Note on reverse (below) translated by xiphophilos: "Sappe Stellung Chemin des Dames Jetzt ist die Stellung im Besitze der Franzosen" - Trench position Chemin des Dames. Now this position is occupied by the French.
Two German soldiers move through a temporarily abandoned French trench (occupied by the British), collecting useful items of equipment and more importantly, maps, orders and correspondence that their Nachrichtenoffizier may find interesting. The array of both German and English equipment and weapons strewn about this trench leaves me to believe it was the scene of hand-to-hand combat.
The flat terrain between the Chemin des Dames ridge and Reims was part of the Chemin des Dames sector and in May 1918 four British divisions were placed there to rest after the Michael offensive. The British divisions of IX corps (50th, 8th, 21st, 25th) were placed under the command of the French VIth Army. Unfortunately for the British, the Germans launched the Blucher-York attack on 27th of May, shortly after their arrival and moved into the positions, albeit temporarily. This is the scene we see above.
Paranoid_Womb, Wooway1, Heinrich.Stürzl, Norris Sperry, and diggerdogroff added this photo to their favorites.
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hardpapier 11 months ago | reply
It took me some time to figure this out. I checked Rouquerol, Pedroncini, Nobecourt (by far the best source regarding the French army at the Chemin des Dames) and Pierre Miquel (not important but for the sake of completenes).
One thing is clear: there were no British troops there in 1917. The text on wiki is nonsense (and certainly not from Rouquerol).
On the other hand, I don't think the caption on the back of the photograph is wrong. In my opinion it could be May 1918 at the east of the Chemin des Dames. The area between the Chemin des Dames ridge and Reims is also considered to belong to the Chemin des Dames sector. It is flat terrain (scene of the French tank attack near Juvincourt). The terrain on the photo is also very flat.
In May 1918 four British divisions were placed there, to rest after the Michael offensive. To rest and not to ease the burdon of the French! The British divisions of IX corps (50th, 8th, 21st, 25th) were placed under the command of the French VIth Army. Unfortunately for the British, the Germans launched the Blucher-York attack on 27th of May, shortly after their arrival. I think that is what we see in the photograph, the result of this attack. Of course the Germans were pushed back later on, which explains the "now occupied by the French"
drakegoodman 11 months ago | reply
A superb piece of research HP - it pays to have such important references to hand. Thank-you. I'm afraid my library is a little thin when it comes to orders of battle and the like, a distinctly uniforms and equipment flavour instead.
I've amended the information accordingly. Thanks again!
Paranoid_Womb 11 months ago | reply
Now that's digging in to hisotry. I admire it. But as B. said, not so easy without the right kind of literature.
fulvue 11 months ago | reply
Excellent clarification, thanks to HP.