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The Maginot Line: A Defensive Barrier for World War II

World War I has just ended. France is victorious but it has cost it dearly. It’s necessary for France to defend its frontiers.

World War I has just ended. France is victorious but at a great cost. Millions of Frenchmen have died in the war, the Spanish Flu is destroying the country, and political agitation in Germany is scaring the French Government. A “Defense Council” is formed with Marshal Petain, Marshal Joffre, and Marshal Foch, the French Minister of War and the French President in the late 1910’s.

It was decided that France was no match with Germany’s demography and industry, and that it was necessary for France to defend its frontiers. Was it a good decision to focus on a defensive, rather than an offensive, strategy? Marshal Petain was strongly against it, stating that France should focus on a Maneuvering Army and not a Static one.

The Frontiers of France

The French government decided to enact a law that would initiate the construction of a defensive line on the frontiers of France, near Switzerland and Belgium. The former had been neutral since 1815, and the latter was an ally of France. André Maginot, Minister of War in 1929, pushed hard for this law, and thus gave his name to what would later become the Maginot Line.

The Maginot Line was not a defensive line just at the German frontier, as the first Bunkers were built in Nice at the Italian Frontier in southeast France. Italy was no more a friend to France, and Benito Mussolini was increasingly more aggressive towards Savoie and the Nice territory. You can even find a lot of these bunkers in the Alps and get in if you dare to!

As the Occupation of the Rhineland was coming to an end in 1930, the French government decided to take the initiative by starting to build the defensive line at the German frontier in 1929. Until 1935, the German Frontier saw the acquisition of increasingly more defensive positions, artillery nests, bunkers, and tank traps.

How was the Maginot Line designed?

As you previously guessed, yes, the Maginot Line was a series of defensive position along the frontiers of France, some more armored than others and some more protected by terrain (the Alps is a fantastic wall, and Italy would never cross them in 1940).

The following description applies specifically for the German border. The structure of the line was very simple yet proved to be both great and really bad. The Line was divided in 4 different ones.

The first one was the weakest one, being a simple series of outposts with sentries, barbed wires, and mines. It was designed in a way that the sentries could quickly alert the second line that danger was coming. The barbed wires spread a distance of 10 to 15 meters. This was plenty for the machine guns from the second line to shoot down anything that could move in this zone as the French machine guns could shoot up to 1,200 meters.

The second line was the strongest one. Full of bunkers, more barbed wires, and mines, it was located around two kilometers behind the front line. With tank traps and machine gun nests located under heavy artillery cover, it was designed not only to hold, but also to inflict heavy casualties to the enemies.

The third line was designed to provide cover to the fighting troops in the field. With machine gun nests and bunkers, this line was designed to hold the enemy if it got through the first two lines through close quarter combat.

The fourth and last line was the logistic line: barracks, ammunition, and artillery. It was designed to provide support only. The enemy was not supposed to reach it and never really did.

The main goal of the Maginot Line was to inflict major casualties and to experience as few casualties as possible. The French demography was in no match for the German demography, and French blood had to be spared as much as possible.

The Maginot Line had a political goal too, as it was designed in a way to make the Germans attack through Belgium. Since the United Kingdom had guaranteed the independence of Belgium, if Germany dared to attack Belgium again, then the British would declare war to Germany again. But the French Government was then sure that Germany would never dare touch Belgium again.

This looked great but as General Patton said…

“There is no such things as successful defense.”

The defensive lines, even designed with extreme caution, had flaws. One of them is that, as you will see later on, there was no escape for some bunkers. Soldiers were trapped in shelters, cut from reinforcements and fresh air.

But the biggest flaw was that the line was incomplete because of diplomacy. To maintain a good relationship with its neutral neighbors of Belgium and Switzerland, the line at the borders of these two countries were lightly defended. It was a diplomatic strategy, but it proved to be an enormous mistake. Why? Not only because Germany did something that the French High Command did not really expect, but even worse, the line was designed in a way to defend the border and forbid the crossing of it. The back of the line was thus very vulnerable if a flanking attack happened and took the line from behind.

