315e RI
@Ri315e
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Follow my daily tweets and follow in the footsteps of my Gt Grandfather and other 315e RI soldiers 1914-1917 ⚔️ #frontlinefriday #fridaybookday
In a virtual trench
Joined January 2021
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Send us removal request.
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🧵 Adrian Helmet
Joffre‘s bold prediction in 1914, when he was first presented with a concept helmet:
“we will not have the time to make them, as I will break the Boche within two months”
Couple of months later the Adrian helmet would appear for the first time in July 1915
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Verdun why go? where? when? eat & sleep?🧵
(not an exhaustive list!)
So why go?
This was France battle, with their backs to the wall & fighting alone with no allies to help. It forged names that would go down in history: Driant, Douaumont,Raynal,Vaux,Petain,Souville,Voie Sacree
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Today 108 years ago 315e Regiment orders arrived:
Next stop Verdun
For many it seemed like a death sentence What did they experience? How did they survive?
Below a thread on what 12 days on Verdun frontline was like for the 109 soldiers that never came back & the 400+
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Who was the majority partner from 14-18 on the allied side of the Western Front? Below maps from the excellent visually makes it easy to see who..
French= Blue
Non-French= Orange
Germans= Red
Pic1: 31.12.14
Pic2: 31.12.15
Pic3: 31.12.16
Pic4: 31.12.17
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At 7:15 am today 106 years ago today, the battle of Verdun started. The battle would last well over 9 month. Over 160,000 FR soldiers (140,000 GER) are estimated to have died during that period, another 215,000 wounded.
In words of Richard Holmes
“one of saddest places I know”
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12/2/16
"I was on watch from 6pm to midnight, with squalling rain, it was horrendous. Yesterday the artillery did not stop all day. At times the ground was trembling, it was hellish and now it's starting again... our heads are broken with the noise and it's getting on our nerves"
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When people make cheap jokes about the French army they should visit places like here to educate themselves ….. 40,000 graves, 20,000 individual crosses ….
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'the forgotten' Maréchal of France
Noël Édouard Marie Joseph de Curières de Castelnau
Born: 24.12.1851
Died: 19.3.1944 (aged 92)
Nickname: le capucin botté (fighting friar)
A name many should know, but don't, not just because of the length of his name!
🧵on a forgotten man
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A Catastrophic Saturday
Worst allied loss of life in 24hrs on the Western Front?
Probably thinking 1st July 1916 or 22nd Aug 1914?
Answer: 25th September 1915
Battle of 3rd Artois & 2nd Champagne
Estimated deaths
23,615 French
8,581 British
#OTD
guns opened fire
Long🧵on 2nd
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1st July 1916…Battle of the Somme
Lasted 170 days for the French.
Yes they were there…whilst still fiercely fighting at Verdun
1st July-31st August
19000 🇫🇷 died-Verdun
23000 🇫🇷 died-Somme
Today also remember the forgotten ally
🧵7 regiments, who did both back to back
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A picture that summaries the battle of Verdun ….. impossible
But I think this one ok 🫡🇫🇷
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Imagine receiving this before Xmas:
"8 days of rain, all my friends have been evacuated or are ill, our work is getting harder and harder. My men only obey orders by force, as everybody had enough. Sorry for the handwriting, but I am writing from a hole surrounded by mud & water"
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25.9.1915 what actually happened to 315e?
Below the total Regiment strength by day:
24th Sept= 45 Officers and 2680 men
28th Sept= 22 Officers and 1050 men
In 48hrs they lost 23 officers and 1,630 men
Thread below example how it happened, Part I
#auberive
#2ndchampagne
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21.2.16
107 years ago, the Battle of Verdun started at 7h15
6 months of fighting, 700,000+ casualties
300 days averages out at 2,333 casualties a day
16,142 French at Douaumont Necropole 📸& a further 130,000 FR & GER in the Ossuaire
"One of saddest places I know" R.Holmes✍️
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107 years ago today
Battle of the Somme 7:30am
Also remember the French who were there....14 divisions & more artillery pieces than the British
Often forgotten? because Day 1 assault went mostly as planned: 1,590 casualties
However by the end in Dec 1916 total of 67,000 killed
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Poilu equipment (excluding weapons)🧵
What remains of my Gt Grandfather First World War equipment:
Helmet: likely his replacement helmet from Jan 1917, after being injured in Nov 1916 at Verdun near Douaumont.
