Fix Bayonets! - First World War Podcast

In this Whizz-Bang, Mike breaks down the Battle of Le Cateau, a small but essential encounter battle that makes up part of the mosaic of the Battle of the Frontiers. While attempting to pull their forces out of the way of the German steamroller, the British tried to slow their pursers down by turning and fighting. What followed was an artillery duel that displayed the dominance of shellfire over infantry on the modern battlefield. The British fought stubbornly but without clear direction and eventually were forced from the field but, importantly, were not followed immediately. The Germans, believing they had destroyed the BEF and not merely a Corps, settled in for a short well-earned rest before continuing towards the ultimate goal: Paris.

Hey guys! To kick off the summer, we have an interesting little Whiz-Bang for you. In this episode, Mike breaks down the BEF (British Expeditionary Force); everything, from what they wore, to how they were organized. Please give a listen and hang in there as our episode on the Marne, a Whiz-Bang on Joffre, and more are coming soon! RATE - REVIEW - SUBSCRIBE P.S. For the Americans out there - Mike is saying khaki the way the Brits do!

In late August 1914, the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) made its Great War debut. The Battle of the Frontiers that we covered in previous episodes was a series of battles clumped together. At Mons, the British were tasked with holding a part of the French left flank and stop the german 1st Army before them. Nicole places the battle within the strategic situation and gives a great birds-eye-view of the fight. Mike, as always, takes us to the tactical level and guides us through the mechanics of the battle as it happened. Cullen finishes this episode by putting us in the boots of one Corporal Bernard Denmore of the 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment. In our longest episode yet, we cover the entire action at Mons, an appetizer for the main course to come; the Miracle on the Marne. Enjoy! Music - The Alienist by Drake Stafford For a list of sources and research materials, just contact the hosts on social media. As always - RATE REVIEW SUBSCRIBE, please!  

In August of 1914, the small country of Belgium faced overwhelming odds as 1.5 million German soldiers invaded her territory. Led by King Albert the 1st, the Belgians and their army were determined to stand and fight for their homes. While the outcome was sadly never in doubt, the Belgians’ unexpectedly fierce resistance added to the many disruptions that the Germans’ Schlieffen Plan could not afford.  

The fortresses around the Belgian City of Liege were fierce, formidable, and frightening structures to behold in the summer of 1914... but they were no match for a new breed of German artillery firepower. In this episode we explore what happened at Liege in the opening days of the Great War and how those events would shape battles, people, and the tide of war itself in the years to come. You’ll learn about the mighty Krupp and Skoda cannons that smashed layers of concrete defense works and how a man named Erich Ludendorff – perhaps one of the most influential figures in the German military during World War One — made an opening name for himself as a fearless, ambitious, and nearly unstoppable force of human willpower at Liege. With the Schlieffen Plan in full swing, get ready to dive into the story of the head to head combat that marked the beginning of the First World War. So what are you waiting for? Fix bayonets! 

