Trench warfare

affect of war expectations on industry and recruitment

\-plans based on the war being a short one meaning Britain was unprepared to raise a mass army or increase munitions output

Lord Kitchener

\-secretary of state for war

\-predicted the war would last 3-4 years and planned for it

Impact of the Russo-Japanese war

\-gave Britain an idea of the kind of firepower they might be up against

Sign that trench warfare was expected

\-soldiers were equipped with entrenching tools from the very start of the war

Sign that trench warfare was not expected

\-first trenches were dug hurriedly and were poorly constructed

BEF

British expeditionary force

Recruitment/volenteers until June 1915

\-761,000 August and September 1921

\-125,000 per month until June 1915

result of mass volunteering

\-over crowding

\-supply shortages

result of indiscriminate recruitment

\-took away engineers who would have been needed to make ammunition

how the initial mass volunteering was dealt with

\-deferred enlistment

Pals battalions

\-grouped together men who knew each other/were from the same communities

\-resulted in areas loosing significant numbers of their men

Sir John French

\-Commander of the BEF before Haig

Haig

\-Commander of the BEF from December 1915

Examples of deficient modern technology at the outbreak of war

\-2 machine guns per battalion

\-80 motor vehicles in the entire army

\-guns still drawn by horses

\-lack of field telephones and wireless equipment

Schlieffen plan

\-Germany planned to move through Belgium and defeat France in 6 weeks before Russia could mobilise to avoid fighting on two fronts

Reason for the Schlieffen plans failure

\-Russia mobilised in 3 weeks

Result of Germanys movement through Belgium

\-Britain became involved due to the Treaty of London 1839

Reasons the war became a stalemate

\-supply problems prevented Germany advance

\-Poor communication: lack of understanding of wireless and field telephones

\-lack of aerial reconnaissance meant Germany didn’t know where the BEF was

\-Entrenchment provided cover against heavy firepower

\-oncoming winter halted the race to the sea

Trench raids

\-Haig’s method of preventing soldiers from becoming passive between battles

‘Sappers’

\-dug beneath enemy trenches to collapse them and set off explosives

cause of poor communication in the trenches at the beginning of the war

\-reliant on runners who risked being shot

\-plans complicated as generals tried to factor in every possibility

Changes made to army uniforms in 1915

\-Metal helmets

\-Khaki uniforms

Cavalry

\-made to dismount and fight as infantry

\-horses were impractical, struggled to cross no mans land and made big targets for machine guns

Weapon most commonly used by soldiers

\-Lee Enfield rifle

‘wave and flow’

\-British tactic using waves of men across no mans land

Machine guns

\-hidden in dugouts to protect them

\-much greater killing power than rifles

\-number used increased six folder 1914-17

\-required less training to use

rifle to machine gun ratio

\-1914: 12:1

\-1917: 2:1

Stokes trench mortars

\-could fire 25 bombs a minute over 800 years

How John French believed the war would be won

\-Through use of explosives

British fuse 106

\-shells exploded sideways

\-prevented them getting buried in mud

\-effective against barbed wire

\-created a smoke screen

artillery and barbed wire

\-struggled to flatten barbed wire

\-often just tangled it up and made it harder to cross

Flash spotting

\-judging distance using the flash of an exploding shell

Creeping barrage

\-artillery firing a line of shells ahead of advancing infantry to destroy obstacles and suppress enemy movement

Disadvantages of creeping barrage

\-required good communication and accurate gunnery

\-risked killing their own men

Gas

\-first used in April 1915 at Ypres

types of gas

\-Chlorine

\-phosgene

\-mustard

gas masks

\-first issued in June 1915 (2 month after first use)

phosgene gas

\-first used in December 1915

\-6x more toxic than chlorine gas

Mustard gas

\-first used July 1917

\-Caused lung damage and blindness

Tanks

\-Invented 1915

\-First used at the Somme

impact of tanks on German troops

\-damaged moral and exhausted them

main advantage of tanks

\-flattened barbed wire

Haigs offensives (that we study)

\-the Somme

\-Passchendaele

\-Hundred Day Offensive

reason soldiers required detailed instruction

\-they were volunteers without proper training

evidence of British failure to adjust effectively to the changing nature of warfare

\-lack of ground gained/stalemate

\-high casualties

\-use of old tactics: generals still often preferred frontal infantry attacks

\-wave and flow not new

\-fail to see value of machine guns until 1917

evidence of British adjusting effectively to the changing nature of warfare

\-use of gas

\-gasmasks issued 2 months after first use of gas

\-tanks invented in 195 and use in 1916 at the Somme

\-increased use of machine guns

\-use of aircrafts and artillery

\-Fuse 106

\-removal of cavalry

number of shells fired in the first week of July 1916 at the battle of the Somme

1\.5 million

aim of the Somme

\-to relive pressure on the French in Verdun

Artillery bombardment prior to the Somme

\-1 week

\-1.7 million shells

Effect of the bombardment prior to the Somme

\-failed to damage barbed wire or enemy dugouts

\-explosions in no mans land made it harder to cross

First say of the Somme

\-1st July 1916

\-19,000 men dead

success of the Somme

\-Attrition - smaller German army couldn’t afford as many losses

\-relieved pressure on Verdun

\-first use of tanks

\-gained 7 miles

\-surviving soldiers were now ‘battle hardened’ and experienced

Reasons why Haig was not to blame for the death toll of the Somme

\-no choice but to help the French

\-no arm had developed a fool proof way of coordinating artillery and infantry yet

\-couldn’t control the men once they were in n mans land

Reasons why Haig was to blame for the death toll of the Somme

\-expected 40,000 causalities in the first 3 days and proceeded anyway

Aim of Passchendaele

\-to push the Germans out of Belgium

Passchendaele date

\-July - November 1917

Artillery barrage at Passchendaele

\-4x as many shells used as the Somme

\-destroyed the fields drainage system

Preparations made by the Germans at Passchendaele

\-reinforced bunkers with concrete

\-divided forces into 2 formations

Result of Passchendaele

\-Advanced no more than 9 km in 4 months

Lloyd Georges response to Passchendaele

\-wanted to personally interview as he was so appalled by the events

reason Haig’s decision to fight Passchendaele was described as ‘strategically incoherent’

\-he chose a battlefield with strong German defences and waterlogged terrain

Number of men killed at Passchendaele

\-70,000

Hundred Days offensive date

\-August - November 1918

Haig’s superior during the Hundred Days offensive

\-French General Foch

Way technology was utilised during the Hundred Days Offensive

\-aircrafts used at Amiens to drown out the sound of 500 tanks creating a surprise attack

Success of artillery spotting in the Hundred Days Offensive

\-95% if German guns identified and hit