In 1914 the French Army was a vast organisation comprising 173 infantry regiments, with an identical number of reserve units and 145 territorial units. In common with most other European armies the bulk of the manpower was recruited via conscription based upon yearly 'classes'. After an initial period in the Metropolitan Army the recruit would serve a further term on the reserve and then the territorial list.

A Poliu marching in 1917

In 1914 upon the declaration of war by Germany on France, the French launched an assault on the 'lost' provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. The German battle plan was built around that of von Schlieffen, the German Chief of Staff from the 1890s onwards. The Schlieffen plan, as it came to be known, involved an attack via Belgium and Luxembourg and the French attack largely played into the hands of the Germans, and as such was generally unopposed. Elements of the French Army reached as far as the banks of the Rhine.

German front-line trench at the Lingekopf, Vosges Mountains, Alsace.

As the German plan unfolded it became all too clear that the bulk of their army was planning to swing through Belgium and sweep round behind the advancing French Armies, threatening Paris at the same time. The French High Command just managed to reorganise their forces and gambled by sending the Paris Garrison out to join the army in the field. At the First Battle of the Marne the German advance was finally checked and "the race to the sea" began as each side sought a way to outflank the other. When the outflanking manoeuvers failed the war settled into the pattern of trench warfare with which we associate the Western Front.

French infantry tactics at this early stage of the war were virtually non-existent. Officers led from the front wearing white gloves and with sword drawn. It was said that only two orders were needed, "fix bayonets" and "charge". As a result by the end of 1914 they had suffered approximately 850,000 casualties.

1915 was the year that realities of the war became apparent to all the hostile nations. In the West, Germany occupied a large swathe of Belgium and France and dug in. The French launched a number of major attacks through the year and only made local gains for more huge casualties, perhaps 1,500,000. Infantry tactics slowly improved, uniforms and equipment evolved to meet the new kind of warfare.

 

The battle-scarred facade of Fort Vaux, Verdun

1916 was supposed to be the year that the Allies delivered co-ordinated crushing blows to the Central Powers. The year's plans were left in tatters by a massive German offensive at the French City of Verdun. The strategic aim was to draw the French Army into a huge war of attrition and destroy its ability to continue the war. Ultimately the ten-month battle was a stalemate with both sides suffering similar numbers of casualties. The French also attacked with the British at the Somme in July and the result was again indecisive but extremely bloody.

1917 saw the French with a dashing new commander, Robert Nivelle. He dazzled the politicians with the prospect of a decisive campaign that would break the stalemate on the Western Front. In reality the Nivelle Offensive almost achieved what the Germans had failed to do the year before. Crude frontal assaults against well-defended objectives, men thrown in again and again with impossible objectives led to a widespread mutiny in the French Army. Nivelle was replaced by Pétain but it would be many months before the Army was in any shape to attack again.

German cemetery at Horod, Le Linge, Alsace

1918 finally saw an end to the slaughter. The Germans launched a massive offensive in March aimed mainly against the BEF but pushing back the left end of the French line. Once this attacked petered out the Allies went over to the offensive and drove the Germans back steadily until the Armistice was signed in November.

The total number of casualties will never be known, but in general terms France and her empire mustered around 7,500,000 men during the war of whom 1,385,000 died and a further 5,651,000 were wounded, a casualty rate of approximately 75%.