The Great War lasted for a few days over 51 months: the 1st of August 1914 until 11th November 1918.
Until the final few weeks, the outcome of the Great War was not certain either way. Even then, until the Armistice on 11th November 1918, apart from a brief French incursion in Alsace-Lorraine in August 1914, and their retention of the town of Thann, no soldiers of the Allied armies had set foot on German soil other than as captives.
Throughout these 51 months, two of the Central Powers - Germany and Austria/Hungary - occupied large areas of France and Belgium, the so-called Occupied Zone. This included some of the most important naval and mercantile ports, industrial areas and best agricultural land. Ranged against them in the struggle to drive them from this occupied territory was a coalition of over 20 Allied armies of which the three principals were: France; Great Britain - with the countries of the British Empire - and the United States of America.
Apart from air raids and sea-based attacks on German bases in the homeland, all the fighting took place in France and Belgium, mainly in the regions of north and west of France and Flanders in what became known as the Zone des Armées. It became a highly fortified area based on trenches, dugouts, pillboxes, forts and dense bands of barbed wire. It varied in depth from a few hundred metres to 20 kilometres.
In this 460 miles (740km) narrow band of war-torn territory, millions of troops struggled in an apparently interminable war with the respective enemy, the weather, disease, mud, vermin, squalor and tedium. All interspersed with periods of violent and sustained shelling and hand-to-hand fighting.
The Central Powers systematically plundered the Occupied Zone and confiscated or sequestered many French and Belgian assets, including humans for slave labour and animals of burden, that they required to support their war effort. The depredations ranged from whole factories and forests to the pots, pans and bedding of the peasants.
With the benefit of hindsight it can be seen that the war on the Western Front followed three definite phases that could be described simplistically as:
* The Initial Mass Movement Phase: August to November 1914.
* The Static Trench Warfare Phase: December 1914 to March 1918.
* The Final Showdown Phase: March to November 1918.
1. The Initial Mass Movement Phase
This phase began in the last days of July 1914 and the early days of August when Austria/Hungary, Germany and France raced to mobilise their large conscript/reserve armies and moved two million men, their horses and equipment - largely by rail- to their frontiers. France alone deployed more than 2,000 trains.
The major objective of the German offensive was to carry out the Western Front component of their Schlieffen Plan. This was a vast movement of infantry, cavalry and artillery across the flat plains of Flanders to capture Paris and progressively destroy the French Army, whilst neutralising any French initiative on the Franco-German border.
The German invasion and the French response
On the 4th August 1914, forty four German divisions, backed by heavy artillery, swept across neutral Belgium aiming to attack the French Army north of Paris from their left, reverse, flank. Another smaller force aimed to neutralise any counterattack from the French army stationed on the Franco-German border, which it subsequently did with shattering success.
A weakening of the Schlieffen Plan by the German Chief of General Staff, General Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, who transferred some of the designated troops to the Eastern Front and the Franco-German border, and the usual unanticipated developments and miscalculations, meant the initial blow was weaker and slower than planned. After some desperate and highly costly fighting, the French, aided by the British Expeditionary Force (more about which later) halted the invading horde at the famous First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. On the 9th September 1914 the Germans began a general and progressive 60km withdrawal to a new defensive line on the River Aisne in northern France.
The Schlieffen Plan had failed to reach its primary objectives - the capture of Paris and the progressive destruction of the French Army. The first indication of a possible long-term stalemate was there for all to see, and with it went any hope of a rapid conclusion to the war.
However, the Germans persisted on attempting another breakthrough in Flanders in early October 1914, but this, and another offensive at the end of October 1914, was eventually halted after very heavy fighting, by Anglo-French forces at Ypres. This small, country town was destined to become, and remain, one of the 'cockpits' of the war on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918.
Meanwhile, the belligerents had begun what was called 'The Race to the Sea'. From their positions on the River Aisne, each tried to turn the flank of the other before a continuous defence line could be completed. Eventually, after a drawn out struggle ever northwards through the months of September and October 1914, the combattant armies found themselves drawn up with their northern flank on the North Sea at Nieuport in Belgium. Soon, a continuous line of trenches and defensive works ran 460 miles (740km) from the North Sea to the Swiss border in the south.
