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The disparity in the number of nations arrayed against the Central Powers was a common motif, and was updated as the numbers on each side increased. Italy's entry into the war on May 23, 1915 changed the numbers again.Central Powers (top) Sultan Mohammed V of Turkey, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Kaiser Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. Allies (center and bottom rows) Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, King George V of the United Kingdom, President Raymond Poincaré of France, King Nikola of Montenegro, King Peter of Serbia, King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, King Albert I of Belgium, Emperor Taishō of Japan.In the center, a poem: Drei gegen Acht, Three against Eight.
View from the Observation Tower on Californie Plateau, Chemin des Dames, France.
Postcard map of the Chemin des Dames between Soissons and Rheims. The view is facing north towards the heights of the 'Ladies Road,' the Aisne River to its south. The Germans held the high ground after the retreat from the Marne in 1914. The French suffered heavy casualties taking the Chemin des Dames in the Second Battle of the Aisne in 1917, an offensive that led to widespread mutinies in the French Army. The Third German Drive of 1918, the Third Battle of the Aisne, drove the French, and supporting British troops, from the heights, and again threatened Paris.
Three headstones at the Necropole Craonelle, a French military cemetery, of British soldiers who died May 27, 1918, most likely killed in the German Aisne offensive that began that day. From left to right the headstones are those of Norman Gibson, East Yorkshire Regiment, age 18; C. G. Sills, Machine Gun Corps; and G. Rees, Yorkshire Regiment. Webmatters.net includes these men and two others noting that, 'These men were caught up the whirlwind of Operation Blücher launched by the Germans on the morning of 27th May 1918. They were part of the 150th Brigade of 50th Division holding the Plateau de Californie and Craonne.' © 2013, John M. Shea
Headstone of Paul W. Derrickson, 2nd Lieutenant, 28th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division, A.E.F., recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, killed in action, May 28, 1918 in the Battle of Cantigny, France. His citation reads, 'The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Paul W. Derrickson, Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in the advance on Cantigny, France, May 28, 1918. Second Lieutenant Derrickson courageously went forward with his platoon and reached the position he had been directed to take. Fearlessly walking up and down his line, he cheered and directed the work of his men until he was killed.' (Source: www.homeofheroes.com/members/02_DSC/citatons/01_wwi_dsc/dsc_05wwi_Army_DE.html, May 24, 2018) © 2013 by John M. Shea
"As though by chance on the following day, the French Press published a success by the Belgian troops 'under the orders of General de Cueninck, subordinate to General Foch', and on the 24th M. de Broqueville handed the King a memorandum, trying to prove that the Sovereign's command was only fictitious and that the Chief of the Army Staff alone was responsible for the conduct of operations." ((1), more)
"The second event was the escape of three French prisoners-of-war from their camp not far behind the German lines, as a result of the massive reorganization of life there consequent upon the preparations for the attack. They reached the British lines just before dawn on May 25th, where they were admitted, fed, and closely questioned upon the conditions existing on the far side of the Ailette. Any doubts still existing in the minds of those conducting the interrogations as to the precariousness of their position were quickly dispelled, and a strongly worded report was forwarded to Sixth Army Headquarters.But Duchesne's reply read coldly: 'In our opinion there are no indications that the enemy has made preparations which would enable him to attack tomorrow' . . ." ((2), more)
"At daybreak on the 26th [May 1918] two German prisoners were taken by the French. One was a private and the other an officer-aspirant, belonging to different regiments of Jäger. On the way to Divisional Headquarters their captors entered into conversation with them. The private said there was going to be an attack; the officer contradicted him. Arrived at the Army Corp Intelligence centre the prisoners were examined separately. The officer, questioned first, was voluble, and declared that the Germans had no intention of making an offensive on this front. The interrogation of the private followed. He said that the soldiers believed that they would attack that night or the following night. He was not sure of the date. . . . [The officer] gave in the end the most complete details of the attach which impended the next day. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon of the 26th. The alarm was given, and the troops available took up their battle positions." ((3), more)
"It was difficult to get a clear picture of the attack. This had been so violent and our trenches so thinly held that all organised resistance on our divisional front had been at once overwhelmed. But the chief danger had come apparently from the flanking movements, helped as those were by the pronounced salient we were holding. The enemy had carried the strong French positions on the Chemin des Dames after a fierce but short assault, and at the same time under cover of the very heavy mist—the sure shield of the German offensives—and helped by the sparse nature of the trench garrison, had worked his way up the Miette stream on the right. Indeed, the advance on this flank was so rapid that small groups of Germans were across the Aisne near the Bois de Gernicourt before the remnants of the 23rd Brigade had been collected at Pontavert . . . it was evident that any attempt to hold the line of the river with the few survivors was quite unthinkable." ((4), more)
