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25 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Haig
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succeded Sir John French as commander-in-chief of the BEF.
-worked closely with Haldane in shaping the reformed British Army after the Boer war -Haig eventually commanded 5 armies. These needed feeding, moving, welfare and leisure provision and medical services. - Haig was a cavalry man in origin but he still appreciated the vital role of artillery. - He eventually produced the most sophisticated and massive artillery corps that went on to defeat the Germans. |
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Haig- 'Butcher of the Somme'? 1916
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-Cavalry man therefore not understanding of tactics and weapons.
-Not liked by Lloyd George. They were in different classes and had different opinions on politics. - 57,000 dead at Somme on first day. 620,000 in total. - Haig could've pushed Germans back but he waited for more tanks ( he'd used the 32 he had- all had broken down in the first 7 miles) - Accused of not understanding trench warfare -Not a very good orator - Tactic of mass slaughter- just kill more Germans. - Cavalry man therefore appreciated by others i.e Robertson as a professional. - Ruthless in doing his job - 'the attacks are to be pressed regardless of loss' - He was very critical of poor soldiering/soldiers e.g Sir John French -wanted to use tanks to bring about a swifter end to the Somme. |
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Successes of the Somme
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-The infantry learned new tricks and the integration of weapons systems with tactics
-the tank achieved an advance however was still too slow and was not yet a winning weapon. - The Royal Flying corps had rapidly expanded and achieved superiority over the German air force. Although the assault ground to a hault in November in appaling weather and mud without any breakthrough. It can be viewed in a positive light for the BEF. German losses were equal to the combined british and french losses. c.600,000. |
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Major British offensives of 1917:
Arras |
-British gained 4 miles of territory in the battle of Arras but failed to break through German lines.
-BRITISH TACTICS IMPROVED from 1916. But communications were very difficult. -battle allowed to go on for too long- increasing losses. |
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Pre Passchendale
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-Haig planned his major assault around Ypres
- An advance of 7 miles would push the Germans of the ridge and threaten their position at Flanders. -Germany's hopes against Britain in 1917 were centred on the U boat campaign. They had launched un-restricted submarine warfare in the hope of starving Britiain into submission. The ostensible aim of the campaign was to be the destruction of German submarine bases on the Belgian coast -massive artillery bombardment involving 3 and a half million shells on the 7th of June. -Explosion of 19 mines that had been produced by secret tunneling under the German defences. The attack was heard in England and the ridge was successfully gained. - The main attack began on the 31st of July and there was considerable penetration of the enemy position. - HOWEVER- WEATHER intervened and it began to rain heavily forcing the abandonment of planned assaults. -whole area was reduced to a swamp- death by drowning became the most feared fate. - Fresh attack began on the 16th |
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The Third Battle of Ypres 1917
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The Third Battle of Ypres was opened by Sir Hubert Gough’s Fifth Army, with 1 Corps of Sir Herbert Plumer’s Second Army joining on its right and a corps of the French First Amy led by Anthoine to its left: a total of twelve divisions.
The weather improved in September and by 4 october the British had established a dominance on the battlefield that worried the Germans - Haig was determined to press on but the weather deteriorated again and the last phase of the assault carried with it tremendous suffering. -In total the British had advanced 7 miles. - the whole campaign had cost both sides roughly 260,000 casualties |
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Cambrai
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-Artillery used in a more effective manner
- 476 tanks used in surprise attack -Targets had been pre selected and guns carefully callibrated to ensure accuracy. -Artillery,infantry and tanks worked together and the result was an advance of 5 miles. |
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1918
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Germany's turn on the Offensive
-Due to the Russian revolution fresh troops were transferred to the western front giving them the advantage of 192 German divisions against 156 british and french. HOWEVER THE GROWING NUMBER OF AMERICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE IN 1918 ultimately made Germany's position imposssible. Haig commanded a highly skilled mass army. He had the artillery in sufficient quantities, a large air force, increasing number of tanks and a well trained infantry who could be increasingly controlled on the battlefield. The lesson had been learnt that a war of attrition was not the best way of proceeding. -A counter offensive was launched near Amiens it was profoundly different. - Aerial photography, sound ranging, calculation of temperature and its effects on exsplosive propellants ensure accuracy. - lighter field artillery advanced quickly. -The result was a devastating breakthrough by the Australian and Canadian corps: 18,000 German troops were taken prisoner and 9,000 killed or wounded. |
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WW1
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1914-18
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Why was civilian recruitment into the armed forced necessary?
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At the outbreak of war in August 1914 Britain had a small, highly skilled army.
It became clear that the regular army was incapable of waging a war against continental Europe. |
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Kitchener
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New secretary of State for war
-commanded the troops succesfully in the Boer war and was a hero in the eyes of the public. -At age 64 Kitchener was passed his prime and he was no politician. -Summoned to the cabinet he warned that the war would last for at least 3 years and he would need at least 1 million fighting men. - on 6th August parliament authorised an increase in the army of 500,000 men and the first recruiting drive began the following day. -Kitchener called for the 'First 100,000' volunteers to form his 'New armies' -Recruiting offices were set up in almost every town and city and they teemed with young recruits in a fever of patriotic enthusiasm. the first 100,000 were recruited by the 25th August and the government organised a further recruitment drive on the 28th for another 100,000 -The age limit was raised to 35 to appeal to married men. -Well over half a million young men had enlisted |
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Pals battalions
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'those who joined together should serve together'
- all kinds of companies and businesses, towns and cities formed their own battalions. - In Liverpool the White Star shipping line formed its own platoon. -Friends joined up together etc. -Over 300 battalions were raised in this way -Whole towns were also devastated in this way as what wasn't talked about was the possibilty of living together, serving together also meant dying together. A whole town in Ireland was wiped out |
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Why did the men voluteer to fight?
