#de langle

#OTD in #WW1 Looking at the French plan for Second #Champagne and the #BEF plan for using #gas at #Loos

Second Champagne Yesterday we looked at the planning for Third Artois, and were sure to pay careful attention to how it bore no resemblance whatsoever to Second Artois, or First Artois. No way. Not at all. Not a sausage. Not a saucisse. So now it’s time to check out Second Champagne, and here we do actually see some variation. Here’s the thing; Vimy Ridge dominates the approaches to the Douai…

#OTD in #WW1 The plans for #SuvlaBay on #Gallipoli have gone badly wrong; French generals complain about #Joffre

Attacks at Gallipoli: Landings at Suvla With just under a week to go before the men go into battle, let’s finally examine in detail the landings at Suvla. This will take a while, because we’re going to need to deal with Sir Ian Hamilton’s original concept and compare it to the bastardised version that General Stopford has been persuaded by his chief of staff to adopt. The basic variance is…

#OTD in #WW1 No good news for the Entente as things go poorly in #Iraq near #Basra and in #Iran near #Ghadir

Back to Mesopotamia today, on top of everything else. There’s precious little good news for the Entente.

First Champagne

General Joffre decides to cancel the surprise attack at Souain that his subordinate de Langle had been so excited about. Joffre is convinced that the Germans are on the point of cracking entirely over the original battleground. He orders the men redeployed from Souain to the…

Dec 27 in #WW1 The Belgians attack #Lombartzyde , the French attack #Carency , the Ottomans attack #Sarikamis

The Belgians are getting their war on again at Lombartzyde, First Artois and First Champagne grind back into life, and fighting reaches Sarikamis itself.

Lombartzyde

This time the Belgians cross the Yser at the northern end of their line, at Lombartzyde outside Nieuport. Again they capture a few hundred metres of German trench, take some prisoners, and establish a bridgehead. They’re in this war,…

#OTD in #WW1 French plans for a winter offensive in #Champagne , near #Reims

Having looked at the preparations for First Artois yesterday, we’re now turning to First Champagne.

Mezieres

The town of Charleville-Mezieres seems to come up a lot in the planning of the First Battle of Champagne. As an overall objective, it’s even more optimistic than Cambrai was for First Artois. Again, it seems highly likely that these were both “best case scenario” objectives, useful mostly…