The British Contribution
Until the Germans actually crossed the Belgian borders on the 4th August 1914, many British politicians and military men doubted that Great Britain and its Empire would directly participate in this Balkans-cum-European War.
Britain was not exactly caught flat-footed. Winston Churchill, The First Lord of the Admiralty had taken the initiative to mobilise the British Fleet on the 29thst July 1914. But in a military sense Britain and its Empire was in no position to immediately contribute anything other than a modest detachment from its 247,432 strong British Regular Army (around 120,000 were serving overseas) and its Army Reserve of around 225,000. This immediate contribution was designated the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
The 270,000 men that formed the Territorial Army were only obligated to serve in home defence, though many were to volunteer for service overseas when called upon.
The BEF left for France on the 14th August 1914. Initially it comprised of four divisions of infantry and one of cavalry, totalling, with support arms, around 100,000 men; very small numbers when compared with the huge continental conscript/reserve armies of millions. By the end of 1915 the strength of the BEF has risen to five infantry and two cavalry divisions.
The BEF was a well trained and war experienced force that specialised in mobile warfare. Accordingly, it was quite lightly armed with no heavy artillery, no high explosive shells (H.E.) and only few grenades and machineguns. It has been described as being much like an army of well-trained gamekeepers with 0.303 rifles and bayonets that depended for its effect on highly skilled and sustained, rapid rifle fire and, in extremis, the bayonet charge.
Nonetheless, the forward elements of the BEF under the command of Sir John French began to arrive in France as soon as the 14th July 1914. It took up its predestined place on the immediate left of the French. First contact was made with the Germans at Mauberge near the Belgian border. On the 23rd August 1914 it went into battle near Mons where the renowned rapid rifle fire of the infantrymen wreaked enormous casualties on the attacking columns of German soldiers. Thereafter, the small British force accompanied the French in a general withdrawal via Le Cateau to the rendezvous on the Marne and the battle that became known as 'The Miracle of the Marne'- the battle that saved Paris.
By September 1914, the BEF was on the Aisne and participated in the 'Race for the Sea'.
In October 1914, the BEF relocated northwards in search of the German flank and, after an unsuccessful diversion at Antwerp (6th - 9th October 1914), clashed with German forces attempting to turn its flank. Thus began on the 19th October 1914 with the First Battle of Ypres that came to a climax on the 15th November 1914 at Gheluvelt. By the end of November 1914 the mobile war had coalesced into a state of static warfare and all that that presaged for the future.
The BEF had lost over 58,000 officers and men.
The Offensives of 1914.
* THE FRONTIERS, 14th -25th August 1914.
* FIRST MARNE, 5th - 10 September 1914.
* FLANDERS, 11th October - 30th November 1914.
* FIRST CHAMPAGNE, 10th December 1914 - 17th March 1915.
The outcome of the Initial Mass Movement Phase
The traditional war of movement and short sieges had become a static war of trenches and fortifications. In the process, huge numbers of casualties had been wreaked on all sides. By the end of November 1914, the French had lost almost a million men (300,000 killed) and 10% of their officers. The cream of the German Army had been sacrificed in what was ultimately an unsuccessful offensive. The British Expeditionary Force comprised as it was of the best of the British Regular Army and Reservists had been cruelly decimated with many of its survivors maimed or 'burnt out'. Moreover, any hope that this force would provide the 'experienced at war' trainers for the Kitchener's New Army of volunteers had been dashed.
2. The Static Trench War Phase
Both sides had suffered unimaginable casualties and shattering reverses of fortune in 1914. But, none of the armies - British, French or German - had received a knockout blow. The problem for the belligerent nations was not only how to win the war, but what measures were required to meet the unprecedented situation in which they now found themselves.
However, the Germans were in the enviable position of being firmly ensconced on enemy territory that was endowed with rich mineral, agricultural and industrial assets with all the tactical and strategical possibilities that that offered. Only a small salient of their own territory had been occupied.
The French, by nature and military philosophy, still had the determination not to give up any metre of their homeland without the most determined fight at whatever cost. There was also a similarly motivated and fervent desire to recover whatever territory they had already been forced to cede.
