Mike – Page 12 – Battles of the First World War Podcast

Episode SA10: Vauquois – “A Heap of Ruins Stuffed with Dead Men’s Bones.”

A gift to the steadfast supporters of the BFWWP on Patreon. It really means a lot to me that you have signed on as patrons of the show, and I wanted to give you all an extra episode. Thanks so much, everyone!

The story of the First World War in the Meuse-Argonne region of France cannot be told without talking about the Butte de Vauquois. So here, in an attempt to do a part-travelogue, part-history episode, I retell the story of this tortured and murdered hill. This scene of terrible mine warfare–where an ancient village and six meters of height were erased from the crest during the war–remains today a stark reminder of the brutal nature of the Great War.

The link to the episode is below. If you’re a patron on Patreon, thanks again so very much. If you are not yet a patron on Patreon, check it out!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/24737436

Some kind of entry way to a German dugout or tunnel on the north side of Vauquois. A recovered Minenwerfer in the background being checked out by Lee.

I Have the Best Listeners

Hi Folks, so for those of you who follow me on Twitter and FaceBook, you know that I have posted in the past about having awesome listeners. I’m writing this post about the same subject.

One of the best things to come out of writing the podcasts has been connecting with other enthusiasts. I’ve shared emails with listeners who have corrected me on errors big and small, and with listeners who have simply shared information on several aspects of the Great War. I have truly enjoyed all of it, and these exchanges have shown for what the internet was truly created. It has been a blessing to connect with such great people.

Here is another great example of one of these connections: listener DS wrote in to ask me about me about my use of the word “insurgent” in my Delville Wood episode, to describe Boer fighters during the Boer War of 1899-1902. His writing led to a fascinating email discussion of the Boer War, of which I am woefully ignorant.

And then it led to this:

I received two books in the mail from listener DS, and for a man who loves books, these are kingly gifts.

And this:

This map is a reprint of a map issued by the London Times at the end of the Boer War. The map was an addendum to the Times’ history of the war. (The knife in the corner is a nod to Jocko Willink.)

To DS, thanks again so very much for the books and the map! I am humbled that a stranger from the other side of the Pond would take it upon himself to educate me about a war I know so little about, and to set me up for success with some great books and maps. It is so very humbling.

I cannot thank everyone who has written in enough. It is such a treat to hear from listeners and connect with them! With gratitude, Mike.

Episode SA9: An Interview with Christopher Huang

In this stand-alone episode we have an interview with Christopher Huang, who is the author of the recently-released detective novel “A Gentleman’s Murder.” This is a slight departure from the BFWWP’s usual lineup, but I thought it would be good to support a young author writing a story in which the Great War has a strong presence.

“A Gentleman’s Murder” was a fun read. The main character of the story, Leftenant Eric Peterkin, is a veteran of the trenches in Flanders and France as are nearly every other member of the gentleman’s club to which he belongs. Peterkin takes it upon himself to solve an unprecedented murder in the club when he suspects the case is not exactly going to be solved by the police.

Christopher Huang grew up in Singapore and moved to Canada when he was 17 years old. He returned to Singapore the following year for two years of military service, before going to McGill University in Montreal to study Architecture. He currently lives in Montreal, and these days he is pursuing the dream of writing full-time. Mr. Huang is a longtime fan of the “golden age” of detective fiction, and in that spirit he writes his debut novel in the hopes that readers will figure out on their own who the killer is.

“A Gentleman’s Murder” is available through the Inkshares site, local booksellers, and Amazon. Links to the book will be provided in the episode description, as well on the website post and social media. Check out the book, and support an up and coming author. Hope you enjoy!

Inkshares: https://www.inkshares.com/books/a-gentlemans-murder

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1942645953/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_rDAsCb3QQG72N

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com or the Battles of the First World War Podcast page on FaceBook. Follow us on Twitter at @WW1podcast, and on Instagram at @WW1battlecast. Not into social media? Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com. Please consider reviewing the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes.

