Battle of the Marne, September 1914, surprise attack on Paris and rallying of French

   

Taxis save Paris!

 After Germany invaded Belgium in early August 1914 and France and Britain declared war on Germany and her allies, the Germans saw that to win the war they should attack France quickly and decisively. They hoped to win the war within days and thus end what might be their biggest nightmare—a two-front war. As they swarmed toward Paris, the French were surprised. And their troops, their 7th Division, had to be repositioned from their railhead to quickly stop the German advance.

     In a valiant maneuver, the Army asked approximately 600 taxi drivers of Paris to aid them by carrying 10,000 French troops to the front lines. The taxi drivers were to meet their so-called passengers in the drive in front of the Les Invalides.

Les Invalides, Jo-Ann Power picture

Troops climbing into the taxis!

The farthest the Germans advanced was within 30 miles of Paris. At Meaux, they were stopped, thanks in part to these taxi drivers! (Do see the map here!)

Dotted line: Sept. 5 positions. Solid line: New front, post Sept. 9

Musee de La Grande Guerre in Meaux
Jo-Ann Power, picture

   
And in Meaux today, you can and should take the train from Gare de L'Est for a 30 minute ride to this quiet little town to visit the most marvelous museum, Musee de La Grande Guerre! (Do see my other posts about it!)

Lafayette Escadrille, Lex Learner in HEROIC MEASURES flies for Army Aero Squadron & beginning of American Air Force

   

Flag with logo

   The volunteers who went to France before the USA declared war in April 1917 were men who had enjoyed the luxury of learning how to fly aeroplanes. Most of these men were college students from well-to-do families. After all, flight instruction was expensive!
   
    Because the United States had declared itself a neutral country, any Americans volunteering had to belong to a "neutral" unit. Hence, they joined the "unofficial" flying unit of the French aero fleet. The French were canny and called it after the famous French aristocrat who had been a leader in the American forces aiding George Washington in the Revolutionary War.

     Aeroplanes were relatively new transportation, produced in greater numbers only at the beginning of the 1910 decade. Planes were fragile, constructed of plywood, a few bits of metal and the gas tank. Those who flew understood that they had to be very cognizant of wind, shear, temperatures and storms. They also knew that once off the ground, flying a mile or two in the air was extremely cold. All those photos we see of men in leather jackets with huge scarves around their necks is no fabrication! They were frozen up there—and suffered colds, pneumonia and massive ear infections as a result. (So does Lex Learner in HEROIC MEASURES!)

     Accidents, too, were very common. Only as manufacturers took advice from experienced pilots did they begin to produce planes that were sturdier and offered more functionality. The Germans produced quite a few models before and during the war, including the Fokker and Junker, both useful in bombing raids. The French produced a few, too, the most famous being the Nieuport, used by our Escadrille and by the men in that unit who transferred to the new US Aero Squardrons when we declared war.

     In wartime, the probability of accidents increased. And as the men of the Escadrille learned from their French cohorts how to fly amid cannon fire, they also learned how to take reconnaissance pictures
and drop bombs. As the war wended on, they also learned how to use the newest of the deadly technology—the machine gun.

Nieuport's were choice of US Aero Squardrons,
light and efficient.

     Life expectancy was short. In fact, most of the men who originally served in the Escadrille died in service. ONe of the few to survive, and one of the most famous, is Eddie Rickenbacker. He went on to found a major airline in the United States. ____

Air Service Map, A.E.F. aerodromes:
The most active squadrons—for bombing raids and surveillance—were stationed
in the northeast sector, near Chaumont, US Headquarters, and employed heavily
in the battles for St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne drives,
September 1918 through November, 1918.

TOMORROW, 99th Anniversary of Armistice! Honor the women and men who fought in The Great War and read HEROIC MEASURES

     When the British, French, Americans and Germans and Austrian-Hungarians signed the Armistice agreement November 11, 1918 in Compiegne, France, the world celebrated a cease fire, the end of the slaughter that typied the war.
     Here is the famous picture of those who signed the agreement in the railroad car along the front in northern France.

Photographer unknown. In public domain in EU, UK and USA.

