Mort-Homme attack 28. 12. 16. My father fought there.

[bob lembke]

Dear Friends;

My father, as a flamethrower operator, took part in this attack. He saved the life of a wounded German officer, and then a few minutes later, attacking again, he and his entire squad were wounded by the burst from a French 75. As the worst wounded he had to be left behind, and laid in no-man's-land in a French dugout for three days before being found. The wound troubled him for over 10 years, but probably saved his life, as it kept him out of combat for about 18 months.

I have a great deal of information on the German side of this battle, and about my father's participation (including an interesting set of letters from my father), but have little on the French side of this battle. I would be very grateful for any leads on sources on the French side of this matter. Language of any source is not important, as long as it is not Hungarian. I do have access to a set of about 100 French official histories, but I have never gotten a good grasp of the use of this set; here also any advice will be very appreciated. (I guess I have to put some time aside and just work with these books till I know them better.)

Bob Lembke

[New Yorkais]

Bob,

You might want to start with Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 by Alistair Horne, which is one of the best second hand sources on the battle. The book discusses the fighting on le Mort Homme. Also, I have transcribed and posted several first-hand accounts of the fighting at le Mort Homme in 1916, all written by men serving in the 151st R.I.:

2nd Lt. Roger Campana:
http://www.151ril.com/content/history/151e-ri/11

2nd Lt. Raymond Jubert:
http://www.151ril.com/content/history/151e-ri/10

Lance-Cpl. Henri Laporte:
http://www.151ril.com/content/history/151e-ri/17


So was your father French then? Which regiment was he in?

--John

[bob lembke]

Hi, John;

Many thanks for your help. I will examine the first-person accounts carefully later today.

My father, when he was at Verdun, was in 2. Kompagnie, Garde=Reserve=Pionier=Regiment (Flammenwerfer), and was once wounded on Mort-Homme (I have a piece of his left arm bone from that wounding) and also was once wounded on a raid on Cote 304. (My computer does not do accents.) Incidentally, I recently did pizza and beer with the great-grandson of his senior commander at Verdun, and was able to tell him stories about his great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather visiting my father's barracks in Stenay-sur-Meuse several times.

I have to say that in my opinion Allistair Horne's book, long a classic, and beutifully written, is quite dated and in the areas that I have studied carefully is very off. I have a second-hand copy that (for $3) included an autograph letter of Horne's to the previous owner of the book. Thus boldened, I wrote Horne a few years ago, as politely as possible, asking him how he got certain things so wrong; not surprisingly, I did not get a response.

Bob Lembke

[bob lembke]

Hi, John;

I would think that you and your mates in 151e R. I. know of the unit history posted on www.cecile_meunier.club.fr .

Bob Lembke

[bob lembke]

John;

I just tested it and the above link did not work. However, I use the site almost daily. (In the last 6-8 months I have read about 150 of the unit histories found on that site.) I will look into this problem.

Bob Lembke

[Stephan @gosto]

Hi !

The right link is : [url]http://cecile_meunier.club.fr//historiques/index.htm[/url]

Amicalement,

Stéphan

[Bernard Plumier]

Hi Bob

On the French side, concerning Verdun battle, the main sources would be :

- VERDUN de Pericard : big book dedicated to the battle, edited in the 1920's, and filled with soldier witnesses, pictures and maps
- LES ARMEES FRANCAISES DANS LA GRANDE GUERRE : huge collection of official stories of the military actions during the whole WW1, from the French side. Very detailed, but unhopefully very few people have these books and there is no numerised version (Alas, alas, alas...)

It is funny to notice how that 28/12/1916 battle on the Mort Homme is just mentionned in the Pericard book, which is generally much more precise :

During the last days of December 1916, the activity is still high on the Meuse left bank battlefront. On December 28, the 252e I.R. repells a violent commando action on the Hill 304: On the Mort-Homme, at around 2h30 pm, the 203e I.R. loses the Cottin -Molina trenches after an intense ennemy fire. The day after, at 6h30 am, two companies of the 312e I.R. counter-attack the lost positions without success. The dispute is abandoned.

(Verdun - Pericard - pp 430-431)

When you know that those little lines are in fact referring to the lost of the southern Mort Homme height, cause of bitter and deadly fights for the entire year, it is amazing that so few details are given.

The Molina Trench was the one just south of that strategic height, and its loss certainly gave superb views to the German artillery on the French rear positions.

Moreover, I found out in a superb German book that you probably have (Die Hohe Toter Mann - Markus Klauer - 2001) a lot of details of this action in the German side. It seems that action was very well prepared, manned and equipped, with several Stosstruppen parties helped by pionneers, and a heavy minenwerfer pieces count (6 heavy, 12 middle, 24 light). I wish I had a better German language knowledge to understand better that description.

Another French history book states that the French High Quarters were upset by the bad quality of the defensive fighting and reactivity of the involved regiments.

Unhopefully, the History of the IR 252 is not on the link proposed before. Perhaps someone has it ?

Bernard

[bob lembke]

Stephan;

Your link to the Meunier site is more recent than mine, and some new histories have been added; in the last few days I have read about 20 of the new ones. On another forum I heard that M. Meunier has passed away; we all owe him a debt for this great effort. Does anyone know why 98% of these histories were written ananimously? (sp? I should learn English!) Was there a law or army regulation against serving officers writing what really are private histories?

Bob Lembke

[bob lembke]

Bernard;

I have a great deal of info on the battle from the German side, including four letters from my father before and after the attack. (In hospital he had much time to write, and wrote his longest letter describing the attack and his role and wounding in the course of the battle. Also a memoir from the officer whose life he saved.) In a letter written the night before the attack, he accurately laid out the plan of the battle, the H hour, how long they (the flamethrower troops) planned to stay in the captured French trenches, etc. That shows how even privates were carefully trained and briefed on the plans.

I have Klauer's two books, and have corresponded with him. (He is a captain in the German Army.) I sent him an excerpt from my father's letter mentioning the name of the officer whose life he saved, and Klauer was really blown away. (He mentioned my father in his book, but did not know his name.)

I might have Pericard's book; if not so, I will get it. (I did most of my work on this attack several years ago.) I have Blond's book and other secondary sources.

I believe that my wife's library has the French official histories; there is a set of 80 or more really large books. I used one briefly several years ago, and it was dissapointing, but I may have been in the wrong book. I really have to put more time into that set of books.

Thanks to everyone for these leads, which I will pursue.

As to the 28. 12. 16. attack, I gather that the Germans were alarmed to observe the French driving saps toward the German trenches on the top of Mort-Homme, and that they decided that it would be best to attack first to protect themselves. The attack was very well planned and rehearsed, and picked troops were chosen.

Bob Lembke

[bob lembke]

The 203e RI history (19 pages) is on the Meunier site, but only devotes one sentence to the Dec. 28 attack. There are no histories for 252e and 312e RI on his site. I had already read the 203e RI and found the mention last year.

Are there divisional histories? Probably not, especially as they changed so much during the war.

Bob Lembke