brindlerp Posted 5 September , 2004 Share Posted 5 September , 2004 For those who have not seen this online article. "The first shots of World War One occurred near a small Belgian village in August 1914. Richard van Emden recounts a little-told prologue to a war that would last for years, and ultimately cost millions of lives." Mention is made of Richard van Enden's book on this site, but there is also information online on the topic and other interesting links at:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/firstshot_01.shtml Regards Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2004 Share Posted 5 September , 2004 "The first shots of World War One occurred near a small Belgian village in August 1914. Richard van Emden recounts a little-told prologue to a war that would last for years, and ultimately cost millions of lives." But they didn't! The first shots occurred in Serbia in July (28th?) 1914 and were fired by the Austrian Army. Many thousands of Frenchmen, Belgians, Germans, Austrians, Serbians and Russians had become casualties before this "first shot" of 22nd August! (A figure off the top of my head - I seem to recall over 300,000 French casualties between August 2nd and August 18th). Major battles that immediately jump to mind that started before Aug. 22nd (on two fronts, not including Galicia and Serbia) are the Battle of the Frontiers, with a sickening casualty rate,The Battle of Lorraine, the Battle of the Ardennes and the Battle of the Sambre in the West. In the East, you can encounter the Battle of Gumbinen and the beginning of the Battle of Tannenburg. These don't include other smaller scale engagements in the Russian, German and Austrian advances. I'd say that several million "shots" were fired before the 22nd August! Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CROONAERT Posted 5 September , 2004 Share Posted 5 September , 2004 Just read the article. He's referring to the first "British" shots ! (Go on then, I'll let him off this time! ) Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 6 September , 2004 Share Posted 6 September , 2004 The first shot by a British subject occurred in Togoland, West Africa, about one week earlier. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Birch Posted 6 September , 2004 Share Posted 6 September , 2004 The map shows red (German) and blue (French) fortified areas. How did the Germans get to fortify an area near Auxerre SE of Paris?! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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