Why? helmet has a 2nd pattern liner, which are from late 1916 onwards
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13.5.16
Since last night, rain has been falling, never until now has it been so bad, the trenches are deep and narrow, we have water knee high, so to walk we have to lean against the walls of these trenches. So from head to toe we are covered in mud ....
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Man behind the Letters 🧵
Jules André Destrigneville
My Gt Grandfather, was called up at 26, in August 1915 and his first experience of war was in Champagne, at Auberive in October 1915. His war would take him to Massiges, Verdun, Chemin des Dames & more. Below his story 👇
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108 years ago
This postcard was written from this location near Thiaumont, Verdun
"I received your letter from the 2nd, it gives me encouragement. We are on the frontline, its terrible what we are enduring. I believe that in a short time we will all be sick"
🧵on what happened
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21.2.16
107 years ago, the Battle of Verdun started at 7h15
6 months of fighting, 700,000+ casualties 300 days averages out at 2,333 casualties a day
16,142 French at Douaumont Necropole 📸& a further 130,000 FR & GER in the Ossuaire
"One of saddest places I know" R.Holmes✍️
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Yesterday 110 years today
First French soldier was killed
Jules André PEUGEOT, 21 years old
Mort pour la France, 2nd August 1914
Another 1.3m would die over the next 1562 days ...
#1GM
#110yearsago
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A Catastrophic Saturday
#OTD
109 years ago, two forgotten battles started
9h15: 2nd Champagne
12h25: 3rd Artois
-32,000+ Allied soldiers killed on 1st day,
-23,615 French
-8,581 British
-First use of Modern Steel Helmet (Adrian Helmet)
🧵Part II: 315e losses in champagne
A Catastrophic Saturday
Worst allied loss of life in 24hrs on the Western Front?
Probably thinking 1st July 1916 or 22nd Aug 1914?
Answer: 25th September 1915
Battle of 3rd Artois & 2nd Champagne
Estimated deaths
23,615 French
8,581 British
#OTD
guns opened fire
Long🧵on 2nd
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29.3.16 🧵
Sad night, it's 2:30am, I'm awake. It's cold, a terrible wind and squalls of rain & snow. I am back from making a round to see the sentries in the trenches, it was pitch black. I waded through mud and from time to time the machine guns sweeped the plain:it is terrible
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29.3.16
Sad night, it's 230 am, I'm on watch. It's cold, a terrible wind is blowing and squalls of sleet. I am back from doing the rounds in the trenches, its pitch black night, wading through the mud, the machine guns rattle as they sweep the plain, it's terrible
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#nowandthen
#beforeandafter
Bois d'Hauzy
March 1916 v 2022
Bois d'Hauzy was behind the Melzicourt frontline near St Thomas. In 1916 the wood was used for troop rest. Below are two 315e soldiers at rest in the valley lead down to the aisne river. See🧵for more pictures
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French casualties in 1915 are truly horrific when detailed out, month by month …
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🧵What happened to these men?
On 25th September 1915 the below officers suffered 80% casualties
🔍10 killed
🔍11 wounded
Below thread, find out what happened to the men I have been able to identify and find out who they were and who survived?
Starting with the backrow
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109 years ago today this photo was taken📸
Final Days Training before 25th September Offensive
Smiling faces of 25 officers of the 315e Regiment, five days later.
-8 killed,
-11 wounded,
Only 6 unscathed (because they did not take part)
🧵Their last photos & story
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French Soldiers daily wine rations during the war
1914 - 250ml
1916- 500ml
1918- 750ml (standard wine bottle amount)
Wine the blood of the French solider
Santé 🍷
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22nd August 1914
Bloodiest day in French military history?
110 years ago today? Not quite …
You will see many post on this today and the number 27k killed (more likely estimated 21k)
If not today, what day?
25th September 1915: 23k killed
#110yearsago
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Main de Massiges Association
When we say these trenches are a must see. They are without doubt the best reconstructed/ refurbished trenches with an eye to detail.
