IT HAS BEEN claimed that a famous Hollywood mogul once said that the story of the Western Front would never have made a decent film. Plenty of horror, sure — but the tension went on too long.
BROKEN DOWN into individual lives and single moments, the intensity was unspeakable.
At Cuinchy in France on 1 February, a Lance Corporal in the Irish Guards named Michael O’Leary took part in an action to recapture trenches lost the previous day…
STRATEGY SEEMED BEFUDDLED, although all parties stayed deep in war. In the west, the French continued their assault in Alsace and Champagne, blowing up half-a-mile of German trenches in the Argonne on 5 January, and occupying woods north of Altkirch next day. By 8 January, they had carried Hill…
19–25 January 1915
ON ONE LEVEL, the fighting in the Western Front during the week could be dismissed as a series of inconclusive local contests. On 20 January, there was fierce fighting at the Hartmannsweilerkopf in Alsace and the following day, the French captured…