France Mobilises: 2nd August 1914
On this day a hundred years ago France was going to war. The German invasion of France had begun as part of the Schlieffen Plan and France would soon declare war on Germany. Mobilisation notices went up all over France recalling Reservists and Territorials to the Army and within two weeks more than 2.8 million French soldiers had been mobilised into the army.
Also on this day the first clashes between the French and Germans occurred in Eastern France when the 44th Regiment of Infantry encountered German cavalry and Corporal Jules-André Peugeot was killed; the first French Poilu to die in the war.
This photograph dated August 1914 shows men of the 113th Regiment of Infantry preparing for war. From Blois in the Loire, they were action a few weeks later and in their first battle suffered more than 1,200 casualties; typical of the huge French losses of this period.
Great War Photos 
Hello Paul! Many thanks for you post; please note that Peugeot’s unit wasn’t a territorial one, it was the 44th R.I. Take care,
f-xavier
02/08/2014 at 08:36
Thanks for that my friend – will correct that.
02/08/2014 at 08:52
Hello, I read with a lot of interest your article.But I believe that there are some errors. France did not declare the war in Germany. It is Germany which declares the war in France on August 3rd Furthermore, Peugeot did not belong to a territorial regiment of infantry but a regiment infantry (44th). Thank you for your fascinating articles
Michaël Bourlet
Le Samedi 2 août 2014 7h31, Great War Photos a écrit :
WordPress.com sommecourt posted: ” On this day a hundred years ago France was going to war. The German invasion of France had begun as part of the Schlieffen Plan and France had declared war on Germany. Mobilisation notices went up all over France recalling Reservists and Territorials “
02/08/2014 at 08:46
Merci Michael – will make some changes.
02/08/2014 at 08:54