"On April 25th the First Division relieved two French divisions on the front near Montdidier and on May 28th captured the important observation stations on the heights of Cantigny with splendid dash. French artillery, aviation, tanks, and flame throwers aided in the attack, but most of this French assistance was withdrawn before the completion of the operation in order to meet the enemy's new offensive launched May 27th towards Château-Thierry. The enemy reaction against our troops at Cantigny was extremely violent, and apparently he was determined at all costs to counteract the most excellent effect the American success had produced. For three days his guns of all calibers were concentrated on our new position and counter-attack succeeded counter-attack. The desperate efforts of the Germans gave the fighting at Cantigny a seeming tactical importance entirely out of proportion to the numbers involved." ((5), more)
(1) Albert, King of the Belgians, resisted repeated requests by the Allies, including Allied Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, to subordinate Belgian troops to non-Belgian command. One request would have deployed forces to Italy. Albert repeatedly pointed out agreeing to any of these requests was constitutionally impossible. He hotly disagreed with his Prime Minister's position, summarized above, pointing out that he had commanded the Army for nearly four years in accordance with Article 64 of the Belgian Constitution. Charles de Broqueville served as Prime Minister of Belgium from June 17, 1911 to June 1, 1918.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 209, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(2) German forces were preparing what would prove to be a devastating attack on the Allied line, the Aisne (Blücher) Offensive, the third of five drives to victory in 1918. The first event our author, Barrie Pitt, refers to had two parts: the first that American intelligence officers had recognized that an attack on the Chemin des Dames, which is south of the Ailette River, was imminent, and the second that the Chief of French intelligence came to believe they were correct. French General Denis Auguste Duchêne, who had already failed to follow General Henri Philippe Pétain's order to strengthen and restructure his line, would have none of it. Duchêne was correct to the extent that the former prisoners provided their information on May 25, 1918, and the attack took place on the 27th, not his 'tomorrow'. Four British divisions that had been devastated in Operations Michael and Georgette in March and April had been moved into what was expected to be a quiet sector held by the French.
1918, the Last Act by Barrie Pitt, page 145, copyright © 1962 by Barrie Pitt, publisher: Ballantine Books, Inc., publication date: 1963
(3) German forces were preparing what would prove to be a devastating attack on the Allied line, the Aisne (Blücher) Offensive, the third of five drives to victory in 1918. On May 25, three French prisoners of war escaped and reported on German preparations for the assault. French General Denis Auguste Duchêne, who had already failed to follow General Henri Philippe Pétain's order to strengthen and restructure his line, dismissed the report saying, 'In our opinion there are no indications that the enemy has made preparations which would enable him to attack tomorrow'. The German prisoners take the next day were believed, and the defenders scrambled to defend a line that would prove indefensible.
The World Crisis 1911-1918 by Winston Churchill, pp. 793–794, copyright © by Charles Scribner's Sons 1931, renewed by Winston S. Churchill 1959, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1931, 2007
(4) Excerpt from Sidney Rogerson's The Last of the Ebb, an account of his experiences on May 27, 1918, the first day of the German Aisne Offensive. Four British divisions that had been devastated in Operations Michael and Georgette in March and April had been moved to the eastern end of the Chemin des Dames, in what was expected to be a quiet sector, one held by the French. French General Denis Auguste Duchêne ignored General Henri Philippe Pétain's order to strengthen and restructure his line and dismissed reports of German preparations for an offensive.
The Last of the Ebb: the Battle of the Aisne, 1918 by Sidney Rogerson, pp. 39–40, copyright © Sidney Rogerson, 1937, publisher: Frontline Books, publication date: 2011
(5) Account of the May 28, 1918 offensive at Cantigny, the first American offensive, by American commander General John J. Pershing. The German action was part of the Aisne Offensive, begun on May 27. The attack began at 6:45 a.m. by the 28th Infantry supported by ten French tanks and a platoon of French flame throwers on a mile-long front. The Americans took the town and held it against two big counterattacks that afternoon and evening, and against a third attack the next morning. In the battle, the American 1st Division suffered 1,067 casualties, 199 of them killed.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, p. 190, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
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