     Millions in tiny villages and large cities across the world came out to mark the end of this tragic conflict. Some danced. Most cried. Millions mourned their loss of  friends and family. For thousands who served, many decried the impairment of their health. Bitter and devastated, the millions who survived had before them an extremely difficult time recovering. Whole towns had disappeared. Home and farms were destroyed. Landscapes were forever altered by huge bombs, tunnels and gas warfare.
    People had to deal with the loss of millions of their loved ones. In Britain, so many young men had been killed that the Government soon developed a program for unmarried women to move abroad so that they might find husbands in the Commonwealth countries. Wounded, largely due to the improvement in medical care, survived by the hundreds of thousands. As amputees, many learned to use prostheses. Others who were facially wounded underwent new skin grafting techniques that were to be the solid basis for the development of plastic surgery.
     Today, the park and forest around Compiegne's treaty site are peaceful sites. Like that day when the Entente military leaders and their German counterparts met in a railroad car, the foliage is thick. And as then, it is so deep you cannot see the sky. On that day, the Entente leaders wanted aerial coverage as protection but the canopy was so dense this was impossible.

Museum at site of Armistice signing.
Inside is Railroad Car, next in sequence of actual car since destroyed in fire.

Aside from this car, the museum houses wonderful panoramic pictures of all aspects of military life.
I estimate ninety percent of these are not duplicated anywhere else.

Outside in the clearing, this statue
to French General Foch
who received the German agreement to the cease fire for 11.11.18.

Memorial to the Heroic Soldiers of France
Defenders of the their country
and the glorious liberators of Alsace and Lorraine.
This stands directly opposite the building in above picture
which houses the replica of the train car where Germans agreed to cease fire.

AEF Operating Rooms, trauma care in WWI France, Nurses take active roles

Accession number	1991.86
Description	Black and white photograph. Hospital scene. Man with leg in traction and having a cast applied. Medical personnel surrounding him, including one nurse. From the service of Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Benjamin Francisco, American Medical Officer, assigned to 1st, 32nd, and 35th Division in France after working at Old Mill Hospital, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Accession number

1991.86

Description

Black and white photograph. Hospital scene. Man with leg in traction and having a cast applied. Medical personnel surrounding him, including one nurse.

From the service of Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Benjamin Francisco, American Medical Officer, assigned to 1st, 32nd, and 35th Division in France after working at Old Mill Hospital, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Archives of National World War I Museum

Accession number	1991.86
Description	Black and white photograph. Operating scene in an operating room. Female nurse and another male assisting doctor while averting eyes away from patient. From the service of Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Benjamin Francisco, American Medical Officer, assigned to 1st, 32nd, and 35th Division in France after working at Old Mill Hospital, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Accession number

1991.86

Description

Black and white photograph. Operating scene in an operating room. Female nurse and another male assisting doctor while averting eyes away from patient.

From the service of Lieutenant Colonel Clarence Benjamin Francisco, American Medical Officer, assigned to 1st, 32nd, and 35th Division in France after working at Old Mill Hospital, Aberdeen, Scotland.

18+ DAYS in AEF's Footsteps, DAY 6: Aisne-Marne Cemetary, Belleau Wood, France

U.S. Government photo, public domain
(disputed locale: either Belleau Wood or in the Argonne)

The battle of Belleau Wood, June 1-26, 1918 along the Marne River northeast of Paris was the battle that the US Marine Corps marks as one of its most honorable.

Pursuing Germans across an open wheat field toward a dense woodland heavily defended by the enemy, the Marines suffered as many casualties in these woods in a few days as they had previously lost in all former engagements since their founding in 1775. Here they encountered Germans heavily armed with machine guns and well entrenched in foxholes and dug-outs in the slippery muddy hillside. They also encountered gas attacks, escaping the woods only by forming a long line and placing one hand on the shoulder of the man in front so that they could march out of the battle zone.

Gas Attack Victims in line of evacuation; this is a British unit, 1918.

A nurse administers eye drops to gas attack victim.

Aerial view of chlorine gas attack, WWI.

1920 Picture of various types of gas masks used during WWI.

At left, we see one picture of that devastated forest as the Marines fire at the enemy.

Second Battle of Marne, Belleau Wood, Chateau-Thierry

The Marines fought so vigorously to gain and retain their hold of the woods that the Germans dubbed them Devil Dogs, or Teufel Hunden. To this day, the Marines honor the valor of the men who fought there by using it as their own nickname.

