, 'About three in the afternoon, one company refused to pack its gear. No acts of violence occurred, just a determined obstinacy. Immediately another company mutinied. The regiment refused to listen to me.'Pushing past their protesting colonel, the troops made their way into the woods on the south of the town. It was useless for Dussange to attempt to block the road. 'The troops passed right by me on either side, without insults or pushing. Some of them saluted me.' The colonel reported that his men 'intended to march on Paris. Other regiments were waiting for them in the Forest of Compiègne.'" ((3), more)
"(1) The line of conduct to be followed by the French Command is to stop the enemy's advance on Paris at all costs, especially in the region north of the Marne.(2) The means consists in a foot-by-foot defence of the territory in this direction, pursued with the utmost energy.(3) To accomplish this, it is essential that orders be drawn up prescribing exactly what the troops must do, and see that these orders are strictly carried out, by removing any commanding officer who shows signs of weakness.(4) All the Allied troops are oriented in the same direction, and they will be put into the battle as resources in transportation become available." ((4), more)
(1) Excerpt from the notebooks of French Infantry corporal Louis Barthas whose unit took part in the Second Battle of Artois. French Commander Joseph Joffre was trying to capture the high ground of Artois, including Loretto Heights, site of the church Notre Dame de Lorette, and Vimy Ridge. The battle had begun on May 9, and had some success on the first day.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, page 72, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(2) Entry from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, for Friday, June 2, 1916. On May 26, 1916, a German-Bulgarian force advanced on Fort Rupel near the Bulgarian border in northeast Greece. Initially resisting, the garrison was ordered by the Greek Government to surrender the fort. The loss of this defensive barrier in ostensibly neutral Greece threatened the Allied forces in Salonica, and made blatant the pro-German position of Greek King Constantine and his Government. The Entente Allies would move against the Greek Government the next day. Sergei Sazonov was the Russian Foreign Minister. After being driven back for two weeks by the Austro-Hungarian Asiago Offensive, the Italians were slowing the invaders.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 268, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(3) After the failure of French commander in chief Robert Nivelle's 1917 spring offensive — the Second Battle of the Aisne, begun on April 16 — an offensive that Nivelle had asserted would provide the breakthrough of the German line that would lead to victory, mutinous incidents broke out in the French army, particularly among the troops that had suffered the highest rates of casualties in the offensive. The mutinies were of greater or lesser severity, beginning in April, with increasingly disruptive incidents in May, and the most violent and serious in the first weeks of June. The Russian Revolution of March provided a model for some soldiers including those in the 310th who established their own camp and elected their own leaders.
Dare Call it Treason by Richard M. Watt, pp. 202, 203, copyright © 1963 by Richard M. Watt, publisher: Simon and Schuster, publication date: 1963
(4) Note from Allied Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch to French General Henri Philippe Pétain after their meeting of June 2, 1918, and after the German advance of the Aisne Offensive. Foch adds that he added item (4) 'in order to restore confidence,' and that he 'took important steps to carry out this promise.'
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, pp. 298–299, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