“Peace for our time…”

From 1936 to 1939, the line was fully occupied for different reasons and different lengths: the Rhineland re-militarization in ’36, the Anschluss, and the Sudeten crisis in ’38.

The Sudeten crisis had a major impact on the line. Political? Maybe. Strategic? No more than being a different crisis until the breakout of the war. For the Maginot Line itself, it was a disaster. When Germany annexed the Sudetenland, the Czech fortifications were thus captured and, as they were built with the help of French engineers, the Wehrmacht tested the fortifications and figured out how to break them. A few years later, this would prove to be a disaster for France.

The Phony War

Poland had just rejected Germany’s demand about the Danzig corridor. War would breakout in a matter of time. The 21^st of August 1939, France decided to mobilize and thus garrison the fortifications. Total mobilization would start on the 2^nd of September, and war between Germany and France would start the 3^rd after France declared war. During the first days of the war, nothing would happen. Besides some artillery shots, nothing. The Sarre offensive would do nothing as well.

Soon the phony war started. During winter of 1939-1940, the fortifications would continue to grow until May 1940. Did the French High Command ever expect what would follow?

“Fall Gleb”

It is the 10^th of May 1940. Nothing changes as the Phony War continues. There are no casualties, and the soldiers are waiting. Waiting for what? Are they expecting anything? No. The French High Command has its “wall,” and the Army is believes that the enemies will not attack through it. They think that even attempting it would be a suicide mission.

The Wehrmacht has an other idea.

The Fall Gleb plan consisted of cutting through the Netherlands and Belgium and Luxemburg, bypassing the strongest elements of the Maginot Line. The French High Command didn’t really expect that. Even worse, they didn’t expect Germany to pierce the front in the Ardennes range and its deep forest. The Germans met some fortifications of the Maginot Line but they were only lightly defended as it was so unthinkable to attack through the Ardennes. What the Germans did was pretty simple. They basically dodged the strongest line of defense and attacked where it was weak. Punching hard in the Ardennes and in the direction of Sedan, like in 1870, the French High Command realized a disaster was happening.

The worse was yet to come as “Plan Dyle” started as a response to the German attack. The Allies entered in Belgium with the desire to counter-attack the Germans. A disaster happened during the following days through the application of the plan. The Germans were attacking deeper and deeper behind the Allies, and they were now flanking them. The Wehrmacht then attacked and pushed to the Channel and encircled most of the Allied armies in Belgium. Most of the French Armies, the British Corps, and the Belgian army began to surrender, completely cut off from the back. The Maginot Line saw little to no action. Most of the fortifications the Germans ran into were so lightly defended that it was impossible for the French troops to hold any attack there. Most of them were captured with small confrontation since the Germans were so dominant in every way. Some forts fought hard though. A strange case happened too with a fortification that would prove to be a major flaw for the Maginot Line. A bunker was isolated and couldn’t retreat and would not surrender. It was attacked, and trapped in the bunkers the soldiers were attacked by engineers. Trapped and with no fresh air, they all suffocated.

Later on, during the “Fall Rot,” it would happen many times.

“Fall Rot,” or the End of the Battle of France

For a short period of time from the 25^th of May until early June, the front was stabilizing and even with the loss of thousands of soldiers encircled and trapped in Belgium, the French dug behind the Aisne and the Somme rivers, and nothing happened for a few days. The Germans then launched their final battle plan, Fall Rot, which finally made France surrender.

During this final plan, the Germans attacked through the rivers and the strongest fortifications of the Maginot Line. Heroic defense from the French during 15 days would push back the Germans but the line would finally be breached on the 19^th of June and then during the last 3 days of the Battle of France. The Latiremont Sector would fire up to 1577 shells a day to push back the assault groups, and even with the help of the “Big Bertha” and the Skoda Artillery Guns (305 mm), the line would hold in most of the fortifications.

The main danger would finally come from the back of the line, as General Heinz Guderian would push his panzers far behind the defensive line and encircle the French, too.

On the 22^nd of June, the French Army would finally surrender to Germany, completely destroyed.

What about the Alps Front?