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-a chance to see the world
- Get out of dead end jobs -make friends - have an adventure - the war would be over by Christmas |
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Recruitment wavered? What did the Liberal government do?
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Some 2.5 million men enlisted voluntarily. However, enlisted patriotic enthusiasm faded as the losses on the western front mounted and numbers of those volunterring dwindled.
- a war of attrition needed more victims than volunteering could supply. -The Liberal govt. made one last ditch attempt to avoid compelling men to join the armed forces. -5th July 1918, the National Registraiton act was passed. All those between 15-60 were obliged to register. The cencus revealed that approx. 5 million men of military age were not serving. 1.6 million were in 'starred occupations. |
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Derby scheme:
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October 1915:
-appointed Director General of Recruiting. -Lord Derby invited all men between the ages of 18 and 41 to attest thier willingness to serve if they were called upon to do so. -They were to attest in age group and occupation. - a pledge was given that married men would only be called upon when the pool or unmarried men was exhausted. -Men who attested under the Derby Scheme were sent back to their homesand jobs until they were called up. The Derby Scheme was a failure 38% of single men and 54% married men who were not in starred occupations failed to come forward. CONSCRIPTION WAS THEN INTRODUCED |
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Conscription
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1916- Military Service Act. All voluntary enlistment was stopped. All british males were conscripted if they were 18-41 resident in great britain and they were unmarried
-men were no longer given the choice of which regiment, service or unit they joined. in May- the act was extended to include married men. -the only exceptions were those in 'reserve occupations' and conscientous objectors. |
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Were there enough men to fight?
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only just
-poverty and poor nutrition of pre war britain meant large numbers of men failed to reach the minimum standard for military service. In some industrial ares 70% of men were rejected as unfit. -Thousands were excluded on the basis they were doing important work at home -The huge losses of 1916-17 meant the size of the army was barely increasing. -BY THE END OF THE WAR HALF OF THE BRITISH ARMY WAS UNDER 19 YEARS OLD. |
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Opposing the war?
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-The No Conscription fellowship (NCF)
-set up by pacifists -dedicated to support those who objected to fight (conscientous objectors) |
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Treatment of Conscientous objectors
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Largely due to the pressure exerted by the NCF, MPs voted to continue the tribunals that had been set up under the Derby Scheme (for exemption from service)
- If the tribunal was refused they were sent to France to fight. If they refused to do this they were court martialed and sentenced to death. HOWEVER ARMY ORDER X ordered them to be handed back to the civilian authorities where they would be imprisoned. in June 1916 the govt. set up the Pelham committee which offered work such as building roads to prisoners. -Men could serve in the 'NON COMBATANT CORPS' driving ambulances -Absolutists were in prisoned as they wanted nothing what so ever to do with the war |
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How did the people react to conscientous objectors?
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people who supported conscientous objectors were in the minority.
- men in civilian clothing were jeered at in the street. -For them to be handed White feathers as a sign of cowardice by those who believed they were not doing their duty. -Government propaganda subtly encouraged this |
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Women
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-new horizons and new opportunities
- brought about change in the way society viewed womens role -They had direct involvement with the armed services -Nurses: by 1914 there was only 700 trained nurses employed in the war office. This number grew to 23,000 in 1918 -VADs- Voluntary aid detachment for the sick and wounded. Members had to be financailly self sufficient therefore recruitment tended to be from the upper/middle classes. During the 4 years of the was some 38,000 VADs worked as assistant nurses, ambulance drivers and cooks. In 1915 some VADs were allowed to venture onto the Western Front. FANYs: The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry - mounted nursing corps with the somewhat romantic notion of bringing wounded soldiers from the battlefield on horseback but by 1914 they had adapted their skills to car, truck and ambulance driving. Fired with patriotism. They were a small but exclusive group. WAACS- undertook a wide variety of army work, telephonists, clerks, cooks, instructors in the use of gas masks. |
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Medical and surgical developments
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Latrines- learnt from urban britain the siting of latrines was crucial.
Lice- Lice affected all soldiers. They were almost impossible to remove and became a known cause of 'trench fever'. Delousing staitions were introduced. Trench foot- Swelling of feet and the second phase was the development of gangrene. Oil was issued to rub into the feet and men were ordered to take a dry clean pair of socks with them. The treatment of the wounded was in the hands of the Royal Army Medical corps. There was one hospital ship and one hospital train allocated to each division and a network of field dressing staitions and ambulances and base hospital established. - The general level of medical knowledge was distinctly Victorian. -backwardness in medical technology. --bX rays - the development of the mobile X ray machine. The work of Marie Curie in getting the French Government to set up the Red Cross Radiology Service which sent 20 mobile vans with X ray kit on them to the front lines (these were called Petitie Curie |
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other medical
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-stock of morphine
-inoculation for typhoid |
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Shell shock
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Nervous strain disorders were little understood and often went under the general term of shell shock.
The army authorities could not make up their mind whether or no to count it as sickness or wounded but they did not ignore it. -War office investigated the condition in 1915. -The Mental Health bill of 1915 provided that anyone suffering from a mental disorder as a result of war could be treated for 6 months in specially appointed mental institutions. |
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Deserters
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In World War One, the executions of 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers took place. Such executions, for crimes such as desertion and cowardice, remain a source of controversy with some believing that many of those executed should be pardoned as they were suffering from what is now called shell shock. The executions, primarily of non-commissioned ranks, included 25 Canadians, 22 Irishmen and 5 New Zealanders.
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