France - Western Front - First World War

Category: France - Western Front --- See Latest World War I news here. See also 'World War I Tours', 'Trech Warfare', 'WW1 Memorials, Museums', 'Surviving WWI Veterans'.

Northeastern France reflects the courage and sacrifice of World War I
Florence Lamousse, a guide leading a tour of the battlefields, visits the trenches often. It is not an easy task. "I have feelings of sadness. I feel closer and closer to the war. When I walk my dogs in the forest I find buttons, shrapnel, bullets." A visit to the trenches was a particularly poignant part of a recent tour of WWI sites in northeastern France. The trenches, reconstructed to their original state, are on the highway between Saint Mihiel to Nancy. Stop just before the village of Apremont by the sign "Bois Brule" for a visit, or get a map from one of the tourist offices in the area. [ stripes :: 2008-05-22 :: France - Western Front ]

France may clear names of executed First World War mutineers
France may posthumously clear the names of hundreds of soldiers shot for refusing to obey orders to fight during WWI, told Jean-Marie Bockel, the minister in charge of veterans' affairs. "I am considering a way of rehabilitating, on a case by case basis, those shot as an example during the First World War." Hundreds of French soldiers were executed, many for refusing to continue to fight after a bloody and unsuccessful attack near the Chemin des Dames area in 1917. The mutinies, in which many regiments refused to move, brought up fears among French leaders that the army could collapse. [ reuters :: 2008-05-15 :: France - Western Front ]

France's final WWI veteran Lazare Ponticelli dies - The last poilu
France's last surviving veteran of the First World War, Lazare Ponticelli, has died aged 110. Ponticelli, originally Italian, had lied about his age to join the French Foreign Legion in August 1914, aged 16. He initially refused an offer of a state funeral, but he later decided to accept "in the name of all those who died, men and women", during WWI. "Poilu" is the name given since Napoleonic times to French foot soldiers. There are only a handful of WWI veterans alive today, like British Henry Allingham and Austro-Hungarian artillery man Franz Kunstler. [ bbc :: 2008-03-12 :: Last Living Veterans ]

France's oldest World War I veteran Louis de Cazenave dies at 110
Louis de Cazenave, who fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, has died at 110, leaving Lazare Ponticelli as the last "poilu", French WWI veteran. The second-last of the poilus (hairy ones: the name given since Napoleonic times to footsoldiers) joined up in 1916. In April 1917, assigned to the Fifth Senegalese Rifles, he fought in one of the most fatal French WW1 operations, at the Chemin des Dames, during the Second Battle of the Aisne. The Germans took chemin in 1914, and after 2 years of attritional warfare, the French commander-in-chief General Robert Nivelle, urged an assault against the well-dug Germans. The attack led to French mutinies, and left Cazenave a pacifist. [ bbc :: 2008-01-21 :: Last Living Veterans ]

First World War veteran Lazare Ponticelli helps France remember
Born in Italy in 1897, Lazare Ponticelli joined the Foreign Legion in 1914, fighting in Picardy and at the Battle of Verdun before being drafted into the Italian army in 1915, where he served until the end of WW1. He and Louis de Cazenave are the only two surviving "poilus" ("unshaven ones") - the nickname given to France's front-line combat troops in the Great War. 8.4 million French soldiers served in the First World War and more than 1.3 million were killed. [ montrealgazette :: 2007-11-15 ]

French World War I veteran Louis de Cazenave turns 110
One of only two living French veterans of the Great War celebrated his 110th birthday at his home in Brioude. Louis de Cazenave signed up for service in 1916 and served with the 5th Senegalese battalion. He saw active service from Dec 1916 to Sept 1917 and took part in the "Ladies' Way" battle as the French attacked the German lines. The other surviving French WWI veteran Lazare Ponticelli will celebrate his 110th birthday in December. [ news :: 2007-10-17 :: France - Western Front ]

