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The First Battle of the Aisne, between 12-15th September 1914, was essentially a follow-up to the Battle of the Marne (8-10th September) in which the German advance on Paris had been checked and then turned back. This pamphlet, maps and tour is the official War Office guide to the battlefield, which was the watershed between the war of movement and the beginnning of trench warfare, published in 1934. Acting in conjunction with the French Fifth army on its right, and the Sixth Army on its left, and under the orders of the French C-in-C Gen. Joffre, the BEF advanced on the 12th, gaining the heights south of the River Aisne, and on the left south of Venizel reached a bridge over the river itself, which was captured that night in heavy fighting. To the left of the BEF, the French had also reached the Aisne between Compeigne and Soissons, while on the right the French had reached the River Vesle between Beaumont and Fismes. By the night of the 12/13th the gap between Von Kluck s First and Von Bulow s second Armies had widened to 18 miles, making it difficult for the Germans to man a defensive line along the Aisne. On 13th September the BEF crossed the Aisne, despite heavy opposition from the Germans who had brought up reserves to strengthen their line. On the 14th, hampered by a heavy mist, the BEF made little progress in their advance; fighting was intense and losses heavy, with every battalion but one of the BEF engaged. On the 15th, the final day of the battle, GHQ ordered the BEF to entrench the positions they had reached. Determined German counter-attacks were all repulsed. The guide gives an account of the battle, notes from the 1914 Training Manuals; lessons learned from the fighting; a study of operations at night; and the order of battle for the British, French, and German forces engaged. The pack comes with three main battlefield maps illustrating the unfolding action and five sketch maps showing the stands to view the panorama of the battlefield.
The notorious plateau of the Chemin des Dames saw some of the heaviest fighting of the First World War. Situated just 100 km north-east of Paris, it was the scene in 1917 of the bitterly-controversial Nivelle offensive, which is remembered today as one of the worst disasters in military history. For battlefield tourists, the Chemin des Dames is among the most fascinating sites on the entire Western Front, yet until now there has never been a detailed English guide to the actions that raged there in 1917. This new book by Andrew Uffindell fills that gap: as well as demolishing the many myths about the Nivelle offensive, it enables readers to explore the remarkable battlefield for themselves. Five tours supplemented by forty-six stops at individual places of interest provide an exceptional insight into the struggle for the Chemin des Dames. Illustrated with a wealth of maps and photographs, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the First World War.
The Battle of the Aisne fought in September 1914 introduced a new and savage mode of warfare to the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, their French allies and to the German Army. Both officers and men were trained to fight mobile wars. When they reached the north bank of the Aisne, the ‘Old Contemptibles’ would be stopped by the Germans entrenched on high ground, armed with machine guns and supported by heavy artillery. The British commanders would naively send their troops on futile assaults up slopes devoid of cover to attack the German lines dug in on the ridges along the Chemin des Dames and concealed by woodland. The British did not even have grenades. The BEF suffered 12,000 casualties. Their commanders, who were not trained to fight a modern war, were lost for a solution or even a strategy. It was on the Chemin des Dames that the first trenches of the Western Front were dug and where the line that would stretch from the Swiss frontier to the North Sea began. The Battle of the Aisne saw the dawn of trench warfare and a stalemate that would last for the next four years. Wide-ranging archival research by author Paul Kendall makes this the first in-depth study of the battle in print. His correspondence with surviving relatives of those who fought brings a human face to the terrible casualty statistics that would come to define the trenches.
The river Aisne featured prominently in August 1914 during the Retreat from Mons and in September was the scene of bitter fighting when the BEF re-crossed it in their unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the German Army entrenched along the Northern Crest.The fighting was hugely costly to the BEF, which had already fought three major engagements and marched over 200 miles in a month. The three British Corps lost over 700 officers and some 15,000 men. Little wonder one officer wrote that he felt he was in the company of ghosts.Historian Jerry Murland places the Aisne battles in their context, both from the BEF and German viewpoints. He highlights the early deficiencies and unpreparedness of the British Army staff and logistics organization as well as friction among the command structure, all of which hampered effective operations.