World War I

French Poilu 1914-18 by Ian Sumner

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By Ian Sumner

'Why,' the Kaiser enquired of Czar Nicholas in 1913, did he desire to best friend himself with France whilst 'the Frenchman is not any longer in a position to being a soldier?' certainly, in the course of international struggle I (1914-1918) the French military was once in a kingdom of disarray, suffering from indiscipline, mutinies and desertion. the normal French voters that have been known as upon to protect their motherland, the Poilu, have been disrespected and demoralized, and the notorious mutinies of 1917 through the Poilu weren't protests opposed to the warfare itself, yet opposed to how the battle was once carried out. The rebellions despatched a stark caution, forcing a reform within the administration of the conflict. for this reason, the functionality of many French regiments more desirable and the Poilu went directly to turn into the single ecu troops to struggle the whole warfare inside of their very own borders. Ian Sumner expertly charts the heritage of the Poilu, from the conscription of thousands of guys, via their education, to the horrors of the trenches and the terror of no-man's land, supplying a desirable perception into the occasions that resulted in the 1917 revolts. New art and diagrams illustrate the reviews of the warriors because the comforts of civilian existence have been stripped clear of them and the trenches turned their houses.

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In some, the cellars of a village or town provided a safe haven, particularly when the village was far enough away from the front line for many of its inhabitants to have stayed behind. In others, all that could be offered was a pile of flea-infested straw in the corner of a barn. Where no accommodation could be found, engineers were supposed to build barrack huts, but this rarely happened, certainly not before 1917. And rest periods were not always restful. ' Leave was a precious commodity, all the more so because of its rarity.

During the course of war, approximately 2,300 men (an estimated figure, since one-fifth of the relevant archive has been destroyed) were sentenced to death, of whom 640 were shot (by comparison, the British executed 306 men, the Germans only 48). Only 27 French soldiers were executed for mutiny, and 60 per cent of all executions actually occurred between 1914 and 1915. The measures introduced by Petain when he took command in 1917 - the use of offensives with limited objectives, his compassionate response to the mutinies, the introduction of improvements in living conditions and the reintroduction of leave - undoubtedly helped the army recover its morale; yet while some regiments were able to perform well in 1918, others remained shaky to the end.

Tired. Exhausted. We throw ourselves down onto some straw. If you have never done a relief, you will never know what it's like! 'Small' rest periods (petit repos) were spent in the reserve front line; longer periods (grand repos) were taken further away, a trip by lorry or train. The 60 quality of the accommodation provided for the troops varied from sector to sector. In some, the cellars of a village or town provided a safe haven, particularly when the village was far enough away from the front line for many of its inhabitants to have stayed behind.

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