Check out this episode!

The Butte de Vauquois

The photos in this post are from February of 2016, when my stepson Lee and I took a week to be in France for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Verdun. On a rainy and misty weekend day, we took a tour of the Meuse-Argonne region to visit some of the more salient points of interest. One of them was the Butte de Vauquois.

A kiosk in the parking lot offers a history of the long struggle for the hill.

These kiosks typically offer text in French, German, and English.

At the time I didn’t know too much about Vauquois, only that mine warfare had dominated this sector of the front and that this hill was a hinge on the Verdun salient’s western side. I had seen photos on the Web, of course, and knew the barest details of the wartime history of the hill. I knew there would be some mine craters.

When you get close you see the hill is now wooded, and even in winter this obscures the true state of the butte today. Coming up the road to the hilltop battlefield, you are coming in from the rear of the French lines. The parking lot is on the western end of the hill, and here there are numerous artifacts related to the struggle for Vauquois Hill displayed at the edges of the lot. There is a visitor center that appears to be a former dugout, and it’s a great little place full of weapons, tools, and other artifacts used in the Vauquois sector and beyond.

At the upper edge of the lot are steps that lead up to the summit of the hill, and it’s a good walk to get up there.

The first thing you will see as you clear the trees is a massive mine crater. It’s like a giant dug his hand into the hill and tore out a huge chunk of it. It’s a hole big enough to fit a house in–literally, and I mean “literally” in the real sense of the word. This is the result of the May 14, 1916 mine set off by the Germans, where 60 tons of Westfalit explosives were used in an attempt to rupture the French lines.

The massive mine crater created on May 14, 1916 when the Germans detonated a mine packed with 60 tons of explosives. 108 French Poilus were killed in the blast.

This isn’t the only crater like this. Get to the top of the hill–now some eighteen feet shorter due to the First World War–and you will see a chain of massive holes that bisect the Butte de Vauquois. Not only has six meters of earth and an ancient village been wiped off the top of the hill, but the heart of it has been ripped out, too.

The heart of this hill has been ripped out. Check out the two visitors in the distance for an idea of scale.

This first time on Vauquois my brain was boggled by what my eyes were showing me. Holes of this size simply could not exist, even though I was looking at them and a short while later in them. I mean, a two-story home could fit comfortably in these craters with room to spare. To see these mine craters and know that these were man-made creations was startling.

Black and white gives a little more depth, and can give a better idea of the depth and breadth of these craters.

Looking from the French (southern) side of the hill.

A deep mine crater on Vauquois, looking from the French side east to west, roughly. .

The craters show that the heart of the Butte de Vauquois has been ripped out.

The heart of the hill, torn open and exposed to the world.
The ground shows unmistakable evidence of the terrible events that happened here a century ago.
These mine craters are hard for the mind to comprehend.
Looking from the German lines.

A picture of the butte, and the hilltop village before the war.

Your humble podcaster standing in the middle of a monstrous crater.

In the German trenches. The Germans incorporated the remains of the village into their defensive works.

The French monument on Vauquois, sculpted by Marius Roussel, himself a veteran of the French 10th Division. It features scenes recalling the vicious fighting of 1915, with a dead Frenchman buried in the side of a mine gallery. A resolute brother soldier stands at the ready next to the corpse, and over both men are the remains of the chestnut tree that used to stand next to Vauquois’ church.

Looking from behind the German wire towards the French side. The trench lines were so close that conventional infantry attacks were suicidal; mine warfare was the only way to effectively attack the enemy here.

Entrance to a dugout on the Butte de Vauquois.
Yours truly.
“Know the darkness.” A future post will show what lies beneath.

This was why the hill was fought over so ferociously: its heights offered dominating views over the surrounding countryside.

