Battles of the First World War Podcast · Mike Cunha

Die Vergessene Schlacht - A Discussion with Alfons Philippi

·54 min·3 clips

His grandfather cried when asked whether he had killed someone in the war.

The conversation opens by marking a milestone: the show's first German historian guest. Mike introduces Alphonse Philippi, an independent historian who wrote a German-language history of the Meuse-Argonne offensive for a German audience titled Die Vergesseneschlacht, The Forgotten Battle. Philippi explains that his own family history is tied to 20th-century Germany. He was born in 1955 and grew up in a village with a long farming tradition. His grandfather was the only son, so service was not automatic, but he was drafted in February 1915. Farm labor at home fell to a Russian prisoner of war who had been captured in the eastern fighting. The grandfather first served in Russia, then was transferred to Romania, and by the end of 1916 his unit moved to the Western Front. Before facing that front fully, the soldiers were sent to a quieter sector to get used to its different style of combat. Philippi recounts a Christmas truce story, with Russians and Germans fraternizing in no man's land, a little Christmas tree on the parapet, exchanged goods, and a sudden return to shooting. From there the path runs through Champagne and the Chemin des Dames, and it also reaches Passchendaele. The unit takes part in the German Spring Offensive of 1918. Later it is overrun by Canadians and Australians on the German Army's Black Day in August 1918. The survivors are hurriedly reorganized and reinforced, then thrown back against the Americans, and Philippi's grandfather becomes a prisoner of war. The interview closes on a calmer note, with Philippi reflecting on how good it is that Europeans are now friends and cooperate rather than stand as enemies.

As heard by us

A German historian turns the Meuse-Argonne into family history and a measured wartime path from farm to front.

The Meuse-Argonne gets a more personal treatment here: not American memory alone, but a German historian tracing the battle through family history, farm life, and a wartime path that runs from draft in February 1915 to Russia, Romania, Champagne, the Chemin des Dames,…

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Hear the Meuse-Argonne through a German historian's family lens.

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