Richard Harding Davis was an American newspaper reporter and witnessed the German army's march through the city. This excerpt is from Richard Harding Davis' account from his book, Richard Harding Davis: His Day (1933). It is slightly different than the one reported by the New York Tribune but the feeling is the same. We join his account as he sits at a boulevard cafe waiting for the German arrival:"The change came at ten in the morning. It was as though a wand had waved and from a fete-day on the Continent we had been wafted to London on a rainy Sunday. The boulevards fell suddenly empty. There was not a house that was not closely shuttered. Along the route by which we now knew the Germans were advancing, it was as though the plague stalked. That no one should fire from a window, that to the conquerors no one should offer insult, Burgomaster Max sent out as special constables men he trusted. Their badge of authority was a walking-stick and a piece of paper fluttering from a buttonhole. These, the police, and the servants and caretakers of the houses that lined the boulevards alone were visible.At eleven o'clock, unobserved but by this official audience, down the Boulevard Waterloo came the advance-guard of the German army. It consisted of three men, a captain and two privates on bicycles. Their rifles were slung across their shoulders, they rode unwarily, with as little concern as the members of a touring-club out for a holiday. Behind them so close upon each other that to cross from one sidewalk to the other was not possible, came the Uhlans [cavalry], infantry, and the guns. For two hours I watched them, and then, bored with the monotony of it, returned to the hotel. After an hour, from beneath my window, I still could hear them; another hour and another went by. They still were passing.Boredom gave way to wonder. The thing fascinated you, against your will, dragged you back to the sidewalk and held you there open-eyed. No longer was it regiments of men marching, but something uncanny, inhuman, a force of nature like a landslide, a tidal wave, or lava sweeping down a mountain. It was not of this earth, but mysterious, ghostlike. It carried all the mystery and menace of a fog rolling toward you across the sea. The German army moved into Brussels as smoothly and as compactly as an Empire State express. There were no halts, no open places, no stragglers. For the gray automobiles and the gray motorcycles bearing messengers one side of the street always was kept clear; and so compact was the column, so rigid the vigilance of the file-closers, that at the rate of forty miles an hour a car could race the length of the column and need not stop - for never did a single horse or man once swerve from its course.All through the night, like a tumult of a river when it races between the cliffs of a canyon, in my sleep I could hear the steady roar of the passing army. And when early in the morning I went to the window the chain of steel was still unbroken. It was like the torrent that swept down the Connemaugh Valley and destroyed Johnstown. This was a machine, endless, tireless, with the delicate organization of a watch and the brute power of a steam roller. And for three days and three nights through Brussels it roared and rumbled, a cataract of molten lead. The infantry marched singing, with their iron-shod boots beating out the time. They sang Fatherland, My Fatherland. Between each line of song they took three steps. At times 2000 men were singing together in absolute rhythm and beat. It was like blows from giant pile-drivers. When the melody gave way the silence was broken only by the stamp of iron-shod boots, and then again the song rose. When the singing ceased the bands played marches. They were followed by the rumble of the howitzers, the creaking of wheels and of chains clanking against the cobblestones, and the sharp, bell-like voices of the bugles.More Uhlans followed, the hoofs of their magnificent horses ringing like thousands of steel hammers breaking stones in a road; and after them the giant siege-guns rumbling, growling, the mitrailleuses [machine guns] with drag-chains ringing, the field-pieces with creaking axles, complaining brakes, the grinding of the steel-rimmed wheels against the stones echoing and re-echoing from the house front. When at night for an instant the machine halted, the silence awoke you, as at sea you wake when the screw stops.For three days and three nights the column of gray, with hundreds of thousands of bayonets and hundreds of thousands of lances, with gray transport wagons, gray ammunition carts, gray ambulances, gray cannon, like a river of steel, cut Brussels in two."

Not everyone was in the throes of patriotic fervor in the summer of 1914. Many felt the coming war was unnecessary, bad for business, irreligious, morally wrong, and a continuation of the broken aristocratic European system. As the clouds of war loomed and then tore asunder over the Continent, conscientious objectors everywhere found themselves in the unenviable position of having to choose between a hated war or prison, which often meant labor or the front anyways. From the beginning, one man spoke up and spoke his mind, one of the great thinkers of the 20th century - Bertrand Russell. Russell, a brilliant polymath, philosopher, linguist, and historian, among many other things, was imprisoned for his continued objection to the First World War in 1916. In the latter half of the century, he would again spend time behind bars for his vociferous anti-nuclear war stance. In this letter to a newspaper we can see the beginnings of a long career spent thoughtfully trying to convince the world that violence is not the way. 