Episode 52: Meuse Argonne – 26 September 1918, Pt 1 – AEF 1st Corps

From the Argonne Forest to the Butte du Vauquois, the AEF 1st Corps goes on the attack. The 77th “Metropolitan” Division plunges into the Argonne. The 28th “Keystone” and 35th “Santa Fe” Divisions work to clear the River Aire Valley, seize the Butte du Vauquois, and push north to help cut off the Argonne.

The BFWWP is now on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on Twitter at @WW1podcast, the Battles of the First World War Podcast page on FaceBook, and on Instagram at @WW1battlecast. Not into social media? Email me directly at verdunpodcast@gmail.com. Please consider reviewing the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes.

Check out this episode!

Episode 51: Meuse Argonne – The Most Serious Business

At 0230 on the 26th of September, 1918, 2,775 French and American guns opened up on the German lines from the Argonne Forest to the River Meuse. Three hours later, nine divisions of American Doughboys were up out of their muddy trenches and into the mist. The largest battle in American military history was underway.

The AEF 1st Army however, faced a formidable enemy who had spent years turning the Meuse Valley into a 10-mile thick defense zone. All of it would have to be chewed through to reach the target railroad hubs at Sedan, 35 miles away. In this episode we’ll discuss those German defenses as well as the preparations and plans made by the Americans for their attack.

The BFWWP is now on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Check out this episode!

Meuse-Argonne Bibliography

Hey Folks, here is the first draft of the articles and books that have been or will be used during the BFWWP’s next battle. There will, of course, be updates as new materials come in.

Meuse-Argonne

26th Infantry Regimental Association. St. Mihiel: Attack of a Fortified Position. 1999, usacac.army.mil/cac2/csi/docs/Gorman/06_Retired/02_Retired_1991_99/35_99_StMihiel_Dec.pdf. Accessed: 25 AUG 2018.

American Battle Monuments Commission. American Armies and Battlefields in Europe. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1938.

Barkley, John Lewis. Scarlet Fields: The Combat Memoir of a World War I Medal of Honor Hero. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2012.

Beattie, Taylor V. “Whittlesey’s ‘Lost’ Battalion.” Army History, No. 54, p. 21-30. Accessed 29 APR 2018.

Beattie, Taylor V., and Bowman, Ronald. “In Search of York: Man, Myth & Legend.” Army History, No. 50, p. 1-14. Accessed 29 APR 2018.

Bradford, Alfred S., Jr. Meuse-Argonne, 1918: Killing Machines. Journal of Military History.

Carroll, Andrew. My Fellow Soldiers: General John Pershing and the Americans Who Helped Win the Great War. Penguin Books, an Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2017.

Carter, Donald A. St. Mihiel: 12-16 September 1918. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2018.

Coffman, Edward M. The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.

Dille, Earl K. “Alexander Skinker: Citizen Soldier.” Magazine of the Missouri Historical Society, 1999.

Duffy, Michael. Max von Gallwitz on the Battle of St. Mihiel, 12 September 1918. http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/stmihiel_gallwitz.htm Accessed: 25 AUG 2018.

The George C. Marshall Foundation. Education of a General: Chapter 11, St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne. https://www.marshallfoundation.org/library/digital-archive/education-of-a-general-chapter-11-st-mihiel-and-the-meuse-argonne/. Accessed: 25 AUG 2018.

Faulkner, Richard S. Disappearing Doughboys: The American Expeditionary Forces’ Straggler Crisis in the Meuse-Argonne. Army History, No. 83, p. 6-25.

________________. Meuse-Argonne: 26 September – 11 November 1918. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 2018.

________________. “‘Up in the Argonne:’ The Tragedy of Lieutenant Justus Owen and the 82nd Division in the First World War.” The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 2, p. 276-298.

Ferrell, Robert H. Collapse at Meuse-Argonne: The Failure of the Missouri-Kansas Division. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2017.

Foch, Ferdinand, and Thomas Bentley Mott. The Memoirs of Marshal Foch. Doubleday, Doran and Company, Incorporated, 1931.

