egbert Posted 28 June , 2006 Author Share Posted 28 June , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 10.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The second battle, Acy en Multien 3-9 September 1914 Grandfathers second big battle. Approximately 30 km in front of Paris downtown, some 5 km next to today’s airport Paris Charles de Gaulle, IR 49 received orders to change direction and rush to join the developing huge Battle of the Ourcq on September 3rd, 1914. III. Bn was frontline unit of IR 49 and had to attack through enemy artillery barrage. They advanced across the road Acy-Etavigny and were engaged in a fierce battle. At 21:00hrs they took the heights east of Acy and dug in. September 6th, IR 49 attacked Acy again and more or less turned leftwards towards the village itself. Later the day, CO Rgt, had to withdraw his regiment from the village because it was too difficult to defend against the attacking French who came from the surrounding forests. IR 49 positioned on the heights hard east and north of Acy. III. Btl was next to the narrow/lengthy forest north of Acy, facing the chateau grounds. The battle around and in Acy raged for days and IR 49 had to repel strong attacks on 8.+9 September 1914. September 8th, 07:00hrs, III. Btl (holding position in the narrow/lengthy forest north of Acy) was attacked frontal and the trumpeter signaled the order to fix bayonets. With own artillery support the Btl repelled the attacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 29 June , 2006 Author Share Posted 29 June , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 10.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The second battle, Acy en Multien 3-9 September 1914 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilkokcl Posted 29 June , 2006 Share Posted 29 June , 2006 Egbert, having been enthralled by the original story on this thread I am most interested to see the latest satellite pictures - an excellent epilogue to everything we've read about your grandfather. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 30 June , 2006 Author Share Posted 30 June , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 10.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The second battle, Acy en Multien 3-9 September 1914 7 September 1914: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 30 June , 2006 Author Share Posted 30 June , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 10.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The second battle, Acy en Multien 3-9 September 1914 8 September 1918 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 2 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 10.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The third battle, Avricourt 22-25 September 1914 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 2 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 10.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The third battle, Avricourt 22-25 September 1914 Gefechtsskizze Avricourt III.Btl IR 49 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 2 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 10.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The third battle, Avricourt 22-25 September 1914 And here is an overlay "Than And Now": new satellite picture with 91 year old outline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garron Posted 3 July , 2006 Share Posted 3 July , 2006 Egbert your doing a great job illustating his steps to us, keep it up Garron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 7 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 This is the big battle for Grandfather. He earned his Iron Cross during the events of the 7th as a platoon leader in 12.Kompanie. The circumstances were explained in detail earlier here in this thread and in a supplementary thread, also classic section. Later, October 9th, he was reassigned as CO 9.Kompanie. The accounts: October 7th, 1914, Commanding General II. Army Corps von Linsingen, ordered another attack on Les Loges. Artillery shelling started late due to thick fog and is not sufficient. Nevertheless the infantry started its attack on time with III.Bn IR 49 in first wave, I.Bn behind them. The first wave with 10./49 advanced towards Les Loges but in front of the French barricades was mostly annihilated. 9. and 11./49 penetrate the positions but with very heavy losses. The French counterattacked! On the left flank, from Bois de Loges, the Germans were mowed down from flanking French fire. Death was prevailing everywhere. The flanking MG and shrapnel fire covered the whole field between both villages (Les Loges and Crapeaumesnil). Artillery fire hit the men and only very few reached the safety of the trenches south of Crapeaumesnil from where their attack started. IR 49 encountered terrible losses this day – a disaster! In the evening the positions south of Crapeaumesnil were only held by weak forces of the former so strong regiment. A field artillery battery advanced next to the remnant forces of the infantry to help repel the expected night attack by the French. All the wounded were close to the French lines, some 700m away from us. Recovery operations were not possible due to the deadly, flanking fire. Than came the night. We could hear the faint cries for help from the wounded. It broke our hearts, but we could not help. The counterattack did not happen that night. The next morning we saw with our trench telescopes that the French recovered some of those who were directly in front of their positions; other wounded on the field crawled to the dead and frantically looked for water in the canteens. We counted 700 dead on the visible fields, the other dead in Les Loges up to the railway line could not be seen. At some places the dead laid concentrated in heaps. Some, who had still moved yesterday, were silent by now, dead. During the day the wounded in the battle zone silenced one by one. Only one man managed to come back to our own lines. Six days after the first battle, a German doctor and his assistant with Red Cross flag walked