France. Demba Mboup and his comrades from the French Colonial Corps, assigned to the Sixth and Tenth Armies, clash with the German Seventh Army along the Chemin des Dames. Overall, the French muster over a million men ready for the assault. The troops advance across hills turned into a slippery swamp by rain and sleet. From the German trenches, Captain Reinhold Eichacker writes: “The Negroes of Senegal, the slaughter cattle of France.” On the first day of the attack alone, 40,000 Frenchmen die. Thousands more will desert in the following days. In total, 33,000 West Africans die in World War I, or 20% of those enlisted. By comparison, the average among French soldiers is 17%. Among British troops, however, the proportion is reversed: Indian troops have a mortality rate half that of the British.
