In our last post, IR 169, following a long ordeal in the Somme, was reconstituted while posted in the Altkirch lines from January – March, 1917. The regiment then received a three week break in Germany, which proved the only such homeland respite in the entire war.
In April 1917, a crisis emerged in the center of the Western Front, when the new French Commander in Chief, General Robert-Georges Nivelle, launched a massive offensive to break the front-wide stalemate. Nivelle set his sights on a segment of the German line in the heart of France’s Champagne region along the Aisne River. One of the primary target sectors was the Chemin des Dames, a 20 mile road below the ridgeline along the Aisne River that connected Laon to Soissons.
Nivelle’s Aisne’s offensive began along a 25-mile front on April 16, with the Chemin des Dames as the focal point of the attack. The ground attack was preceded by a two-week long artillery bombardment, where over 5,000 guns hammered the German positions with millions of shells. The assault, consisting of seven corps from the French 5th and 6th Armies, was supported by over 100 tanks – the first significant use of tanks by French forces. Most of the German defenders were able to weather the barrage by taking shelter in the substantial underground stone quarries that ran throughout the region. The creeping barrage artillery had minimal effect, allowing concentrated German machine gun and artillery fire to rip apart waves of French troops and tanks. The French suffered 40,000 casualties on the first day alone. The French tanks fared terribly, with almost all becoming disabled or destroyed.
Jack Sheldon, in The German Army in the Spring Offensives, 1917, presents the following account from Oberst Leupold, Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 12 of the French tank attack near Juvincourt on April 16:
“The column continued to advance despite being under the heavy fire from the machine guns and quick-firing 37 mm guns. Some tanks were halted; the remainder ended up several hundred meters in rear of the command post, where most were knocked out by two still intact light field guns from a range of a few hundred meters. A mere few escaped to the rear. It was a wonderful sight when there was a direct hit: huge clouds of smoke with the flash of exploding ammunition. This, together with burning fuel heated the tanks red hot… There were destroyed tanks everywhere, thirty two of them in front of our divisional sector.”
One glimmer of hope for the French was on their right flank, where their troops were able to penetrate the Chemin des Dames road at the village of Juvincourt, 15 miles north of Reims. The German high command responded to the threat by surging strategic reserve forces, including IR 169 and the 52nd Division, to the Juvincourt area. The 52nd Division, briefly garrisoned at Fortress Istein (near Mulhouse), was alerted for deployment to the Champagne on April 17 with orders to join the 7th Army’s Sissonne Group. IR 169 was part of five division surge to support the beleaguered German defenses around the Juvincourt area. After a 250 mile rail movement, the regiment took a 35 mile forced march to a bivouac in a wet forest south of Sissonne. The 52nd Division was now positioned to enter the easternmost portion of the Chemin des Dames line.
The ground situation had largely stabilized by the time IR 169 went into the front lines, with both sides having suspended offensive operations. The previous week’s battle destroyed many of the preexisting trenches, causing new lines to be repositioned. Unteroffizer Otto Lais, serving as a 2nd MG Company senior NCO, described how “bayonets were sheathed and spades were drawn.” The stacking of multiple German reinforcements in a tight space created a target rich environment for French artillery. The task of transporting provisions and replacement troops into IR 169’s new trenches was extremely treacherous, especially as its inconvenient position restricted covered support access to the front.
This situation led to a tragic circumstances in the regiment’s first day in the Juvincourt trenches. That evening, field kitchen wagons attempted to transport food that had been prepared in rear areas. The wagons finally arrived at the collection point as food carriers came out of the trenches to draw the pots of hot chow. Coinciding with the arrival of the kitchen wagons, a group of new replacements reported to the front.
Unteroffizer Lais was on hand to collect some of the new replacements designated for the 2nd MG Company. Lais, already nervous of being anywhere near an exposed road, approached the replacements and warned “We always travel away from roads.” No sooner had he spoke when multiple flashes came from the French lines. Seconds later came the howling of incoming shells. The first barrage scored a direct hit on the field kitchen wagon just as the food carriers were collecting their pots. Torn bodies lay everywhere as horses writhed in death agony, still tethered to wagon fragments. Dr Tebbe, the 1st Battalion surgeon, was in the vicinity of the attack and led efforts to treat the wounded. Moments, later, second barrage struck, severely injuring Tebbe and taking out many of the others trying to assist those initially wounded.