The Maginot Line was weaker there, but the Mountains were a fantastic defensive position for the French as the Germans or Italians would never break through. The Italians declared war the 10^th in a very unfavorable terrain, and it proved to be a disaster. Only the German Armistice forced the French to surrender to Italy on the 25^th of June.

There is also a very “internet famous” battle that happened during this short period. The “Battle of the Pont-Saint-Louis” gained fame, when 9 French soldiers held an enormous Italian attack, killing more than 150 Italians and only having two slightly injured soldiers.

Conclusion

The Maginot Line wasn’t so much of a bad idea in itself. It proved to be reliable, and it never really fell. Its only problem was that it was 30 years late. War changed during peace time, and the French stayed with the World War 1 strategies, which proved to be a total disaster. The war was now moving at a very fast pace.

The Blitzkrieg and the encirclement maneuvers of the Germans were very simple, and, in the end, not that well thought out. Their success was great but only because the French strategy was simply not possible during World War 2.

Guest Contributor: Kjetil Vion is a writer and a history enthusiast. A passionate of France and modern military history, he has a special interest into the Prussian state, specially since the Sadowa battle against Austria. Always wanting to learn more, he now looks to spread his knowledge in history.

Joseph Joffre: The Man Who Resisted the Germans and Held Paris

A disaster loomed over Europe. The Archduke Franz-Ferdinand was murdered, and the Russians had guaranteed the independence of Serbia. Austria-Hungary’s ultimatum to Serbia was rejected, and Germany planned to stand by its ally, Austria-Hungary.

Since France was a part of the Entente, a military alliance with the Russian Empire, the German ambassador in Paris asked for an answer about the French posture. Rene Viviani, president of the French Republic, answered on August 1^st that “France will draw on its interests.”

On August 3^rd, the German Empire subsequently invaded Luxemburg as part of the Schlieffen Plan and declared war on France. France and its high command was ready. The “Plan XVII,” drafted by Joseph Joffre, was already fully operational.

Joseph Joffre's Early Years

Born in 1852 in the Pyrénées range south of France, Joseph Joffre was a career officer. His career started in late 1869, and he was already second lieutenant when France declared war on Prussia in 1870 and ended up participating in different artillery battalions. He was highly disappointed by the disastrous defense of the French army during the war and was hostile towards the “Commune de Paris,” a communist rebellion during 1871.

Back to school at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Joffre went to different French colonies all around the globe: Madagascar, French Indochina, French Sudan (today’s Mali). Additionally, he studied and progressed through the ranks, finally coming back and settling down in Paris where he got his final position, the highest one: “Généralissime” of the French Army. At 59 years old, he was one of the youngest generals in the Army to obtain this rank and during the few months before hell was unleashed during World War II, he spent most of his time reorganizing the French Army and designing the “Plan XVII”.

This plan was simple and was one of the major reasons why France did not capitulate in a matter of days during the terrible month of August 1914. In a very short time, the French Army was able to mobilize and transport thousands of men in the direction of the German frontier. However, what happened during the first days of the war was unexpected, and the breaking point was nearly reached.

August 1914. France was on the edge of the cliff.

During the first few days of the war, no one would predict that the French army could stand against the terrible attack and the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan.

Defeated on the majority of the front, the French infantry despite their courage and determination could not hold against the enemy cannons. Until the end of August, the French Army was in full retreat on the entire front, excepting Alsace-Lorraine. The “Plan XVII” drafted by Joffre had been a failure even though some good things resulted. The French had advanced in Alsace-Lorraine, but the German Army opened a major breach west of Lorraine in the Ardennes and Belgium. The highest success of the “Plan XVII” had been the fast mobilization of the French army.

The cold-blood of Joseph Joffre surely prevented an even greater disaster, and he is now famous saying: “Surtout, pas d’affolement!”, translated as “Above all, do not panic!”

But the German Headquarters made some fatal mistakes. The first one was that Joffre decided to counter-attack every time he could against the Germans. Fixing divisions was crucial for the French as they could reorganize their army all along the Marne river.

The Germans were also very stubborn about their beloved Schlieffen Plan which had been proven to have major flaws. The first and perhaps the most important one was that the Plan needed to cut through Belgium, which dragged another country into war when the Belgians refused to let through the German troops. This subsequently brought the United Kingdom into war as they had guaranteed Belgium’s independence.

