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Map of the 'French Offensive in Champagne', the Second Battle of Champagne, and part of the Allied offensive in the autumn of 1915. From 'Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos' by Brigadier-General J.E. Edmonds & Captain G.C. Wynne.
Postcard celebrating the fall of Belgrade, Serbia, to German and Austro-Hungarian forces under the command of Generals von Gallwitz & General Kövess v. Kövesshaza on October 9, 1915. Images of the city include the King's Palace, Terazié Square, the University, the National Theater, King Milan Street, and the city from the Save River.
Map of the plan for the Allied Offensive in France showing the situation on September 24, the eve of the infantry assault. An Anglo-French would attack eastward in Artois (with the British at Loos) as the French attacked northwards in Champagne. From 'Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos' by Brigadier-General J.E. Edmonds.
German Ace Max Immelmann In Memoriam! Postcard from a drawing by Gehrig, 1916. Immelmann was shot down on June 18, 1916.
Memorial statue to Edith Cavell, executed for helping British soldiers in Belgium reach neutral Netherlands. She was executed by firing squad in Brussels, Belgium on October 12, 1915.Sited in St. Martin's Place, London, the pedestal on which her statue stands is placed before a column, square at the base and rounded above her head. On the four sides of the lower column are the words 'Humanity,' 'Sacrifice,' 'Devotion,' 'Fortitude.' The inscription on the front of the pedestal reads:'Edith CavellBrussels Dawn October 12th 1915Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone.'The quotation is from her conversation with the English chaplain, Mr. Gahan, who was with her before her execution.At the top of the column a mother and child replace the top of a cross. Below them is a shield reading 'For King and Country.'The memorial was designed by Sir George Frampton. © 2014 John M. Shea
"At 1600 hours [on October 6] Castelnau ordered de Langle and Pétain to continue the attack the following day with the same objectives, but Pétain, concerned that his troops were 'very tired,' requested that only the two corps in his center continue the attack. Castelnau relented and ordered his army commanders to secure the terrain they had seized and to conduct only those local actions necessary to consolidate their positions. He then informed Joffre of his actions and said: 'the operation . . . has not succeeded. It can be resumed only after a new preparation, more complete than that which was accomplished on October 4 and 5.' Joffre had no choice. He approved Castelnau's actions and late on October 7 terminated the offensive." ((1), more)
"[Serbian] General Živković's report of the morning of 8 October read: 'Battle is still under way; there has been no respite at all. Our troops are still attacking the enemy.' The report also states that the enemy had 'silenced our heavy armaments' in the first phase of combat, using 'over 15,000 shells of various calibre, even 30.5cm.' and then the enemy had introduced 'artillery from monitors into the battle'." ((2), more)
"Saturday, 9th October Heard that G attack was a complete failure — attacked in mass in 3 lines with only about 500 men. Reached within 50 yards being mown down by our machine guns — Douglas saw it. In the morning G. shelled the wall again and killed 3 men one a Scottish Corporal Matthew of B. also a 1st Gloucester and an RFA man — many wounded." ((3), more)
"In 'carping at our victory' in a letter of a week ago, for which you scold me, I share and expressed a general feeling out here. An angrier lot of men never was than the infantry I had been speaking to for a week before writing. They cursed our 'Cavalry Generals' from their hearts. Still, if the Censor at the Base had opened my letter . . . Since then there have been questions in Parliament about Hill 70. It is only an item in what has been lost; in fact, most of the gain has been undone. A good thing too, in a way, for the 'great advance' that set London mafficking, and sundry bigwigs wiring congratulations to each other, would have left us with just such another running sore as our sentimental Salient.'" ((4), more)
"Despite poor visibility, artillery firing began on October 11 [1915] at 1400 hours, and the infantry assault occurred at 1615. The daily log in Foch's headquarters recorded the result: 'progress was almost nil, and the attack did not yield the expected results. Preparation by heavy artillery insufficient. Attack conducted by exhausted or already sorely tried troops. Enemy forewarned and strongly reinforced with artillery, unleashing at the slightest indication of attack terrible [artillery] barrages.' . . . In a letter to Joffre, Foch blamed the failure on 'insufficient' preparatory fire. He explained that Tenth Army had fired 73,000 rounds of heavy artillery for the attack on September 24-25 but only 21,600 rounds on October 10-11." ((5), more)
(1) French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre brought the Second Battle of Champagne to an end on October 7, 1915, part of the Champagne-Loos-Artois Offensive, the Franco-British autumn offensive in Champagne and Artois. The preparations Castelnau referred to were primarily an extended artillery bombardment that had, even over two days, cut the first line of wire in places, but not the second. By October 7, the French had only limited supplies of shells. The Champagne Offensive was manned by French and French colonial troops. The offensive in Artois would continue for another week, the French fighting the Third Battle of Artois, the British the Battle of Loos.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, page 195, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
(2) The joint German and Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia began on October 6, 1915, with a heavy bombardment of the Serb capital of Belgrade and other positions along the Danube, Drina, and Save Rivers that shaped Serbia's northern border. Austria-Hungary had struck the first blow of the war on July 29, 1914 by bombarding Belgrade the day after it had declared war on Serbia. The monitors were ships on the rivers taking part in the destruction.
Serbia's Great War 1914-1918 by Andrej Mitrovic, page 145, copyright © Andrej Mitrovic, 2007, publisher: Purdue University Press, publication date: 2007
(3) Entry for October 9, 1915 from the diary of W. Boddington of the London Scottish Regiment. The October 8 German counter-attack to attempt to recapture the town of Loos, taken by the British in beginning of the Battle of Loos. The German attack was much more extensive than the 500 men of whom Boddington writes.
The Battle of Loos by Philip Warner, page 138, copyright © Philip Warner 1976, publisher: Wordsworth Editions Limited, publication date: 2000 (originally 1976)
(4) London was mafficking, celebrating with extravagant public displays, a victory in the Battle of Loos, when many of the hopes of September 25 had already been lost, in costly renewals of the attack on September 26, 27, and 28, and in German counter attacks on October 3 and 8. An entry from October 10, 1915 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. The 'sentimental Salient' is likely Ypres, where the British had suffered, and continued to suffer, heavy casualties. Dunn was no less bitter in the coming days. On May 17, 1900, British troops relieved the 217-day siege of Mafeking during the Boer War.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 162, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(5) French Commander Joffre's great offensive of autumn 1915, while having some success, had failed to achieve the breakthrough he had hoped for in the French offensive in Champagne and the Anglo-French attacks in Artois. French General Foch wrote of the failure in the Third Battle of Artois. It had already become clear that extensive preliminary artillery bombardments were required for attacks. But in the autumn battles, even if adequate shells were available on the first day, they were lacking in followup attacks.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, pp. 200, 201, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
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