Hallas, James H. Doughboy War: the American Expeditionary Force in World War I. Stackpole Books, 2000.

Hamburger, Kenneth E. Learning Lessons in the American Expeditionary Forces. Washington, DC: Center of Military History.

Hart, Keith. A note on the Military Participation of Siam in the First World War. Journal of the Siam Society. 2015, accessed 22 NOV 2018: http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1981/JSS_070_0n_Hart_MilitaryParticipationOfSiamInWW1.pdf#page=3

Herring, George C., Jr. “Glad I Was In It:” An Iowa Doughboy in the Great War, 1918-1919. Army History, No. 103 (Spring 2017), p. 6-23, Accessed 29 APR 2018.

Joel, Arthur H. Under the Lorraine Cross; An Account of the Experiences of Infantrymen Who Fought Under Captain Theodore Schoge and of Their Buddies of the Lorraine Cross Division, While Serving in France During the World War. Andesite Press, 2015.

Lanza, Conrad H. “The End of the Battle of Montfaucon.” Field Artillery Journal.

________________. The First Battle of Romagne. Field Artillery Journal, Vol. 23, No. 6.

________________. The Third Battle of Romagne. Field Artillery Journal.

Lengel, Edward G. To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2008.

Laplander, Robert J. Finding the Lost Battalion: Beyond the Rumors, Myths, and Legends of America’s Famous WW1 Epic. Waterford: AEF Services, 2018.

Mason, Monroe. The American Negro Soldier with the Red Hand of France. Franklin Classics, 2018.

Mastriano, Douglas V. Thunder in the Argonne: A New History of America’s Greatest Battle. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2018.

McKeogh, Arthur. The Victorious 77th Division (New York’s Own) in the Argonne Fight. New York: John H. Eggers Co, Inc., 1919.

Nelson, James Carl. The Remains of Company D: A Story of the Great War. St. Martin’s Press, 2009.

Stamas, Christ K. The Road to St. Mihiel. New York: Comet Free Press, 1957.

Yockelson, Mitchell. Forty-Seven Days How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I. New Amer Library, 2017.

A Short Reflection

My favorite photo. I was lucky to capture the evening light beaming down on those Doughboys.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Leftenant Colonel John McRae

November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918

Hey Folks, welcome to the Battles of the First World War Podcast Stand Alone Episode 8: Armistice Day 2018.

So, the latest episode opened with what is likely the most famous poem to come out of the carnage of the Great War, Leftenant Colonel McRae’s “In Flanders Fields.” It is likely also not very surprising that you would choose to open a reflection of the centenary of the end of World War One with with this poem.

I’ve read this poem many times, but it hasn’t been until the last few days that I’ve really tried to read it deeply and grasp its meaning. With the 100th anniversary of the end of the war, this poem takes on new meaning for me.

100 years now since the guns stopped in France and Belgium. 100 years since a new and uncomfortable silence spread across the Western Front at 11am, where just seconds before the shriek and hammering of shells had rent the tortured earth from Flanders to the Vosges Mountains.

100 years since PVT George Ellison of the British Army fell at Mons, Belgium. 100 years since Soldat de Premiere Classe Augustin Trébuchon fell in the Ardennes at 1045am. 100 years since Canadian CPL George Lawrence Price fell at 1058am, also in the Mons area, and 100 years since American PVT Henry Gunther fell at 1059am in a field near Chaumont-devant-Damvillers in the Meuse Valley. And 100 years since countless others fell as well.

A lot has changed in those last 100 years, from geopolitical to social and technological revolutions of which the men and women of the Great War likely would never have dreamed. In the hustle and bustle of life today, it’s easy to gloss over a day like Armistice Day without thinking of the millions of the fallen.

This one of course, is different. As I’ve read and reread “In Flanders Fields” these past several days, I’ve come to think often on LTC McRae’s request:

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!

How can we hold it high? How can we honor the millions of the dead, who short days ago loved and were loved, just like we are today? How do we keep from breaking their faith with us?