The second major mistake was that the Germans wanted to destroy Belgium and their forts by any means. Fixing more than 150,000 men and most of their artillery in an attempt to destroy the Forts of Liège, Namur, and Anvers, the Germans experienced a crucial time and manpower loss. Instead of directing their force against France and destroying the French armies, the Germans lost time which they would never get back again and would finally cost them Paris.

“The Marne Miracle”

As stated before, Joffre declared a Full Retreat, and all the units capable of organizing the defense were sent off behind the Marne River, one of the last major rivers before Paris. Some 70 kilometers away from the front, British General John French was already thinking about evacuating the British Expeditionary Force.

General Kitchener convinced General French to listen to Joffre. During the retreat, August 29 would become a significant day and permit the success of the Marne Battle. During this crucial day, General Lanrezac held an important German attack at Guise, which fixed German troops and cost them time. During this battle, Joffre found time to reorganize the army and refine his strategy to block the Germans.

During this time, Joffre carefully analyzed how the German Army was organized to try and find something interesting. Strategy is all about opportunities, and, since the beginning of the War, nothing was interesting enough for France. Joffre spotted gaps between the 9^th and the 4^th German Army, and came up with the main objectives of destabilizing the frontline and completing encirclement maneuvers around the enemies. A recon plane spotted that the German Army was making a move in direction of Meaux, which indicated the moment when the French and British should attack.

After several hours of hesitation, Gallieni and Joffre decided that the attack should be completed as soon as possible. And in the early morning of the 6^th of September, the decisive Battle of the Marne started. Possibly the most important battle of WWI, this battle was of strategic importance. The French and the British attacked and destroyed multiple German divisions, pushing them 100 kilometers back in a matter of days! “The Miracle of the Marne” happened and saved France from collapsing, thanks to the sacrifice, the courage, and the determination of its infantry.

Even if the tactics and the strategies were already long obsolete, it was enough for the Germans to be stopped and drove back from Paris’s region.

Following the Marne Battle, the Aisne Battle (another river in northern France) began, but no movement from both sides were decisive enough, the Germans finally settled down behind a river and the French were exhausted by this enormous effort.

This battle proved that the Schlieffen Plan was indeed a failure, and the belligerents could not go on with a war movement which was very costly for both sides. Thus began Trench Warfare.

In this “Miracle,” Joffre’s cold blood prevented major disasters and his ability to convince General French to withdraw his troops contributed to this strategic victory. His mind was a key-factor in the final victory of France in WWI.

Bloodbath after Bloodbath…

At the end of the Aisne Battle, the infamous Trench Warfare started. As the belligerents started to dig themselves deeper and deeper, offensives from both sides looked disastrous. So began enormous casualties for insignificant victories, and the horrors of the Trench Warfare developed.

The “Chemin des Dames,” the Flanders Battle, the Champagne Battles, Ypres, all of these battles were disasters for multiple reasons. First, the French Army always lacked ammunition and firepower to break the lines. The bravery of the Infantry shined on the battlefield but no major breakouts could be achieved from October 1914 until the end of 1916, when Joffre was sacked. Second was the appearance of a new weapon: lethal gas. It was not the best way to attack since the attacking side could also suffer from the effect of the gas, but when used as a defensive means, it was very reliable since one army could absolutely choke the whole no-man’s land with it.

The last major battle directed by Joffre was the Somme Battle. As the Verdun Battle had already been raging on for several months during 1916, the Somme was an ideal objective for Joffre to break the enemy frontline but dissensions in the Allies Headquarters sabotaged the effort. Like the previous battles, the Somme ended in a useless bloodbath and was very costly for France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The Status Quo stood.

Joffre proved several times he was a real general and probably saved France in September 1914, but within several years, his tactics were outdated, and it was time for change. Robert Nivelle became the new commander of the Allied Armies in France on the 26^th of December 1916. Joffre was out.

The same day, Joseph Joffre was named Marshal of France.