When the shelling finally ceased, 30 men lay dead and a greater number wounded. IR 169’s regimental command post used a field phone to call for support from a medical company posted in the nearby village Amifontaine. Wagons from a forested depot collected the casualties and returned them to the rear along a railroad embankment passageway. Lais accompanied the wounded and returned back to trenches at 5:00 am the following morning. A freeze had set in and the early morning hours were bitterly cold. Lais recalled: “After washing our filthy and blood-stained hands in the pots in this cold April night, we filled our bellies with flour paste and noodle soup; this was the infantry substance in starvation year of 1917!”
The new trench system IR 169 inherited was in a dismal state. The crude trenches were so narrow that it was impossible for more than a few men to find places to sit at any one time. Dugouts had yet to be reinforced with timber frameworks, leaving them vulnerable to withstand the impact of even medium caliber shells. French artillery fire, especially in the first days of IR 169’s deployment, remained heavy. As the position was under constant observation, any movement was certain to draw fire.
One notable feature of IR 169’s new trench line was that it nearly intersected the center-point of the ill-fated April 16 French tank assault. Lais, along with 2nd MG Commander Morgenhaler and his platoon leader, Leutnant Wenzler, discovered this ‘tank graveyard’ during their second day in the Juvincourt position. The trio had to venture across open ground in order to coordinate defensive plans with the neighboring IR 88. The journey was a frantic dash, with the MG leaders coming under fire as soon as they left the trenches. Midway, the men made a headfirst leap into a shell crater to await a break in the fire. When the barrage slowed, they realized they were in the midst of 18 destroyed French tanks. Also strewn about the battlefield were shattered German artillery pieces of every caliber. French artillery had been keeping up a steady fire on the abandoned tanks and guns, making it impossible for the Germans to retrieve material of any possible value. Lais and his superiors completed their mission and returned back to their lines, but remained curious about the field of ruined tanks.
Soldiers are inquisitive creatures, and the lure of exploring the ruined French tanks at a quieter time proved impossible to resist. The French had created a pattern of halting artillery fires between the hours of 2:00 to 4:00 am. One rainy night, when visibility was particularly poor, Lais and a group of comrades set out to examine some of the tanks. Lais described his exploration of the shattered hulk of a French Schneider tank.
“At 3:00 am we dared to set out in a stormy night, with rain-scourged faces to examine the tank ruins. Eerily, the shredded outlines of a tanks appeared in the darkness, with storm winds mournfully blowing through their gaping holes. We crawled into the belly of one of these giants whose doors had been torn off. Once inside, the cover allowed us to shine a flashlight. A ghostly image was offered to us. There, in the crew compartment interior, were the twisted remains of the crew, with limbs resembling charred branches of a burned tree. We soon had enough of this tour. We hardly departed this tank graveyard when another artillery bombardment begins.”
Pictures and 2019 visit to Juvincourt.
In my June 2019 visit to France, I was fortunate to have day-long private tour of the Juvincourt area and Chemin-des-Dames battlefields from professional guide, Yves Folen. Yves, having read my book, reached out to me the previous year and offered to show me the battleground sites unique to the IR 169 story. Yves is a remarkable and energetic Frenchman who is a true expert on the WWI and full-time guide at the Caverne-du-Dragon, at the center of the Chemin-des-Dames. A highlight of that day was his personal tour of the fascinating Caverns, where bitter, sub-terrainian combat occurred from periods of 1915-1918. This is a highly recommend attraction and should you visit, please say hi to Yves from me. His history of Lt Percy Ralph, 53rd Australian Battalion, He Came from Australia, earned him the coveted title of ‘The Most Aussie Frenchman.’
Picture Legend
(1) One of the French tanks knocked out near Juvincourt.
(2-5) The tank memorial between Berry-au-Bac and Juvincourt. This was the point of departure for the French tank assault on 16 April 1917. Pictured are Yves Folen, a scale replica of a French Schneider tank, a transposed image of the actual site of destroyed tanks and battlefield map.