The First World War mobilized millions of men and women across the world. Among them were famous people, famous from before, during or after the conflict.
The following list contains the name and short story of some of these men who served in the French army :
A hundred years ago, France knew the bloodiest day of its history. Never before or after this day has France lost so many soldiers.
While Brussels has fallen to German soldiers, in France, the soldiers of the Empire and the Republic were once more fighting in the city of Mulhouse. The nearby town of Dornach became the theater of heavy combats the 19th of August. Supported by artillery and helped by a regiment of sappers, France finally win the fight in Mulhouse. Hundreds of casualties are reported both sides and around a thousand German soldiers are made prisoners.
Generally, the French forces are pushing on in Lorraine. But several divisions are falling back behind the Meuse river. The 19th and 20th of August, the battle of Sarrebourg. On the 19th, the first fights between French and Germans around Sarrebourg are unsuccessful and even create a dangerous situation for the French divisions, which could easily be flanked. On the 20th, the offensive is a failure, many soldiers are pushed back by the Germans. However, the retreat of soldiers in the mountainous zone of the Vosges became an advantage as these troops were able to contain any German attempts to break them.
Further North, the second French army is attacking the town of Morhange and its surroundings against the forces of the Crown Prince of Germany. Starting on the 19th, this offensive will prove to be a serious defeat on the 20th. For many officers and even soldiers, the German army has not defeated the French army but just repelled the offensives of Lorraine. The armies retreated around Nancy, one of the Germans main objective.
The 16th of August 1914 is an important day in the beginning of the First World War. The totality of the BEF, the British Expeditionary Force, has completed its landing in France.
But hundreds of kilometers away from French soil, in the Adriatic sea, an event will mark the start of naval warfare in the First World War.
On the 14th of August 1914, the army of Alsace launched a massive attack on German positions. The 1st and 2nd French armies attacked on the directions of Morhange and Sarrebourg where in a couple of days, massive engagements between France and Germany would occur with almost 900,000 soldiers engaged.
The 14th of August is mostly spent in moving troops, with skirmishes here and there. The German forces were highly outnumbered compared to the French soldiers and several villages were abandoned at the sight of the red pants advance. The cities and towns that fell last week are taken back, Mulhouse and Thann are once again under French control.
At the same time, French planes are bombing a zeppelin hanger in the city of Metz. The second French offensive in the east was on its way.