French cognac left by French World War I soldiers
90 years ago, a German artillery shell exploded in a battlefield trench in mountain village Gradesnica, killing a band of French WWI soldiers. But their spirits live on: A liquid fortune in vintage cognac and wine - army rations that since 1916 have matured into an elixir - lies buried in the old trenches. Villagers unearthed the first case 15 years ago. Since then, digs have yielded several cognac caches - two dozen bottles each. Wine producers in France were obliged to pay a military tax by preparing wine and spirits for the army. The old-fashioned cognac bottles fetch up to $6,800 from collectors. [ iht :: 2007-07-23 :: France - Western Front ]

Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy And Operations in the Great War
The French army during the World War One has been marginalized by scholars. The British often view them as the 'unknown ally' and American scholars regard France as the older brother. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the Royal Navy are the standards against which German military is measured. Robert A. Doughty's book establishes France's legitimate position through a definitive account of the development and implementation of French strategy during WW1. [ publicbroadcasting :: 2007-04-24 :: France - Western Front ]

The largest mutiny in modern military history
The battle is seared into French collective memory and has fascinated historians as the moment when man said "no" to the machine gun. The military story is horrific, if not unusual for WWI. On April 16, 1917, General Robert Nivelle sent 1.2 million men into a battle 130km northeast of Paris that would be go-for-broke gamble to end WW1. Underestimating the German advantage of entrenched hilltop positions, offensive was catastrophe. Soldiers mutinied. They did not retreat, but they refused to obey orders for further attack. Many officers had been killed, and replacements were green. Military records are confusing, but about 40,000 men in 130 regiments took part. [ iht :: 2007-04-16 :: Bloodiest battlefield casualties of War ]

French honor Americans who died during World War I siege
At Belleau Wood, France, where young Marines fought the enemy with rifles, bayonets and fists during World War I, Memorial Day lives up to its name. The French know; it was 88 years ago when the Marines came riding to their rescue, possibly saving their country. "Let us be worthy of their legacy," said French army chief of staff Gen. Thorette. The French, after 4 years of fighting, were down to their last licks until the Marines arrived for 3 weeks of slaughter that ended in victory on June 25, 1918. Marine Corps commandant Gen. Hagee noted how the Marines fought with little food or sleep, and how they died from artillery fire, machine-gun fire and poison gas. [ estripes :: 2006-05-29 :: United States of America ]

Soldier's photos show everyday life of war
Photographs from war often focus on death and dying -- young soldiers crying over fallen friends, bodies scattered on the battlefield. André Jeunet, a French soldier, carried in his pocket a Kodak Vest camera and instead focused on everyday life in the military. He snapped 205 black-and-white images, 47 of which are on display for the first time publicly at The Frazier International History Museum. "They give you an idea of what day-to-day life was like for soldiers." Jeunet served on both the Eastern and Western fronts, and the images are a mix of both. [ courier-journal :: 2006-05-26 :: Photographs, Pictures & Images ]

France Discovers Two Living WWI Veterans
France has discovered that two more World War I veterans are still living, bringing to seven the number of French soldiers from the "war to end all wars" known to be alive. Marie-Georges Vingadassalon said she had no immediate details on the names, ages or circumstances of the two newly discovered veterans. But she confirmed their discovery means the office now knows of 7 surviving French veterans. French media reports identified the two "poilus" - as French veterans of the war are known - as Francois Jaffre, 104, and Rene Riffaud, 107. [ bbc :: 2006-03-04 :: France - Western Front ]

Shipwreck of a nation - The Road to Verdun
Ian Ousby's The Road to Verdun: France, Nationalism and the First World War leads through France's stormy years of being struck by external disaster and torn apart by dissension. France's tenacious defence of Verdun saved the ship of state in 1916 and produced a national hero in the future Marshal Pétain, famous for his rallying cry "On les aura!": "We'll get them!" But what Pétain achieved then, at 60, he singularly failed to match when recalled to the helm in 1940, aged 84. [ guardian :: 2002-02-23 :: Battle of Verdun 1916 ]

First World War in the News is an edited review of hand-picked World War I 1914-1918 articles.