Fighting Together: Language Issues in the Military Coordination of First World War Allied Coalition Warfare

Abstract

There are essentially four different situations within a setting of military conflict in which languages come into play. A given armed force may, first of all, be composed of components which have different mother tongues. The handling of colonial troops is a classic example (Van Den Avenne 2005; Fogarty 2008: 134–68), but there are of course numerous cases of specialist units with a different first language to that of the parent army (Montagnon 2008: 22). ¹ Secondly, language skills may be needed against the enemy, be this for intelligence purposes or for propaganda. Hansi, the Alsatian caricaturist, thus used his German language skills to draw up French propaganda material during the First World War (ANOLIR 2008) while WREN listeners worked in the British intelligence facility at Bletchley Park during the Second World War (Footitt 2010). Next, languages can be an issue ‘on the ground’ when hostilities occur in a place where a different language from that of the troops is spoken. The written exams for German officers wishing to qualify as military interpreters in French after the war of 1870–1 included a paper which consisted of translating public announcements to the local civilian population (Püttmann 1903). Fourthly and finally, warfare conducted as part of a coalition may require the bridging of language gaps between coalition partners — this is the case up to the present day in NATO and UN missions.