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Gun turrets of Fort Douaumont in the rain, September 22, 2015. © 2015 John M. Shea
England's Distress: Postcard map of England and Ireland with the restricted zone Germany proclaimed around the islands, showing the ships destroyed by submarine in the 12 months beginning February 1, 1917.
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.
'December snow.' Hand-painted watercolor calendar for December 1917 by Schima Martos. Particulates from a smoking kerosene lamp overspread the days of December, and are labeled 'December höra,' 'December snow.' The first five days or nights of the month show a couple at, sitting down to, or rising from a lamp-lit table. The rest of the month the nights are dark, other than four in which the quarter of the moon shows through a window, or Christmas, when the couple stands in the light of a Christmas tree.
An illustration of the French 75 mm. field artillery cannon in action with portraits of its developers, Deport and Sainte Claire Deville. The sender of the card credits it with the victory of the Marne. Illustration by A. Chrimona [?] Ehrmann [?]. Thanks to kgwbreadcrumbs.blogspot.com/2015/07/briefly-along-western-front.html for clarifying some of the text.
"On February 25th the 24th (Brandenburg) Infantry Regiment stormed Fort Douaumont, the strong and reputedly impregnable north-eastern pillar of the Verdun defence system. Simultaneously the enemy gave way in the Orne valley as far as south of the Metz-Verdun road, so that the German front here also moved forward to the foot of the Heights of the Meuse. From many signs it was clear that this powerful German thrust had not only shaken the whole enemy front in the West very severely, but that its effects had not been lost on the peoples and the Governments of the Entente." ((1), more)
"In late November [1915] the French also decided to completely separate the transport of men from the transport of matériel. Troops for Salonika were carried in six large, fast (minimum speed of 15 knots) passenger liners commanded by naval officers, armed as auxiliary cruisers with naval gun crews, and fitted with a powerful wireless. The liners sailed alone and without escort. Under these conditions tragedy was perhaps inevitable, and it came on 26 February [1916]. The fast Cie Générale Transatlantique liner Provence (II) (13,753 tons), now an auxiliary cruiser, was carrying more than two thousand troops to Salonika when Arnauld de la Perière in U.35 torpedoed her south of Cape Matapan. The ship took an immediate list and many lifeboats could not be used. She went down with close to one thousand men in one of the worst French disasters of the war." ((2), more)
"After five days of battle, and much slaughter, the battle [of Verdun] was to go on. Douaumont remained in German hands, but continued ferocious German shelling and daily assaults, while they savaged the French defenders, failed to give the Germans their entry into the city. In the week beginning on February 27 [1916], the French brought to Verdun, along the Voie Sacrée, 190,000 men and 23,000 tons of ammunition. That same week an unexpected spring thaw turned the battlefield and road into a sea of mud, but mud was no deterrent to the continued fighting, or to the intensity of the artillery barrages. In the first five weeks of conflict at Verdun, German soldiers were killed at the astounding rate of one every forty-five seconds. French deaths were even higher. The Kaiser's biographer, Alan Palmer, has written: 'Ultimately on this one sector of the Western Front the Germans suffered a third of a million casualties in occupying a cratered wasteland half the size of metropolitan Berlin.'" ((3), more)
"At Verdun, the high daily death toll led on February 28 [1916] to an emergency conference of the German Crown Prince, commanding the German Fifth Army, and General Falkenhayn. Although surprise had been lost, the Crown Prince commented, the prospects of a 'considerable moral and material victory' remained. What was needed to secure this was the necessary quantity of men and materials to continue the offensive 'not by driblets, but on a large scale'. This was agreed." ((4), more)
"From 29th February onwards, the bombing was ceaseless.But the Germans were soon caught in their own trap. On 29th February, Pétain ordered the artillery of the 29th Division to be more aggressive. It was soon the entire artillery of the left bank which raked the newly conquered German positions. Taken sideways by the fire of the 75mm, the movements of the German troops were made very difficult. Any advance of the Crown Prince's men was immediately stopped in the area which bordered the Meuse. This situation impelled the Germans to take the battle on the left bank." ((5), more)
(1) German Commander-in-Chief General Erich von Falkenhayn launched the Battle of Verdun on February 21, 1916 with a crushing bombardment from over 1,000 guns. He chose the salient of Verdun in the belief the French would feel compelled to defend it, feeding soldiers into a funnel which the Germans could shell from three sides. French Commander Joseph Joffre little valued forts or the Verdun salient, but politicians, including French President Raymond Poincaré, impressed upon him the need to defend the sector at all costs. Unaware the fort was at risk, its small garrison left Fort Douaumont virtually undefended, and it was easily taken by the Germans. The successful French defense of Verdun, despite the loss of the fort, impressed the Entente allies, contrary to Falkenhayn's hopes.
General Headquarters and its Critical Decisions, 1914-1916 by Erich von Falkenhayn, pp. 265, 266, copyright © 1920 by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publication date: 1920
(2) At the end of 1915 France and Britain had landed troops at Salonica, Greece in a failed attempt to save Serbia from being overrun by the German-Austro-Hungarian-Bulgarian invasion in October and November. Although the British were eager to abandon the new front, the French argued for staying, and won the debate. After being evacuated and recuperating, Serbian troops moved to the Front as France increased its presence.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 386, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(3) French Commander Joseph Joffre tasked General Henri Philippe Pétain with the defense of Verdun, a salient in the northeast corner of the French front. Verdun was connected to the rest of France along the Bar-le-Duc road, the Voie Sacrée. Pétain organized the provisioning of the front with supplies and with fresh troops. The road was shelled constantly; repair crews maintained it day and night.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 232, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(4) German Commander-in-Chief General Erich von Falkenhayn launched the Battle of Verdun on February 21, 1916 with a crushing bombardment from over 1,000 guns. Infantry joined the assault on the 22nd and suffered heavy losses despite ill preparations by the French defenders. On February 28 the week-old siege had only begun.
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
(5) In their assault on Verdun, the Germans had advanced farther on the right bank of the Meuse than on the left, subjecting the French to enfilade fire. French General Henri Philippe Pétain had taken command of the defense of Verdun on February 26, and rapidly bolstered the defense and supply of the sector.
The Battle of Verdun by Yves Buffetaut, page 48, copyright © Ysec Éditions 2013, publisher: Ysec Editions, publication date: 2013
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