In our monster-sized finale of Battle of the Frontiers, we cover the Northern section of the sprawling fight between the French/British/Belgian forces and the German juggernaut. Nicole gives you the strategic outlook for both sides and elegantly ties up all the loose strings. She is setting the stage for the war to come, the battle of trenches, gas, and horror that, at this point, is just around the corner. Mike dives into the nasty nitty-gritty on the battlefields of Haelen, Lorraine, and in the Ardennes. By pulling the narrative from a few of the significant battles that make up the Frontiers, Mike tells the tale of them all. Cullen wraps up the episode with Rossignol's account, 08/22/1914, and  French military history's bloodiest day.  Music - Unser Kaiserhaus by the U.S. Marine Corps BandWe  Lucky Few by Kosta T.Further ReadingDoughty, Robert A. Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War. Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2005.Foch, Ferdinand, and Thomas Bentley Mott. The Memoirs of Marshal Foch. Doubleday, Doran and Company, Incorporated, 1931.Keegan, John. “Battle of the Frontiers: Lorraine.” The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, Vol. 1, 1984, p. 145-151. ___________. “Battle of the Frontiers: The Sambre.” The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, Vol. 1, 1984, p. 155-163. Trouillard, Stéphanie. “August 22, 1914: The Bloodiest Day in French Military History.” France 24, France 24, 22 Aug. 2014, www.france24.com/en/20140822-august-22-1914-battle-frontiers-bloodiest-day-french-military-history. Unknown. Battle of the Frontiers of France, 20-24 August 1914, www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_frontiers_of_france.html. Unknown. “Les Pertes.” Vestiges.1914.1918.Free.fr, vestiges.1914.1918.free.fr/.Van den Hove, Peter. “Halen,12th of August, 1914. A Forgotten Battle in a Forgotten Landscape?” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317090646_Halen_12th_of_August_1914_A_forgotten_battle_in_a_forgotten_landscapeYoung, Peter. “Battle of the Frontiers: The Ardennes.” The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, Vol. 1, 1984, p. 151-155. 

Werner Voss - Born April 13, 1897, Krefeld, GermanyDied: September 23, 1917, Frezenberg, Belgium One of the greatest Ace fighter pilots of the First World War, Voss, was a demon in the Western Front skies. Highly regarded as a pilot by both sides, Voss struck fear into the hearts of his enemies, even when he was wildly outnumbered. Voss's ability to maneuver his plane was second only the Red Baron himself. This episode was researched, written, and presented by show listener and friend James.  Thanks for listening!  

 Before the First World War officially began, the killing was already underway. In the small French village of Joncherey, two men would meet for a brief but violent moment on August 2nd, 1914, the day before war was officially declared. The moment would turn them into eternal brothers, transformed by their explosive meeting. French Corporal Jules André Peugeot and German Lieutenant Albert Otto Walther Mayer would soon be the first military deaths of their nations.   Music - Kosta T - Exlibris

 “Attaque a outrance” — “attack to excess”As Europe approached the precipice of war in 1914, France's military thinkers were unwaveringly committed to the idea that an outright, relentless, and wholehearted offensive was not only the key to victory... but the only method of waging war that should be put into action whatsoever. Soon the French armies would crash into the Germans and punish them for their dastardly preemptive strike, and the "Lost Provinces" of Alsace-Lorraine would once again be French. Or so men like Joffre thought, but as events unfolded throughout the complicated, layered Battle of the Frontiers, those misconceptions would soon be exposed. If this kind of theoretical dissection sounds interesting to you, we have some good news! The French obsession with "the offensive" and how it began to affect real events in 1914 is precisely what we're going to study in the next episode of Fix Bayonets! First World War Podcast.

In this Whiz-bang, Cullen dives into the life and times of a true titan, Bismarck! From his early life to his meteoric rise as the virtual ruler of Germany, Otto regularly put on political masterclasses. Using a flare for the dramatic and brilliant diplomatic insight, Bismarck built the German Empire and eventually the fragile system of European treaty's that ensured peace - while he was in charge. His loud and public fall from grace with the young Wilhelm was stunning, moving the world ever closer to the inevitable World War to come. Also, this episode went on way longer than planned because Bismarck has way too many great quotes, and Cullen refused to skip any!

In this Whiz-bang Nicole talks guns, big guns! The German arms manufacturer Krupp produced the 420mm M-Gerat and these monster field guns went on to play a large role in the artillery duels of the Western Front. Affectionately known as "Big Berthas" these guns were able to lob huge shells great distances, even helping to smash up the modern forts at Liege.