A US Marine Corps Recruiting Poster

The Aisne-Marne Cemetery, known to many as Belleau Wood Cemetery, lies five miles east of Chateau Thierry. The Battle of Belleau Wood and Chateau Thierry are part of the larger campaign, known as the Second Battle of the Marne.  Driving in this area, you can readily see the importance of maintaining control of the wide, easily navigable Marne River. Along the same parallel as the city of Meaux, where La Musee de la Grande Guerre is, these two battle sites are significant in that they were disputed territory between Germans and French for many years of the war until the American AEF forces took up positions along these lines and held them, then advanced them in the Spring Offensive of 1918.

In this cemetery, 15% of the men buried here are Marines who lost their lives in this Second Battle for the Marne. All others buried here are US Army and National Guard. No nurses are buried here.

Like other American cemeteries, the land is meticulously landscaped. Beneath pristine white marble crosses are the remains of 2,289 American servicemen. Another 1,060 men who are missing in action are commemorated in the chapel where their names are inscribed on the walls.

The cemetery is on the slope of a hill adjacent to Belleau Wood. Here in close-up you note the detail on the outside, including the sculpture of a nurse, 3rd from left.

   In graceful arcs, the graves mark the slope of the hill. On the half hour, the chimes in the chapel ring out. As in other American cemeteries, the songs played bring tears to your eyes. They include The Battle Hymn of the Republic, God Bless America, Saving Grace and The National Anthem.

18+ Days in AEF's Footsteps, Day 6: Belleau Wood battleground, Retreat? Hell, we just got here!

Memorial Plaque in center of Belleau Wood display of captured German armaments

"Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"

This famous American  response to an order to fall back was offered up at Belleau Wood by a Marine leading his men through this dense forest. Defended by combat-hardened Germans armed with machine guns, the terrain rolls and pitches.

While it is never my intent to recount military battles as I leave that to the experts on strategy, I will tell you that to go to Belleau Wood is to once again see landscape that clarifies a battle's necessity and to understand why so many soldiers...or in this case, Marines and Germans died in this particular battle.

We entered the woods through the entrance to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, often called Belleau Wood Cemetery. (The Aisne-Marne Campaign, so named for the rivers the AEF sought to capture control of, comprises a number of battles including that for Chateau-Thierry, a town a few miles away.)

Captured armaments

Here in this clearing with this memorial are a number of armaments, all German, all captured by the Americans, Marines and Army soldiers. The array of cannon and more is impressive. Other elements of the woods explain much of the battle.

The woods, I will tell you, are very dense. Even on the sunny and humid spring day that we were there, we could not see through the foliage. To fight here must have been an enormously difficult task for both armies.

We walked the pathways into the forest and at every step, you see foxholes, machine gun dugouts and trenches. One hundred years later it is and you marvel that men fought in these conditions.

Bullets remain in the trees.

Today, flowers bloom in the forest. They did before the battle, too. Many men note that in their memoirs. So do nurses. All contrast the beauty of the flowers with the devastation that occurred among the blossoms.

Along this hillside beneath the blue wild lilies, you see the remains of a trench.

At the edge of the forest, you come to a large wheat field. Here, in knee-high growth, the Marines and the Army soldiers advanced with only barrage for cover. The enormous courage a man must have summoned to to charge this field is much beyond my ability to imagine.

Looking toward Lucy Bocage from where the Americans advanced into the wood where this picture was taken.

Do return for the next post, a look at the Aisne-Marne Cemetery in Belleau Wood.

Finally, for those of you who prefer a video with solid historical synopsis and terrific original film footage, I recommend you go here to the Military Channel: http://military.discovery.com/battles-history/videos/world-war-1-videos.htm There are quite a few short films here, but one on the Battle for Belleau Wood.

(I will say one element of this monologue I did take issue with: The moderator claims this is the first battle of which the Germans remarked on Americans' tenacity. Hence the German name for the Marines who captured this wood: Teufel Hunden. Devil Dogs. Actually, it was the battle of Cantigny in which the First Division took that village where the Germans realized that the Americans might truly have the right stuff to wage significant warfare.)