First Blood: The Battle of the Frontiers

August 1914 shattered every illusion. French attacks into Alsace initially succeeded—the capture of Mulhouse on August 8 sparked celebration—but German counterattacks quickly reversed gains. The First and Second Armies, attacking into Lorraine, met devastating firepower at Morhange and Sarrebourg. Modern artillery and machine guns slaughtered French infantry advancing in bright uniforms across open ground.

Lieutenant Charles Delvert described the horror: "We attacked in perfect order, drums beating, flags flying. German shells turned our beautiful lines into charnel heaps. Boys from my village fell around me—Jean the baker's son, Pierre who sang in church, Marcel who carved wooden toys. Their élan meant nothing to shrapnel."

The Battle of Charleroi (August 21-23) proved even more catastrophic. General Lanrezac's Fifth Army, attacking across the Sambre, encountered the full weight of German forces sweeping through Belgium. French colonial troops—Turcos from Algeria, Senegalese Tirailleurs—fought magnificently but suffered appalling casualties against superior German artillery.

August 22, 1914, became the bloodiest day in French military history: 27,000 killed in twenty-four hours. At Rossignol, the French Colonial Corps lost 11,000 men—virtually its entire strength—in forest fighting. Senegalese soldiers, trained for colonial warfare, found themselves in apocalyptic combat beyond imagination. Sergeant Bakary Diallo wrote: "We who had faced lions discovered that civilized men were far more terrible."