📸Original photo from the sector fits perfectly
📍Le Cratere sector 9th November 1916
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5.8.16
My 24 hours of guard went well, I even think that these are no longer the same Germans. It is still hot and we are devoured by mosquitoes, several are even evacuated, because these bites are bad with these corpses that we have everywhere in front of us between the lines
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30.11.15
After two days of cold, yday it rained all day. The tops of the trenches are crumbling as a result of the thaw and with the water, we are now covered with mud from head to toe. We have bottes en toile, but we can't walk, it easily takes 1 hour to do 200m & sometimes more
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13.11.16
#verdun
I hope that the end is approaching, it is time because we are all tired. My head is on fire with all these shells, we are going crazy, we are suffering even more from these bombardments than from the cold. Food; we have enough, but what we eat does not stay down
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9.9.16 Verdun
107 years ago, always remember your day cant get worse than this 👇
"What carnage & often we cannot take away the wounded, they have to stay there for hours waiting for another shell that will finish them off or the end of the artillery barrage to retrieve them"
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Today 110 years ago, 315e RI went to war...slowly
...to be precise it took them 36hrs Mamers -> Verdun
...only 4 of those hours were due to delays....
🧵on the 315e RI war, with some additional sad, bizarre, intriguing and random facts
#110yearsago
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5.11.16 Verdun Field Hospital
"You must be very worried, but rest assured we are down again in Verdun. Im in an field hospital, I had cold feet for a few days and need rest. What a nightmare, it was terrible. I assure you on all points of what I saw, I don't dare tell you"
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Blue Horizon 🧵
M 1867/93 ‘Madder’ heard of them?
Of course you have, they are the red trousers that everybody has heard of from 1914 French Army, but do you know the red trousers were always due to be phased out even before the war started?
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Why visit the French sector?
Miles of trenches that you can walk through
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"A man with no memory is a man without life, a nation without memory is a nation without a future"
Ferdinand Foch
🪦1.3m Soldiers died for France,
📍16,142 of them are pictured at rest on Douaumont Ridge with 130,000 French and German in the Ossuary
#RememberanceDay
#WW1
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Destroyed Village of Craonne …
Dead leaves bring out the shell holes along with a unique colour
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Original card written by my gt grandfather here on 6th September 1916 from this location on the Thiaumont frontlines at Verdun
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20.5.16
Yesterday I received your letter of the 17th. Please calm down my dear, if at times I have the blues it passes, we fight for a reason and I will wait with courage, until this nightmare ends. Your letters are a great consolation to me, and I am happy to be so loved.
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22.7.16
Last night we had an attack on our left at 2 am, but it lasted only ½ hour at most, as for us, we were heavily sprayed with shells and torpedoes. The weather is superb, it is very hot in our trenches which are 2m high and 80cm wide, we are suffocating and full of dust
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2.12.15
Another night and a day to spend in the mud, in a few days we will leave, that scares me, because walking with our bags on our backs in the mud... We work all day on our trenches because everything is falling apart, I have to set an example, but the men are exhausted..
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4,000 followers .... 🍾
Thank you to all old and new followers. Never did I think that 400 people would be interested, let alone 4000
Below a little celebration photo from Alphonse Daude 315e from 14 July 1915
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French Commanders WWI 📢
🧵a selection unknown & known
Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929)
A great student of war, and was an aggressive commander throughout the war, Foch became the Allied Commander-in-Chief in late March 18. Led the largest coalition army in history at that point
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Before people ask what about 1918 ...
Below visually showcases the war of movement that was 1918
French= Blue
Non-French= Orange
Belgium= Green
US= Magenta
Germans= Red
Pic1: 1.3.18
Pic2: 1.4.18
Pic3: 30.6.18
Pic4: 11.11.18
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106 years later and the great war still scares the landscape of France. German line in Red and French line in Blue where the 315e attack 25th Sept 1915
Below Auberive village aerial photo from Sept 1915. Can you spot the other trenches that still show up on satellite images?
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9.9.16
"We have just spent a night under a heavy bombardment, and we sustained huge losses. A third of the company is already missing. What carnage and often we cannot take away the wounded, they have to stay there for hours waiting for another shell that will finish them off"
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9.2.16
It's tomorrow that we leave for the trenches and I'm going to take part in the small shifts 6 hours, which will seem very long to me, especially without shelter and with my feet in the water. Weather is terrible, it's been snowing since this morning
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Verdun, communication trench
Walking up to Froideterre and Thiaumont as the soldiers would have in 1916
Who knows maybe literally following in my gt grandfather footsteps who went up to Froideterre in Sept and Oct 1916
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Anybody else love this photo from L'illustration?