His legacy

Seen as a savior by some and as a butcher by others, everyone had his opinion about Joseph Joffre. It is possible to discuss the horrific battles that took place under his command but despite having significantly fewer troops and firepower than German General Von Moltke, Joffre did what he was tasked for: resist and hold.

Even though his Plan XVII was ultimately a failure and France nearly collapsed, his strategy to push the enemies of the French Republic back were a success, and it is important to remember the sacrifices and bravery of the men that died under his orders.

After all, we can see Joseph Joffre as a true savior because Paris did not fall to the hand of the German Imperial Army. As in 1871, it could have caused major troubles to the French war effort. Revolution, revolts, mutinies? What could have happened if the cold blood of Joffre did not prevent the Germans from entering Paris as they did 40 years before?

In the end, France won the Great War with enormous casualties, and every effort from the entire French population was vital for the war. Joffre had been their leader, the leader of a nation every step of the way.

A Visit to the Arromanches Museum in Normandy

1944, Normandy. The sky is grey and the fog is compact. The night is dark. The wind blows but somehow, the most intrepid of all men decided on their own to jump over France. It is the 5th of June, and some of them will never see their homeland again. But in the name of Freedom and Democracy, they decided it was their duty to help those who are oppressed.

The museum is a monument in the name of those who decided to jump above Normandy and land at the beaches. It is a monument for those who made possible what would later lead to the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Fascism in Europe.

What is the Arromanches Museum about?

Why would you go to this museum in the first place? Well, it is nearby all the bridgeheads of the Normandy landings.

If you start your journey from Utah Beach, the most western of all the beaches, you’ll have the luck to go across all the beaches from West to East and the final stage in this trip is naturally, Arromanches, which was a crucial point during the Liberation of France. Or if you take the trip in the other way around, it is the first necessary stop on your way to knowledge.

The museum has two particulars addressed subjects: the first one is as you guessed, the Normandy landings and the second one is the Mulberry Harbor. This harbor was capital for the landings as the Dieppe Landing (1942) proved that the Allies couldn’t not breach the Atlantic Wall to capture a harbor. Even though the Allies finally captured Cherbourg and its precious harbor, the Mulberry harbor was still in use for 10 months after the initial landings. More than 2,500,000 men, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tons of supplies landed in the harbor.

But why would you buy a museum just by this particular site? French President René Coty pushed hard in the 1950s for a museum to be built in the area, to show the magnificent war effort that was done just for the landings and to help supply the troops that were liberating France.

So as you guessed, in this museum, you will have the luck to see everything about the harbor. You will enter first a big room where you will see a mock up of the harbor. Every aspect of the harbor and how it worked is detailed on this mock up that is around 20 meters long!

You can find many other things in the museum. You’ll find different uniforms used by the troops of both sides, some rifles, some German equipment… There is also a movie describing the Normandy landing and the role of the Harbor, its conception and the strategic importance it had.

At the end of your tour in the museum, you will of course happen to land… in a souvenir shop like every museum in the world. Outside the museum, and next to the usual flags that you can find pretty much all across the Normandy coast, you will find some interesting pieces of artillery, from both England and Germany.

Outside the museum…

Not only you should go to the museum for all the things you can learn inside the museum, but the most important thing in Arromanches is the scenery offered to the visitor. Not only Arromanches is a beautiful city on the Channel Coast, but the sea is just by the museum, on the shore.

The most impressing thing in all of that is that ashore, you can still see what used to be a harbor. As Lord Mountbatten said: “If we dispose of no harbors, we will bring our own.”

The gigantic dockyard that was used to pour equipment through the Channel and into France was located in the bay of Arromanches, just ashore of the museum! If the tide is low, you can even walk to the remains of the harbor! You’ll happen to find gigantic pieces of concrete that could float, and that was used as pontoons, going back and forth with the tide.

The remains of the harbor give you an idea of how enormous what the Allies decided to do. They didn’t bother asking themselves which sea harbor would be the best between Cherbourg, Le Havre or many more. They just built their own harbor in the middle of basically nowhere, in the only place where the shore is not a cliff in the area. The things you can discover inside the museum are truly interesting and is an important stop on your way to history and how everything happened. But outside, you can truly appreciate the effort that was done to help and supports the troops fighting Nazi Germany inland.

