It was pretty cold in the winter of 1917. The weather seemed to freeze everything. Ships were trapped in ice. Men had to saw through frozen loaves of bread. Supply trucks bogged down. The guns continued firing, although aerial observation was almost impossible.
The episode gives the viewer a glimpse of a pervading sense of futility in all the armies. The French had lost more than a million men -- one life for each MINUTE of the war so far. The French had begun the war with many of its troops wearing the kepis and bright red trousers of the Zouaves. By 1917 they had learned to wear the same dark blue uniform, more suited to combat. The US Army during the Civil War had imitated the colorful Zouave uniforms but had had to learn the same lesson. A British liaison officer described the French army as "tired to death." Nevertheless, in the Spring, their new commander, Robert Nivelle, envisaged a slashing attack to achieve victory of the sort that had been tried (and failed) in 1914. "He was like a man under a spell," the liaison officer wrote. "The enemy positions had been obliterated in his imagination." The German army had left the front line, which seemed to the French generals a retreat. But it wasn't. It was a strategic withdrawal to the heavily defended Hindenburg Line.
The attack cost an appalling number of lives and failed to gain more than a few miles. After that, the French Army had "had it." Soldiers in fifty-four divisions refused openly to advance or even to occupy the trenches, a mutiny without violence. Nivelle was replaced by General Petain, who gave the men a rest and improved conditions. He also executed more than fifty of the ring leaders.
The armies of Europe and Russia were about worn out, but in April, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany.
The chief impression left by this episode is the indifference of the officer corps, particularly the French, felt towards the welfare of the ordinary soldier. It's as if too many generals were moving pins on a map or sliding around pieces on a chess board. They seemed out of touch with life at the front, and they were. Class differences impeded much in the way of intimacy.
The episode gives the viewer a glimpse of a pervading sense of futility in all the armies. The French had lost more than a million men -- one life for each MINUTE of the war so far. The French had begun the war with many of its troops wearing the kepis and bright red trousers of the Zouaves. By 1917 they had learned to wear the same dark blue uniform, more suited to combat. The US Army during the Civil War had imitated the colorful Zouave uniforms but had had to learn the same lesson. A British liaison officer described the French army as "tired to death." Nevertheless, in the Spring, their new commander, Robert Nivelle, envisaged a slashing attack to achieve victory of the sort that had been tried (and failed) in 1914. "He was like a man under a spell," the liaison officer wrote. "The enemy positions had been obliterated in his imagination." The German army had left the front line, which seemed to the French generals a retreat. But it wasn't. It was a strategic withdrawal to the heavily defended Hindenburg Line.
The attack cost an appalling number of lives and failed to gain more than a few miles. After that, the French Army had "had it." Soldiers in fifty-four divisions refused openly to advance or even to occupy the trenches, a mutiny without violence. Nivelle was replaced by General Petain, who gave the men a rest and improved conditions. He also executed more than fifty of the ring leaders.
The armies of Europe and Russia were about worn out, but in April, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany.
The chief impression left by this episode is the indifference of the officer corps, particularly the French, felt towards the welfare of the ordinary soldier. It's as if too many generals were moving pins on a map or sliding around pieces on a chess board. They seemed out of touch with life at the front, and they were. Class differences impeded much in the way of intimacy.