Of course its staged, but shows French innovation at its finest
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Main de Massiges a must if you are in the area
Even better in the wet as it shows how awful life would have been
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5.3.16
I am in good health. I have just had my photograph taken in front of our cagna (shelter, 📸 below). I think I will have the picture during our next rest, if it is successful.
Nothing new, the battle continues at Verdun because we hear a continuous rumble. What a massacre
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France Losses in World War I 🇫🇷
Year by year🧵
Total numbers are hard to visualise, but the below graphs show the horrendous losses
1914: 310,000 (in 5 months...)
1915: 357,000
1916: 261,000
1917: 171,000
1918: 245,00
*Figures are from MdH database and are estimates
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Dark side of war in the French Army
1⃣ August 1916 downgrading parade,literally where they would rip the strips of uniforms to downgrade an officer or NCO in front of company or Battalion
2⃣ Execution in 1916, fusillé pour l’exemple, location unknown, some suggest Chaudefontaine
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A week ago I was standing here, trying to capture its scale
Douaumont ridge is hard to describe its imposing scale of loss and sadness, with its artillery shell tower or the hilt of a sword thrust into the ground
What it is, is a place where ordinary men, did the extraordinary
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This what a 300 days and nights battle did to Fort Douaumont in 1916
#verdun
Symbol of an industrial war on a scale never seen before, that pounded the earth into a moonscape
Imagine what is was like for the soldiers on the ground .....
Thank you
@ChristinaNoyes8
for the 📸
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6.8.16
Another night spent under the stars. My daydreams are sometimes interrupted by a gunshot or a grenade, but its only a detail. This night apart from a few small skirmishes, was quiet. It is 9am, its hot today, so I amuse myself by following planes with my binoculars
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19.7.16
What pains me is that I will not be able to see my brother as I can't go on leave, there are still too many to go before me, I will try, but now we have officers which are almost useless. 3 more days, it is quite calm but tonight there will an attack on our left
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Douaumont Nécropole
16,142 Individual French Soldiers
Including 30 from 315e RI
130,000 estimated 🇫🇷🇩🇪 Ossuary
“Saddest place I know” ✍️ Richard Holmes
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31.10.16 near Douaumont, Verdun
"I don't want to tell you what we endure here, but just see how we eat... the meat comes to us in bags that have transported soil, so our bread & meat is covered in mud. We already have funny looking faces, you could say we almost look like ghosts"
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After seeing some questionable DDay documentaries…
Here an old episode from an individual that got me interested in the subject
1hr on Verdun (would never be made today)
If you don’t have an hour, listen to the last 3 mins….Some wise words Mr Holmes
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10.2.16
I am now in the trenches and have just had a very bad night. Yesterday evening when I arrived I went on patrol and I was received with gunshots by the Boches, I was forced to stay at least half an hour on my stomach in the snow and not move otherwise they would shoot
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5k followers....Never did I think 500 would be interested in a poilu daily struggles or an unknown reserve regiment
Thanks for
@sommecourt
&
@croonaert
😢for encouraging me to start this journey.
@GreatWarGroup
who allow me to pollute their magazine with my ham-fisted writing
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24.6.16
Rumors are still circulating that we are changing sectors and we would go to Massiges. Let's hope that these rumors, are unfounded. This afternoon Im not exercising, because my feet hurt, so I asked to rest a little, it's not much to ask after 16 days in the trenches
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Lost Faces from 109 years ago
4e battalion pictured, suffered the most on the 25th September 1915
-9 out of its 11 officers killed,
-2 surviving, both badly wounded
-850 attacked/ 631 casualties
315e Regiment itself
-501 killed
-1,616 casualties in 24 hours period
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Ghosts of the Past
Always somebody looking over your shoulder at Verdun. General Farret on the frontlines
21st Oct 1916 v Today
📍Verdun, PC120, also called FT1 or Maison Blanche
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5.9.16 Verdun
“As I told you, its awful what we are going through here, those who can resist until then will be lucky. Until now everything is fine, I am getting tired but so far I have not caught anything. I haven’t seen a newspaper, for 5 days we have been totally forgotten”
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The man behind the letters✍️
Jules Andre Destrigneville 1889-1977
🗓️October 1915 to November 1918
📍via 315e, 204e, 6e Regiment
✍️to his soon to be wife Jeanne
So who was he? What his background?
