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Grand Harbour in Malta, a British possession that initially served as a base for French as well as British ships. At the Malta conference, March 2 to 9, 1916, the French agreed move their base. They first went to Argostoli in Cephalonia, then to Corfu. In the message, the writer notes that they are no longer in Malta, but in Corfu, and that the enemy submarines are rather numerous.
French folding postcard map of Verdun and the Meuse River, number 9 from the series Les Cartes du Front. Montfaucon is in the upper left and St. Mihiel at the bottom.
The rulers of the Central Powers stumped by Verdun. Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Mohammed V of Turkey, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, and Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria puzzle over a map labeled "Verdun." The ink and watercolor drawing is dated March 4, 1916. By R. DLC?The German assault on Verdun began on February 21, 1916 and continued through August.
Monument to the 40th Infantry Division at Mort-Homme, Verdun. © 2015 John M. Shea
Turkish Cavalry, from a German postcard.
"The Malta conference, 2-9 March 1916, covered a wide range of questions. . . . The most important decisions of the conference naturally concerned the antisubmarine war . . . The British also assumed control of most of the Aegean, including the island of Crete. . . . The French commander in chief and the French fleet also shifted their base from Malta, which was now becoming too crowded and was in the midst of the British zone. The French went first to Argostoli in Cephalonia where they would be better situated to intercept the Austrian fleet. They subsequently moved to Corfu . . ." ((1), more)
"1916965. A fateful year. At the end of January, Louis Moilliet's wife died while giving birth to a son, her first child. On March 4th my friend Franz Marc fell at Verdun. On March 11th I was drafted at the age of thirty-five." ((2), more)
"March 5th [1916].—A splinter of a 5.9 shell fired at our 6-inch battery killed a lark on the wing. German planes came over in the morning to see what yesterday's tell-tale snow and frost would reveal, and saw the guns that have been in one position for fifteen months. Now they are moving, and our billets will be the quieter." ((3), more)
"Two days later [March 5, 1916], I was at the outpost. Happy news had reached us: We were being definitively relieved from the sector by the English, starting that very evening at 8 o'clock. This haste to relieve us was explained by the bad news from Verdun. The English were extending their front to make French troops available for reassignment.By five in the evening, with blankets rolled up and tent cloths stowed, we eagerly awaited the arrival of the 'Tommies.'" ((4), more)
"On March 6, during a driving snowstorm, the Germans launched an attack on the high ground of Mort-Homme, on the left bank of the Meuse. The preliminary artillery bombardment was as intense as that of February 21. Crossing the river at Brabant and Champneuville, and supported by the heavy gun fire from an armoured train, German troops gained an unexpected advantage when many of the shells fired at them by the French failed to explode in the soft, swampy ground. Mort-Homme held, but in the course of two days' fighting, 1,200 French soldiers surrendered. To keep the others in the line, the commander of the forces on the left bank, General de Bazelaire, warned that artillery and machine guns would be turned on any unit that retreated further." ((5), more)
(1) On December 3, 1915, the Allies had agreed to divide the Mediterranean Sea into eighteen zones, ten French, four British, and four Italian. At the Malta conference in March, they reduced these to eleven. Because the Allies had insufficient warships to escort all shipping, escorts were confined to secret defined routes between two points.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, pp. 386, 387, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(2) Excerpt from the diary of the Swiss-German painter Paul Klee. Louis Moilliet was a Swiss painter and stained glass artist. Franz Marc was a leading figure in Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) group of primarily Russian and German artists. Horses were one of Marc's most frequent subjects. In his Complete History, Martin Gilbert quotes one of Marc's last letters: 'The poor horses!' In one day at Verdun, 7,000 horses were killed.
The Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918, Edited, with an Introduction by Felix Klee by Paul Klee, page 323, copyright © 1964 by the Regents of the University of California, publisher: University of California Press, publication date: 1968
(3) Entry for March 5, 1916 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, The Royal Welch Fusiliers and dozens of his comrades. Soldiers' writings are replete with observations of the natural world, not only that which usually made it difficult or miserable, like rain and mud, or snow and cold, but also it unalloyed beauty. In Boston, September 11, 2001, began as an exceptionally beautiful day.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 184, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(4) Excerpt from the Notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas whose unit was in the line in Artois. German forces had opened the Battle of Verdun on February 21, 1916, and French General Henri Philippe Pétain, commanding the defense, rushed troops and supplies to the sector. To preserve morale, and his troops, Pétain relieved units after short stays in the front line, typically eight days.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 166, 167, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(5) The advance of German forces on the right bank of the Meuse River in the Battle of Verdun exposed the French positions on Mort-Homme to German artillery bombardment, but impelled General Petain, commanding the defense of Verdun, to reply with heavy bombardment of the German positions. The Germans, in turn, attacked on March 6 to capture the French positions on Mort-Homme, on the French left, west of the city.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 233, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
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