918 Ch. 22 • The Great WarFor the first time, soldiers resisted. Some French regiments were heard
“baaing” like sheep led to the slaughterhouse as they marched past their
commanding officers. On May 3, mutinies broke out. By the end of the
month, they had spread to other regiments, even though soldiers who
refused to go over the top knew they could be summarily shot. They rea
soned that they were going to die anyway. Some regiments elected spokes
men, who declared that they would defend the trenches against German
attacks, but would not participate in any more foolish assaults. The mutinies
affected half of the French divisions along the western front, and at the
beginning of June, only two of twelve divisions holding the line in Cham
pagne had been unaffected. More than 21,000 French soldiers deserted in
1917.
Some soldiers were summarily shot where the officers retained the
upper hand; 23,000 others were court-martialed, 432 sentenced to death,
and 55 executed. Some generals blamed socialist “agitators” and peace pro
paganda. General Petain, the hero of Verdun, knew otherwise, and at least
tried to improve the conditions of daily life for the soldiers. The Nivelle
offensive ground to a halt.
In the meantime, Haig planned another British offensive around Ypres,
the “fields of Flanders.” The goal was to push the Germans back from the
coast to Ghent. Haig had not bothered to inspect the front himself, nor did
he pay attention to the pessimistic reports of his intelligence staff. He had
not reported estimates of German troop strength to the war cabinet in
London. The battle began in heavy rain; the preliminary barrage turned
the chalky soil into something like the consistency of quicksand. In the
Battle of Passchendaele (“They died in hell, they called it Passchendaele”),
named after a devastated village, the British gained four miles in exchange
for 300,000 dead or wounded. One soldier determined that, in view of
such gains, it would take 180 years to get to the Rhine River. The offensive
ended. Haig kept his command.
Morale plunged during the winter in Germany and France. A writer was
surprised to see a soldier who had lost an arm drunkenly begging on a Pa
risian boulevard, muttering, “Peace, Peace.” Shortages became worse,
rationing more vexing. Occasionally, in the south of France were heard sar
castic references to “Paris’s war,” or to the blond refugees from the embat
tled northern departments known as “the Krauts (boches) of the North.”
The French armaments minister faced shouts of “Down with the War!”
when he visited a factory. There were waves of strikes in 1917. But Georges
Clemenceau rallied the war effort after again becoming prime minister. He
used troops against strikers, as he had before the war. He ordered the
arrest of those calling for peace without victory, including his minister of
the interior. A cartoon in Britain—unthinkable until 1917—pictured the
encounter of two enlisted soldiers at the front. One said, “ ’Ow long you up
for, Bill?” “Seven years,” was the reply, to which the first soldier said,
“You’re lucky—I’m duration.”