🧵Next Sunday is his 135th birthday, here a thread on the man behind the word
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📍1914-1917 Main Locations
315e Regiment d’Infanterie
1215 days mobilised
1292 Killed, 33 Officers (x1 Colonel)
3000+ wounded
Worst Single Day
25/9/15: 1,630 casualties (492 Died)
x3 Verdun: x1 1914, x2 1916
Dissolved 5th Dec 1917
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What are your most memorable or vivid pictures from battlefields in 2023?
I will get you start …
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30.11.15
"Yesterday it rained all day. Now we are a picture, the top of the trenches are collapsing as a result of the thaw. We have been given boot en toile, we put these over our shoes, we get less wet, but we cannot walk in them, this morning it took me 1 hour to do 200m"
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15.7.16
Nothing new, the day and night went well, last night we had rain again, but this morning it's nice, what we're missing here is water, in 9 days we're going to be black like chimney sweeps. I have no other news, my darling, and I have nothing new to tell you. See you 2m
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22.8.1914
108 years ago today
5 French armies from Alsace to the
Belgian border, all engaged with the
German army in multiple assaults
Coordination, tactics and nature of
combats contributed to catastrophic
losses… not clothing
👉21k to 27k dead (22k/23k most likely)
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26.9.16
"Some good news my darling, since yesterday I have the Croix de Guerre and this one was won at Verdun (3.9.16), it's not much but it's still nice to have. Nothing new"
🧵Thread on the Croix de Guerre
Below is Jules original, note the date 1914-1916 and his citation
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A brief book only 100+ pages.
However they are striking, fascinating, grim, sad, terrifying and demoralising in equal measure!
Verdun in July 1916 is a raw account - see 📸
1917 is covered and the collapse of moral is equalling interest
Verdit: Give it a read
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1.9.16
I haven't arrived yet, but in 5 hours I should. We are going to V (Verdun) ..... for a return it's not bad to get back into the swing of things! I am in good health and send you my sweetest kisses.
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17.10.15
“I am starting to get used to life in the trenches. Once the danger has passed, we all get together laughing at our misfortune & amongst us there are always a couple of jokers. However, once we hear the shells & bullets whistling above our heads, everyone gets serious"
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16th April, 107 years ago today
Nivelle Offensive / 2nd battle Aisne
16th-25 April: 130,000 🇫🇷 casualties
#chemindesdames
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11.9.16
"We are going back to Froideterre. Will it be better? no, because still, no shelter, you still have to lie down in the open. Am in good health, but I have already lost a lot of weight, we are a pretty sight covered in flesh & blood, we would be mistaken for assassins"
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24.1.16
Jules goes on leave, 156 days after his mobilisation on the 21st August 1915
Below are his stats and how he spent his 498 days from 21st August to 31st December 1916
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OTD 109 years ago
Jules André Destrigneville arrived in the trenches
🧵explaining his 1137 days on the Western Front
He passed through: Auberive, Massiges, Verdun, Chemin des Dames, Guny, Sambre Cannel
Suffered
- Broken shoulder & head wound from shrapnel
- Gassed
- 4 teeth
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1st July 1916 … a reminder that the Somme was not purely a British battle ... or a battle to stop French Army from collapse at Verdun (see 🧵)… take time today to also remember the forgotten ally of the Somme and thousands of French Soldiers that lost their lives
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As we approach the 11th, it is important to remember it’s not just about one day, it’s about everyday and giving these men their names back and helping tell their often forgotten story
#LostFacesOfTheGreatWar
#WW1
#remembranceday2023
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H.Lambert 315e RI at Verdun
“A couple of lines from the trenches & mass graves where we are. As to the view, I have in front of me, it’s overwhelming. Corpses are touching one another, piled up on top of each other, with a smell of decomposing bodies that sticks in your throat”
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