Tag Archives: Battle of the Marne

9 July 1915

  Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932) was an expert in tropical medicine who had been awarded a Nobel Prize in 1902 for establishing the life cycle of the malarial parasite in mosquitoes, which led to the successful combating of the disease. … Continue reading

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The military situation

In his letter to Kittie yesterday, Calderon wrote: ‘We hear that cavalrymen on the Oise have put their horses by, and are standing in the trenches with the rest.’  This was true and highly revealing.  After 9 September the German … Continue reading

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The thickness of events…

When writing a biography, you can go for months in its subject’s life without hearing a word from them, as it were: no letters from them to anyone have survived, they are not recorded as having said anything to anyone … Continue reading

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9 September 1914

On this day the B.E.F. began to cross the Marne.  Momentously, an emissary from Moltke had arrived the day before and now persuaded both von Kluck and von Bülow that they must retreat northeastwards or be encircled by the Allies … Continue reading

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A friend is wounded

On 8 September 1914 the B.E.F. moved towards the Marne and began to be attacked by von Kluck’s rearguard.  In one such engagement a dear friend of the Calderons was hit by shrapnel.  This was the 22-year-old Sir Roland James … Continue reading

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7 September 1914

Von Kluck now moved the left wing of his First Army almost forty miles northwards across the front of the B.E.F. to join his counter-attack on the French Sixth Army.  On this day the B.E.F. marched about fifteen miles towards … Continue reading

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6 September 1914

The initial strength of the B.E.F. was four infantry divisions and one cavalry.   However, the cavalry had been particularly hard worked: they had been the only effective cover and communication between the B.E.F.’s two army corps during the whole … Continue reading

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