101 years on, the anniversary of the Battle of the Frontiers

[phil andrade]

Four or five thousand Belgian - and more than fifteen hundred French - civilians were deliberately killed by the invading Germans during the first weeks of the war : some in random acts, others in systematic massacres. Someone will have more exact numbers, but I reckon my estimate will pass muster as a ballpark figure.

How, I wonder, does this compare with notorious episodes on other fronts that were occurring at the same time ?

The Russian invasion of far eastern Prussia entailed the killing of significant numbers of German civilians ; I am confident that the Austro-Hungarian forces that attacked Serbia committed atrocities; especially in view of the traditional emnities and blood feuds that have held sway in the Balkans for centuries.

Given the enormous scale of the opening clash in the West, does the number of victims suggest that the Germans were not much different from the others in the harshness meted out ?

Phil (PJA)

[lostinspace]

Hello all,
 

In case you haven't heard, Simon House has had his book on the Ardennes published ("Lost Opportunity", Helion, 2017); here are the details:  https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Opportunity-Ardennes-Wolverhampton-Military/dp/1911096427
You can also have a look at the introduction via the above blurb.
 

Dave

[Robert Dunlop]

Simon's book is superb. Highly recommended for anyone interested in this battle.

 

Robert

[SteveMarsdin]

Two additional points on Simon's book:

 

• Not only is the content of Simon's book excellent but he (Helion ?) have published the maps in an accompanying softback to the hardback book, this alleviates the annoyance of having continually to flick back and forth to follow an engagement
• He (Helion ?) has used paintings by the Virtonais artist Nestor Outer on the cover, a nice touch as, although his watercolours and acrylics are compositions rather than records, Nestor Outer lived in Virton at the time of the conflict and kept a diary during the years of occupation.

Steve