Perhaps one way we can hold that torch high against the darkness is by remembering these men and women who served their country a century ago. They may no longer be with us, but they are not out of living memory.

So, on Armistice Day–or Veterans’ Day, if you prefer–take a moment to remember them. Remember the Doughboys and the Hello Girls of the American Expeditionary Forces. Remember their allies on the battlefield as well. Remember too, their enemies. They were all human beings. Remember them for a quiet moment.

In November 1918, Moina Michael–the great woman and teacher who first used the red poppy as the symbol of remembrance–penned a response to Leftenant Colonel McRae’s poem. Titled, “We Shall Keep the Faith,” it tells the dead that we will not let them down. For such a poignant day as this one, I think Ms. Michael’s poem may be a good way to close this episode.

We Shall Keep the Faith

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,

Sleep sweet – to rise anew!

We caught the torch you threw

And holding high, we keep the Faith

With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led;

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies,

But lends a lustre to the red

Of the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red

We wear in honor of our dead.

Fear not that ye have died for naught;

We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought

In Flanders Fields.

The endless crosses at the American Meuse-Argonne Cemetery in Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France.

These photos were taken in the late evening. In France during the summer, the sun is up until eight or nine at night.

Episode SA8: Armistice Day 2018

A short reflection on Armistice Day, 2018.

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Check out this episode!

100 Years Ago Today: Wilfred Owen

Not everyone felt the same way Wilfred Owen did during the Great War; some men felt the war was their duty to do. They did it and that was it.

For others however, Wilfred Owen captured the war in all its horror and pity–in his own words, “the poetry is in the pity.” Today marks 100 years since this 25-year-old man was killed in action in the last days of battle on the Western Front, though no one at the time was quite sure of that. He was not the only young man to die that day. Yet we remember him as one of the voices that tried to convey what it was like to live through this devastating Great War.

A century since his death. A century since a rising voice in British and world literature was extinguished far too early, along with thousands of others like him.

Below is the poem called “The Sentry,” which was used for the last episode of the Somme podcast episodes. For several years now, thanks to an audiobook titled “In Flanders Field ad Other Poems About War,” that poem has haunted me for its intense setting and visual language. It is the poem I’d like to highlight on the centenary of Wilfred Owen’s death.

The Sentry

We’d found an old Boche dug-out, and he knew,

And gave us hell, for shell on frantic shell

Hammered on top, but never quite burst through.

Rain, guttering down in waterfalls of slime

Kept slush waist high, that rising hour by hour,

Choked up the steps too thick with clay to climb.

What murk of air remained stank old, and sour

With fumes of whizz-bangs, and the smell of men

Who’d lived there years, and left their curse in the den,

If not their corpses. . . .

There we herded from the blast

Of whizz-bangs, but one found our door at last.

Buffeting eyes and breath, snuffing the candles.

And thud! flump! thud! down the steep steps came thumping

And splashing in the flood, deluging muck —

The sentry’s body; then his rifle, handles

Of old Boche bombs, and mud in ruck on ruck.

We dredged him up, for killed, until he whined

“O sir, my eyes — I’m blind — I’m blind, I’m blind!”

Coaxing, I held a flame against his lids

And said if he could see the least blurred light

He was not blind; in time he’d get all right.

“I can’t,” he sobbed. Eyeballs, huge-bulged like squids

Watch my dreams still; but I forgot him there

In posting next for duty, and sending a scout

To beg a stretcher somewhere, and floundering about

To other posts under the shrieking air.

Those other wretches, how they bled and spewed,

And one who would have drowned himself for good, —

I try not to remember these things now.

Let dread hark back for one word only: how

Half-listening to that sentry’s moans and jumps,

And the wild chattering of his broken teeth,

Renewed most horribly whenever crumps

Pummelled the roof and slogged the air beneath —

Through the dense din, I say, we heard him shout

“I see your lights!” But ours had long died out.