around in no mans land, followed by stretcher bearers: (Account from assistant doctor, Dr. Hibben) “I had orders from the regiment –after several failures due to firing the days before – to try to obtain a local truce to recover the wounded and dead of the previous days. I advanced with the Geneva flag across the lupine field, and negotiated with a French officer. He gave me a note, which said “Stop- until decision is made by commanding general”. Despite the forbiddance we could safe one wounded from the previous fights. Further efforts failed due to the threats of the French officer to open fire. 50 m from us, another wounded raised his head from the lupines and begged for help. We promised him to recover within the hour and had to retreat to own lines. After we reached own trenches, the French opened a lively fire –that was the answer of the French general. Late in the evening we managed to get the wounded comrade back. He crawled three preceding nights in circles because he was disorientated. Unfortunately he died shortly thereafter in the field hospital. Half of the men of IR 49 were wiped out and almost all officers, the first day of the battle.” Uffz Ahrend from 10./49: “….at nightfall only 3 Sgts and 20 men from 10./49 returned to own lines." The attack on the enemy positions was a complete failure. The losses were horrendous. 4 officers and 250 men wounded, 7 officers and 585 men dead or missing. The regiment had been melted to only 7 officers and 705 men. A continuation of the attack was not possible. In front of us the whimpering wounded laid for several days. As soon as we advanced to help and recover them we were fired at. Thanks to the “humanity” of the French, the poor wounded men had to die. The number of casualties we retrieved by own patrols in the darkness of the nights was neglect able in comparison of the numbers that stayed close to the French line. The French also ceased activities and the front got silent. General v.Linsingen visited our positions October 22nd, and was shaken by the amount of dead bodies lying in the fields. October 26th, the regiment was withdrawn to reserve status. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 7 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2006 As a general remark: unfortunately I had to substantially downsize all preceding and coming pictures/maps to under 100 kB in order to adhere with forum capabilities. Sorry for the low resolution! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen D Posted 7 July , 2006 Share Posted 7 July , 2006 This is Granddads officer trunk from 1918; it was sent back to Grandma when her husband left her, my 3 year old father and his brother for ever, May 1st,1918 on the battlefield between Merville and Bois de Nieppe. The trunk is locked and who knows what's inside? Just thought I'd remind everyone what post #1 was like. Look what it's grown into. This has to be the ultimate in Forum-ing. Thanks again egbert. I'd still like to have this story on my bookshelf. Books don't hurt my eyes unlike a monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 8 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 8 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 8 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 8 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Satellite Orientation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 8 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 8 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Detail southern part of battlefield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 8 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 8 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Detail northern part of battlefield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Posted 15 July , 2006 Share Posted 15 July , 2006 Hi Egbert Today, three blue flowers (bleuet in french) for your granddad. Regards Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2006 Annie, as I said in the email, thank you so very much. Your gesture is very much appreciated by me and somebody else in the Great Army..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowdrops Posted 15 July , 2006 Share Posted 15 July , 2006 Egbert Thank you. Snowdrops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 15 July , 2006 Share Posted 15 July , 2006 Hi Egbert Today, three blue flowers (bleuet in french) for your granddad. Regards Annie Annie - a lovely gesture! Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 16 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Bombardement of Crapeaumesnil as seen from French lines. Picture courtesy of "Collection Patrimoine de la Grande Guerre ", www.patrimoinedelagrandeguerre.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 16 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Drawing shows the very left flank of the battlefield, view from French lines towards German Picture courtesy of "Collection Patrimoine de la Grande Guerre ", www.patrimoinedelagrandeguerre.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 16 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Grandfathers avenue of attack as seen from French lines Picture courtesy of "Collection Patrimoine de la Grande Guerre ", www.patrimoinedelagrandeguerre.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 16 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Handdrawn map of the battlefield from French Lt. Lemoel Picture courtesy of "Collection Patrimoine de la Grande Guerre ", www.patrimoinedelagrandeguerre.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 16 July , 2006 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2006 The great advance 1914, Grandfathers push into France in/with 12.and 9.Kompanie, III Bn, IR 49 The big battle, Les Loges/Crapeaumesnil, 1-26 October 1914 Handdrawn map of the very southern part of the battlefield from French Lt. Lemoel Picture courtesy of "Collection Patrimoine de la Grande Guerre ", www.patrimoinedelagrandeguerre.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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