Michel Goya - Flesh and Steel During the Great War: The Transformation of the French Army and the Invention of Modern Warfare

Flesh and Steel during the Great War

To Anne, Marc-Antoine, Victor and Pierre-Alexandre

The Transformation of the French Army and the Invention of Modern Warfare

Michel Goya

Translated by

Andrew Uffindell

Foreword by

Sir Hew Strachan

First published in French by ditions Tallandier in 2004

English edition first published in Great Britain in 2018 by

Pen & Sword Military

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Copyright ditions Tallandier, 2004 and 2014

This edition published by arrangement with ditions Tallandier in conjunction with their duly appointed agent LAutre agence, Paris, France and co-agent The St Marks Agency, London, United Kingdom.

Copyright English translation Pen & Sword Books Ltd 2018

ISBN 978 1 47388 696 4

eISBN 978 1 47388 698 8

Mobi ISBN 978 1 47388 697 1

The right of Michel Goya to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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1. Changes in military appropriations for the purchase of materiel.

2. Materiel as a proportion of men armed with rifles.

3. Comparison of the Schneider and the Saint-Chamond tank.

4. French light tank engagements, 1918.

5. The actions of the 13th Infantry Division.

6. Density of the 13th Infantry Divisions firepower per km of front and per day of engagement.

7. Equipment allocations of the French armies.

8. Relative importance of the arms.

9. Losses of each arm.

1. The 4th Army at the Battle of the Ardennes, 22 August 1914.

2. Layout of the ground for a divisional attack, as prescribed in the Instruction on the aim and conditions of a general offensive action (16 April 1915).

3. The French sector at the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916.

4. Second Battle of Artois, May-June 1915.

5. The 36th Infantry Division at Courcelles-Mry, 9 June 1918.

6. Battle of Montdidier, August 1918.

For their kind consideration and valuable advice, I must thank Professor Georges-Henri Soutou of the Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) and Colonel Frdric Guelton, head of the research department of the French armys historical branch. I am also grateful to the research departments personnel as a whole, especially Monsieur Henry Vaudable, who welcomed me on numerous occasions and whose knowledge of the archives has been particularly useful. Nor can I omit to mention Laurent Henninger, of the French Centre for Historical Defence Studies, for his constant support and for the intellectual stimulation resulting from discussions with him.