The Mulberry Harbour of Arromanches was of strategic importance, and there was no way Germany could disrupt its effort in any manner, considering the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine had no way to interfere. They could always sabotage the harbors they were holding such as what happened in Cherbourg, but the Mulberry of Arromanches stood and, it was one of the most important points of the Allies invasion of Western Europe.

The point of this museum is as stated before, not to be the most precise or detailed one, but to be a monument. A monument dedicated to the people who decided to do the impossible, the unthinkable. They decided to go for it, to liberate Europe from Fascism and Nazism. It is dedicated to those who thought and built the Mulberrys. Those who decided to fight for Freedom.

Colonial Military Involvement in World War I

More than half a million colonial soldiers fought in Europe. They came from all corners of Africa and were deployed in different battles.

It is still difficult to determine whether colonial military involvement in World War I helped strengthened or loosen colonial ties. More than half a million colonial soldiers fought in Europe, mainly in the French army. These soldiers came from all corners of Africa and were deployed in different parts of Europe.

Most of the European countries involved in colonizing Africa participated in World War I. They controlled large parts of the continent, thereby forcing the native Africans to participate in the war. Apart from the economic exploitation of Africa to support the war, colonial powers forced Africans to migrate to Europe where they either became workers or soldiers.

WW1 and the Colonies

Between 1914 and 1918 alone, more than 440,000 native soldiers and 268,000 workers were shipped to Europe, where they were forced to participate in the war. According to the British Library, more than four million men of African origin were mobilized across the continent to participate in the First World War alone.

The Origin of Colonial Troops

France was the most notable culprit as far as colonial troops were involved. It had already used African soldiers to fight its European wars like the Italian war in 1859, Crimean war (1854-1856) and the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71.

After the first crisis in Morocco in 1905 Adolphe Messimy, a radical army general, petitioned for an extended period of compulsory military service to Muslim Algerians. A 1912 verdict allowed for the forceful recruitment if the required number wasn’t met by those who volunteered.

From 1914-1915, France deployed more than 450,000 soldiers from Africa. They came from West Africa, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Somalia. European settlers added another 110,000 from North Africa, while around 5,700 were extracted from Senegalese ports and towns. The then Prime Minister George Clemenceau (1841-1929) came up with a suggestion to hire 200,000 Ethiopian mercenaries, but it never happened.

The number of colonial troops increased in the second half of the First World War. After suffering heavy casualties in the first phase, a new doctrine emerged. Colonial troops were to fight alongside soldiers from European countries to minimize defections and casualties.

The massive recruitment of men from North and West Africa to participate in World War I came with numerous challenges. For instance, the French saw a drop in the number of volunteers and the military resorted to coerced recruitment. This approach faced opposition from many people.

In West Africa, rich and influential Africans would resort to handing over their servants and slaves to the recruiting officers to spare their family members from participating in the war. Resistance came in many forms; for instance, there were cases of self-mutilation, fleeing into Liberia, the Gold coast, Guinea or even into the dense forests. In some instances, armed rebellion cropped up to fight the colonial powers taking people to fight in the First World War.

In West Africa, rich and influential Africans would resort to handing over their servants and slaves to the recruiting officers to spare their family members from participating in the war.

Unlike the French who never hesitated to deploy colonial troops in the First World War, countries like Britain, Italy, and Belgium among others exhibited some reluctance in deploying their colonial soldiers.

The British soldiers comprised of colonial troops in the Middle East and Africa. Part of India’s colonial soldiers was partially used in Europe from as early as 1914. But in 1916 the famous ‘million black army’ was endorsed by many politicians like Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and senior military officers. However, racial prejudice, logistical challenges, and opposition from African countries made it difficult to use these troops in Europe.

Italy tried deploying its colonial troops in Europe but it was disastrous. For instance, in August 1915, around 2,700 troops from Libya were taken to Sicily. But they failed to get to the frontline because many died from pneumonia immediately after arriving. As a result, the remaining Libyans had to be shipped back home.