Hey Folks, this is Mike and I’m coming to you here with the very first Whiz-bang episode that we will feature on this Fix Bayonets! podcast. In these episodes, Nicole, Cullen, and I will be exploring various topics of interest or topics that may need a little more detail than we have given them in our main episodes. Whiz-bangs are intended to be short, quick, and dirty, just like...you know, the real Whiz-bangs was.

The Schlieffen Plan (in all it's various iterations) was Germany's blueprint for a swift victory if and when she ever found herself in a two-front war against France and Russia. The man behind the plan, Count Alfred Von Schlieffen, understood a military maneuver like this would require precision, detail, and strict obedience to the timetables involved. Of course, even the most careful peacetime planning isn't foolproof when bullets begin to fly, gaps in logistics, and continuous tinkering by his successor would put Schlieffen's precious plan to the acid test in the Summer of 1914. Grant, R. G. World War I : The Definitive Visual History : From Sarajevo to Versailles. New York, Dk Publishing, 2018.Stein, Oliver: Schlieffen, Alfred, Graf von (Version 1.1), in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2017-02-21. DOI: 10.15463/ie1418.10444/1.1.Westwell, Ian. The Illustrated History of World War One : An Authoritative Chronological Account of the Military and Political Events of World War One. Wigston, Leicestershire, Southwater, 2012.Westwell, Ian, and Donald Sommerville. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Wars I & II. London, Anness Publishing Ltd., 2019.Willmott, H. P. World War I. 345 Hudson St. New York, New York 10014, DK Publishing, 2009 Music - Russian River by Dan Henig

The July Crisis of 1914 was the moment of decision, the moment that Bismark's intricate treaty and alliance system finally collapsed in the prelude to World War One.  The Crisis ignited after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (which we covered in episode one!). Tensions grew rapidly as Europe's nations sought retribution, issued ultimatums, made threats, or bolstered alliances.When it became clear that peaceful mediation was no longer an option… armies everywhere mobilized, millions of men marched to war in the sweltering summer sun, and the "War To End All Wars" had begun.  Grant, R. G. World War I : The Definitive Visual History : From Sarajevo to Versailles. New York, Dk Publishing, 2018.Keegan, John The First World WarMeyer, G. J. A World Undone : The Story of the Great WarMiller, Paul: Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz,Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08. DOI: 10.15463/ie1418.10217.Westwell, Ian. The Illustrated History of World War One : An Authoritative Chronological Account of the Military and Political Events of World War One. Wigston, Leicestershire, Southwater, 2012.Westwell, Ian, and Donald Sommerville. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Wars I & II. London, Anness Publishing Ltd., 2019.Willmott, H. P. World War I. 345 Hudson St. New York, New York 10014, DK Publishing, 2009 Music - Awaiting On Arrival by Blue Dot Sessions

Franz Ferdinand: Archduke of Austria, heir to his ancient nation’s throne, and victim of a brutal assassination in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The murder of the would-be emperor and his wife is often cited as THE cause of the Great War. But the truth is a bit more complicated than that…The European continent had been simmering with unrest for years by 1914. And as the heads of state for the world's mightiest empires grew ever more distrustful of each other, the delicate web-like balance of world power was ready to unravel. With the fatefully fatal pulling of a trigger, a Serbian teen named Princep queued the music for War to take center stage in Europe once again (and not for the last time!).Grant, R. G. World War I : The Definitive Visual History : From Sarajevo to Versailles. New York, Dk Publishing, 2018.Keegan, John The First World WarMeyer, G. J. A World Undone : The Story of the Great WarMiller, Paul: Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz,Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2014-10-08. DOI: 10.15463/ie1418.10217.Westwell, Ian. The Illustrated History of World War One : An Authoritative Chronological Account of the Military and Political Events of World War One. Wigston, Leicestershire, Southwater, 2012.Westwell, Ian, and Donald Sommerville. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Wars I & II. London, Anness Publishing Ltd., 2019.Willmott, H. P. World War I. 345 Hudson St. New York, New York 10014, DK Publishing, 2009 Music - John McCormack - Somewhere A Voice Is Calling (1914) and Unicorn Head - Keys to the Apocalypse