Monday 3 July 2017

100 Years ago - Battle on the Aisne


FRENCH TANK

Micheler. Petain. Montdesir: FRENCH GENERALS IN CONSULTATION

EMPTY SHELLS OF 7Smm. GUNS FIRED BY RUSSIAN ARTILLERYMEN AT THE BATTLE OF COURCY
FRENCH TROOPS LEAVING THE TRENCHES FOR AN ATTACK


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/france-strikes-home-n76crjjcs?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2003531


France strikes home

We are not disposed to rate too high the rumours of discontent that escape from beleaguered Germany. But the German High Command must know that continued retreat in the West cannot fail to have its reactions at home

April 18, 1917

Since Monday the Armies of France have been attacking the enemy in a battle that is set on a vast scale. With them go the deep affection, the proud confidence, the high hopes of the peoples of the Empire. A year ago it was the Germans who were on the offensive. They spared nothing to beat down the barrier raised against their advance by the French lines around Verdun. They failed because France too spared nothing. The Verdun defensive demanded of her great sacrifices, prolonged endurance, and, above all, determination like a rock. She rose above all these demands. Great Britain does not forget Verdun today.
But there is more than Verdun that is enshrined in our memories. There are the long, weary months of holding on, when France bore all but the whole weight of the land war in the West. There is the great record that she has of proud loyalty to Great Britain; of the lion’s share of an almost crushing burden; of a high and unshaken resolve never to falter till tyranny should be overpast. The memory of all that is warm in the hearts of the British peoples now, as they watch the French go forward once more against.the German hosts. The British offensive they are following with pride and a stubborn confidence. The French awakes in them almost more poignant emotions. They wait with an ache of longing for the day when the deliverance of France shall be accomplished. They believe - now that the German ranks thin under the blows of a great French offensive, added to the British - that that day has dawned.
Yet they know that the French have before them an immense labour. The German line that is attacked stretches first along the northern bank of the Aisne from Conde to Craonne - looking down through its whole length from the heights of the two great plateaux of Vregny and of Craonne upon the French, who hold the lower ground. At Craonne it turns south and crosses the Aisne near Berry-au-Bac, going thence just north of Reims and east to the uplands of Champagne. It is a line long set in these positions, bristling with posts as strong as years of German elaboration can make them, favoured by nature for defence and rich in means of lateral communication. Upon it the Germans have concentrated a great mass of troops for its defence. They knew well, too, what they had to expect, for ten days of a withering French artillery preparation had warned them.
The British offensive had opened a week before and had opened inauspiciously for them. We are not disposed to rate too high the rumours of discontent that escape from beleaguered Germany. But the German High Command must know that continued retreat in the West cannot fail to have its reactions at home. Germany cannot afford such reactions just now. The Austrian peace overtures to Russia may not mean much. It may be a small thing to Von Hindenburg that on Sunday prayers for peace were offered in the churches of Vienna. But these things, if no trustworthy indications of what is at the moment in Germany and Austria Hungary, can hardly be less than sinister signs of what may be.
The Germans themselves seem to labour, in the report which they issued yesterday, to impress upon their people the importance of the battle. They call it “one of the greatest battles of the mighty war, and therefore also in the history of the world.” They repeat again their phrase of the day before about the “far-reaching object” of the French attack. Their meaning is not very clear, and we notice some disposition here to make the most of the phrase. Probably the German original would better be rendered as “with an ambitious aim”. Its use may only be designed to din into German ears the now familiar formula about the Allies’ failure to “break through”.
Far more significant is the reference of the German communique to the “object” of their High Command. This, the world is told, was, “even if war material was lost, to spare the lives of our forces and to inflict heavy losses on the enemy.” The Germans were not in the habit of holding language like that about pitched battles. But it is wise to remember that German communiques nowadays are drafted with a keen eye to the possibilities of the future and under the constant strain of a necessity to be prepared at any moment to explain away defeat.
The French communiques about the offensive are a great contrast. They show that our Allies have made an excellent start: From Soupir, on the Aisne, to Craonne they have taken all the first German position. From Craonne to south of Juvincourt they hold the second line as well. Yesterday’s fighting gave them the whole of the German first line on a front of 10 miles east of Prunay. On part of this front they pushed farther and captured a strong line of heights between Mont Cornillet and Vaudesincourt. East again, Auberive has fallen to them and the strong German salient that covered it.
These successes have cost the enemy more than 2,500 prisoners. On Monday he lost over 11,000. Between Soissons and Reims the French batteries have again opened on the enemy, and many isolated detachments that were still holding fragments of his broken lines have been reduced. So great an offensive, against so wide a front so strongly held and buttressed by such a mass of troops in reserve, must develop slowly.
No sound conclusions can be drawn from the fortunes of the first days, but they are hopeful and give no excuse for doleful predictions. This is a battle of position. It ranges the resolute might of France against the desperate might of Germany. It is for people at home to recognize this; to remember that the initiative is with the Allies, and that the French offensive is of the substance of the strategic plan as certainly as the British.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/greatest-battle-of-the-war-blkt9swwv?CMP=TNLEmail_118918_2003531


Greatest battle of the war

Both the French and English have made and repaired roads and railways and brought forward heavy guns and ammunition with extraordinary rapidity, and it is difficult to see that the enemy has gained anything at all by changing the venue of the battle which it was impossible for him to avoid

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