Belgium had planned to ship its colonial soldiers from Congo, but this never materialized. But a small number of Congolese fighters fought alongside metropolitan Belgian troops. The Portuguese didn’t bother deploying its colonial troops in Europe either. The Germans used a majority of its colonial forces in the African theatres of wars but never envisioned sending them to Europe to fight in the First World War. Furthermore, they wouldn’t have done so due to logistical challenges.

Race and Military Dogma

It is no secret the involvement of the colonial troops in the First World War is remarkable in the sense that people from different races met and fought against each other and alongside one another. This diversity is the reason why Britain and France resorted to using non-white soldiers against the Germans.

In 1914, The Times History of the World wrote, “the instinct which made us such sticklers for propriety in all our dealings made us more reluctant than other nations would feel to employ colored troops against a white enemy.”

Britain used colonial troops in its colonies for imperial defense and not in Europe to fight other white groups. The argument brought forward is if a white man is trained to use arms against another European, there’s no guarantee that they’ll not attack their own masters in the future. However, this changed after European countries realized their native soldiers were suffering heavy casualties, hence the decision to use colonial troops. The British had a racial categorization policy that informed their decision to deploy two Indian divisions in France.

Final Thoughts

While in common thought the perception of World War I is narrowly confined to the Western Front, the battle took place in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. But there were brief excursions in the Far East and Central Asia.

The litany of the labels of the different arenas of combat has become the identifier for the ‘world’ nature of World War I. The colonial Homefront -the lives of many, women and children across Africa and Asia who lost their fathers, brothers, and husbands and experienced a myriad of challenges remains one of the under-researched areas of World War I history.

Part of the problem lies in the sources. A majority of the colonial soldiers who served in the First World War were illiterate and did not leave memoirs and diaries like those found in Europe. But there is much to learn from the experiences of both men, women and children, both combatants and non-combatants who fought in the war and whose lives were changed forever.

Guest Contributor: Solomon Ochieng is an ex-soldier turned freelance writer. He’s interested in military history, its traditions and recent developments. He has a BsC in ICT Management from Maseno University and regularly writes for Ethiopia’s Ezega.com, and a regular contributor to Identify Medals focused on military medals and awards. In his free time, you’ll find him reading or working out.

The Battle of Verdun, the Frenco-German Bloodbath and its Medal

1915 could have been the turning point of the First World War. What if the German leadership decided to attack further in Russia or choose a different spot on the Western front? Did they really had a chance of choosing which way was the best for 1916?

Which way to go?

he German leadership had multiple options. They could continue to attack and desorganize the Russians or try and break through the French front. The first solution was nearly impossible to achieve; Russia was far too wide and backward for the fight to continue in the country. The war would have been lost, not just because the Russians were fierce fighters, but mostly because of attrition and lack of communications on the front.

Erich Von Falkenhayn, the chief of the German General Staff, had to take the decision to move west. He had to choose the perfect location for the troops to attack and pierce the french lines. Even though most successes by the German Imperial Army were happening on the East, the Western Front was the perfect spot to do something big. It had to happened in France.

Verdun, the ideal location?

The German General Staff had to thing fast about what to do. The main idea that was shared by most officers was that Verdun was the ideal location to attack. It was a bulge in the frontlines and could be a location where a major French attack could take place, as it would endanger the German communication and supply lines and break the front for good.

The plan was very simple. Falkenhayn decided to put all the avaiable artillery guns he could find and to stack them in the area. Artillery fire would take place for several hours and then infantry would attack and seize Verdun.

On the French side, the General Staff knew that something was hapening in this area: the German preparations couldn’t go unnoticed but would it be a lure or a real attack?

Monday, 21st February: Hell on Earth

In one day, 2 million shells were fired on the French positions. As the fire was raging on and behind the French lines, 60,000 Germans attacked. The Germans expected to find demoralized and desorganized units but they encountered fierce and brave resistance from the French. As the French were trying anything they could do to slow down the German forces, it was looking more and more like Falkenhayn’s plan was starting to fail. Even worse, as the artillery fired more than 2,000,000 shells as previously stated, the ground was destroyed and it was very hard for the infantry to advance into this mayhem. Time was the key in this operation and every minute was important. It would later explain why the attack was a failure in the first days: the Germans were too slow to do capture anything strategic. The French could start firing back with their own artillery fire and reinforce the destroyed divisions.

