The Great War: 100 Years Ago

The French army, looking for a weak point in the German line, choose to attack in Champagne, jumping off on 20 December.  The attack turned out to be doomed.  A huge number of French soldiers tried to force the German positions on a front only 2-300 meters wide on the theory that en masse they could easily defeat the enemy.  Leaders such as de Langle who advocated progressive methodical attacks (as proved successful once Petain took command of the army) were overrulled, and other than recognizing massed narrow attacks lead to huse casualties from artillery, no real lessons were learned in Joffre's headquarters.

By 17 March 240,000 French soldiers were casualties and the 4th Army was wrecked as a fighting force.

Davies, a member of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, was killed in action serving in the Flanders.  Davies was the model for J. M. Barrie's character "Peter Pan."