A STUDY BASED ON THE EXPERIENCE OF THREE YEARS ON THE FRENCH FRONT (1914–1917) BY RENÉ RADIGUET GÉNÉRAL DE DIVISION, ARMY OF FRANCE TRANSLATED BY Henry P. du Bellet FORMERLY AMERICAN CONSUL AT RHEIMS G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press 1918 Copyright , 1918 BY RENÉ RADIGUET The Knickerbocker Press, New York A l’Honorable Newton D. Baker, Ministre de la Guerre, Washington, D. C. Excellence: Vous avez bien voulu m’autoriser à vous dédier cette étude. Veuillez y voir l’h

Divers missions sent to the United States by the Allied armies are now giving the benefit of their practical experience to the American army. These missions are imparting to the officers of every arm the knowledge of the details it is necessary for them to acquire. The purpose of this book is to show to the American officers, and also to the civilians who take an interest in war matters, how a large army on the European Front in the last quarter of the year 1917 is made up. In the course of gene

It has often been said that after the battle of the Marne the Germans were virtually beaten. The feats of the German armies since that day on such numerous and varied fields, the strength that they have so often been proven to possess, prevent us from concurring in that opinion. We believe that their defeat will be due to the accumulation of the mistakes they have made. In September, 1914, their superiority in numbers and in armament was considerable. Their armies were holding in France position

Two great facts dominate the situation to-day. 1st. The great success won at Verdun in August, 1917, by the French, who in two days retook the positions that had cost the Germans five months of ceaseless assault and enormous losses in men and material. It is indeed a most remarkable success, considering that the German General Staff, in the defence of the ground so hardly won, employed every means known to military science. The last battle of Verdun evidences the superiority that the French arti

The real fighting unit is the Division. We purposely do not call it a Division of infantry. The Division forms a whole by itself. It is composed of all the different arms in the proportions that have been deemed necessary to the efficiency of the whole body. Infantry. Besides its Staff, which is the voice of the Command, a Division normally includes two brigades of infantry of two regiments each. The necessities of the present war have compelled the belligerents to reduce to three regiments many

1. Its military beginnings. Its increasing importance. 2. Its use and scope. 3. Different kinds of aircraft. Battle-planes. Bombing-planes. Observation—or scout-planes. Employment of scout-planes for the direction of artillery-fire and the movements of infantry. Aviation during a battle. 4. Hydroplanes. 5. Balloons, Zeppelins. 1. Its military beginnings, its increasing importance. At the beginning of the war, Germany alone possessed a military flying corps. She was the only nation who desired wa

1. General remarks. 2. General plan of an intrenchment system. Trenches. First and second lines. Trenches of attack. Artillery. Wires. 3. Mines and counter-mines. 4. Special railway troops. Transportation by roads. 5. General remarks on transportation. 6. Camouflage. 1. General Remarks. When her dream of a short war which was to realize all her aims of conquest was dissipated, Germany resorted to a policy of occupation in the hope of either maintaining her hold upon the territory she had seized,

1. Retrospective view. General considerations. 2. Different sorts of artillery: Artillery of an Army; Artillery of an Army Corps; Artillery of a Division; Trench artillery “Tanks,” or artillery of assault. 3. Mission and use of the artillery during a battle. 4. Anti-aircraft artillery. 5. Advance or withdrawal of the batteries. 6. Conclusion. 1. Retrospective view. General considerations. In the French army long before the war, several clear-headed and well-informed men had foreseen the necessit

1. Sketch of the railroad organization. 2. Organization of the munition parks. 3. Divisional parks. Their organization. Their management. 4. Importance of the munition supply. 5. Replacement and repair of guns. 6. Different issues of ammunition. In the present war the supply of munitions of all kinds is of such great importance that we have thought proper to devote a special chapter to this subject. 1. Sketch of the railroad organization. According to instructions from General Headquarters the s

1. Arms of the infantry: the rifle; the machine-gun; the machine-gun rifle; the bayonet; the grenade; the trench knife; the automatic pistol. 2. Instruction of troops. Duties of officers. “Shock-troops.” 3. The infantry of a division: the front; dispositions taken; storming troops; occupying troops; offensive or defensive engagements; preparation of attacks; prolonged engagements; posts of command; signalling; battalions and companies; subaltern staffs. 4. A word about cavalry. 1. Arms of the in

1. Asphyxiating gases. 2. Tear-producing gases. 3. “Gaz-vésicant.” 4. Liquid fire. 1. Asphyxiating gases. During the present war Germany has ransacked the arcana of science for the means of destroying her enemies. Those to which she resorted had been forbidden and condemned as belonging to barbarous ages by all the conventions to which she had been a party, and by all the agreements that she had signed. Asphyxiating gases were used for the first time against the British troops on the Yser. The c

We have endeavoured to present, without entering into the technical details which are being taught by the officers composing the various Allied missions, a general sketch of the conditions and principal factors of modern warfare that will be sufficient to give an idea of a modern army and its operation in the field. It is hoped that our explanations will aid in reading between the lines of the “communiqués,” in comprehending the plan and the importance of individual engagements and finally in en