The first few days of the battle were showing that the Germans advanced. But the main objective was to capture Verdun or at least a large portion of enemy land. The operation was a failure but the battle wasn’t over just yet…

“Ils ne passeront pas!”

For several months, the battle of Verdun would looked as if the fires of hell would burn anything to the ground. Thousands upon thousands of men would die under artillery fire. The French General Staff under Philippe Pétain and Robert Nivelle would prove to be far more effective than the German leadership. The “Voie Sacrée”, a road made to reinforce the French positions, was one of the key factor of why the Frenchs managed to hold for so long. 90,000 men were transported across this road to reinforce the frontlines each week, and you can only imagine how many tons of supplies were shipped across this road.

Unfortunately for the Germans, the general situation of the war was not in their favor. The Russians started the Brussilov Offensive, the Somme Battle started during mid-1916 and the Italians were winning against the Austrians on the Isonzo.

The end of the Battle

The Germans couldn’t hold for long and as the Frenchs attacked to regain the territories they lost in February, they couldn’t do a lot to stop them. Thus retreat was the only solution for the German Army. They virtually gained no land for enormous casualties. The consequences of this battle were not that big for the war in the general but the world would remember the courage and the bravery of the French during this battle.

On the 21^st of December 1916, all lost territory was recaptured by the French. The battle of Verdun was finished.

The Verdun medal

The Battle of Verdun Medal

Created in late 1916 even before the end of the battle, the medal of Verdun was made for who we call in France, the “Poilus”. These soldiers, holding for several months under intense pressure from infantry attacks and heavy artillery pounding, held their ground. Around 70% of all the French soldiers that were engaged in World War I participated to the battle of Verdun.

The medal is very simple: A red ribbon with a French flag is supporting a bronze badge. On this badge, you can find the head of the Republic (a symbol of the IIIrd French Republic) and the famous sentence pronounced by Robert Nivelle: “Ils ne passeront pas”, translated as: they will not break through. It is relatively common medal to find but it was an immense measure of respect in the civil life. It was carried with pride to show that these soldiers participated in the biggest attack France had to suffer in its history.

You can still claim the medal today. If you have any relatives that do so for the last 100 years, and if you can show a certificate or anything that shows that a family member particpated in the battle of Verdun, you can officialy claim and get the medal as a show of respect for your relatives. So if you know anybody that has made through the hell of Verdun and that this person never claimed or was decorated, give it a chance!

Conclusion

The battle of Verdun wasn’t decisive in any way for the western front. Status quo was the outcome of the Battle, not much changed. Well, something did actually change: the morale of the French population. Enhanced by this defensive victory which was in the end costly for both sides, the Frenchs were now absolutely sure that the Germans would never break through ever again. In the end, the Germans broke through but the war was already on its way to the victory for France. The French morale couldn’t get down anymore after Verdun. Verdun was the starting point of victory, it was showing that it was possible for France to win. And they did.

All the WW1 Inter-Allied Victory Medals

The Victory Medal (or Inter-Allied Victory Medal) was awarded to anyone who had been mobilized in any of the fighting services and having served in any of the theatres of operations, or at sea, between midnight 4th/5th August 1914, and midnight, 11th/12th November 1918.

The medal was originally designed by William McMillan and adopted by Great Britain first, then Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Romania, Siam, Union of South Africa and the USA.

Each allied nation would design a ‘Victory Medal’ for award to their own nationals. All issues had certain common features, such as the ribbon, and showed a similar design (a winged figure of Victory on the obverse). Two countries, however, had very distinct designs: Siam and Japan.

The Different Designs of the WW1 Inter-Allied Victory

In terms of collecting, the Inter-Allied Victory medals make for a great group, but a few of them (like the Brazil and Siam issues) are extremely difficult to find, and there are a lot of counterfeit ones around. Still, if you want to take a look at what’s available keep scrolling and you’ll see some auctions (you’ll need to have your adBlock disabled).