The British now realised that they were in the fight for the duration, but until the volunteer army(ies) was trained and transported to the Western Front their contribution, and those of the Empire countries, would be a limited, if increasing, one. Also, behind the scenes, raged the British controversy of whether the main war effort should be continued to be concentrated on the Western Front, or in another theatre of war where the possibilities of more open warfare were there to be more readily exploited.
Both the British French commanders - Field Marshal Sir John French (later General Sir Douglas Haig) and General Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre - decided that offensive action, even attrition, was required if the Germans were to be decisively driven from French and Belgian territory.
This spawned a series of what turned out to be futile, grand offensives of a scale and duration never seen before.
Some, to a greater or lesser extent were joint actions (see notations). 'British' includes Empire troops, notably, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and South Africans.
Initially, there was also a large contingent of Indian Army troops. But these, minus the cavalry, were relocated to other theatres of war in late 1915.
a. The French Offensives.
* SECOND ARTOIS, 16th May - 30th June 1915. Fr + Br.
* ARGONNE, 20th June - 4th July 1915. Fr.
* SECOND CHAMPAGNE, 25th September - 6th November 1915. Fr.
* VERDUN, 24th October -18th December 1916. Fr
* CHEMIN DES DAMES (Nivelle Offensive), 16th - 20th April 1917. Fr.
b. The British Offensives.
* NEUVE CHAPELLE, 10th - 13th March 1915. Br.
* SECOND YPRES, 22nd April - 25th May 1915. Br.
* LOOS, 25th September - 8th October 1915. Br.
* FIRST SOMME, 1st July - 18th November 1916. Br. + Fr.
* ARRAS/VIMY, 9th April - 15th May 1917. Br.
* MESSINES, 7th -14th June 1917. Br.
* THIRD YPRES, 31st July - 10th November 1917. Br + Fr.
* CAMBRAI, 20th November - 10th December, 1917.Br.
c. The German Offensives.
* SECOND YPRES, 22nd April - 25th May 1915.
* VERDUN, 21st February - 18th December 1916.
The outcome of The Static Trench Warfare Phase
Despite the enormous deployment of material and manpower and at the cost of huge casualty rolls, the Allies' 'Big Push' offensives had not made the expected 'Breakthrough [into open country]' neither in France nor Belgium. Small territorial gains had been made on the Somme, in the Ypres sector, and elsewhere, including the pyrrhic capture of Passchendaele, but there was stalemate at Verdun.
The Germans were undefeated and appeared to be even more invulnerable behind their defences in the Hindenburg Line that ran from the Belgian coast to Verdun, and to which they had made a strategic retirement in February/March 1917. They had also developed novel offensive and defensive strategies that they had employed with some success. The morale of the German troops was, as always, high.
The British troops were largely war weary and badly in need of reinforcements and retraining in the new war strategies. Hard lessons had been learned on the battlefield, but the rewards of this new martial competence were hard to see.
Much more worrying was the occurrence of a mutiny in a significant part of the French Army in the summer of 1917. This had put the reliability and commitment of the entire French Army in some doubt.
Finally, the anticipated boost of an increasing American presence was slower in coming to reality than was hoped by the Allied commanders. The Americans insisted on taking the time to establish themselves on the Western Front before making any commitments on the battlefield on a meaningful scale.
3. The Final Showdown Phase
Towards the end of 1917, and into the months of January and February 1918, the Germans, under the command of General Erich von Ludendorff, had been amassing and training a special force for a new offensive. It comprised of opportunistic stormtroopers, elite assault units, and specialist artillery and mortar batteries, all led from the front by well-trained and experienced NCO's.
Most of these troops had been withdrawn from the now inactive Eastern Front and were well rested, highly motivated and had a high level of morale. They were liberally supplied with new and advanced weapons and been thoroughly taught the new German offensive tactics that had been so effective in the later battles of 1917.
This force of 74 divisions (around 900,0000 men) was concentrated on a front of only 50 miles (80km) held by 30 British divisions (around 40,000 men) that stretched from Bapaume to St Quentin in the Somme Sector of Northern France, east of the 1916 Somme battlefield.
Ludendorff had chosen to attack the British Sector. He thought that if the British could be decisively beaten, and the Channel ports seized before the American Army could arrive in considerable numbers, it might be possible to negotiate the end of the war in terms favourable to the German State.
Ludendorff called the offensive the Kaiserschlacht - The Kaiser's, or The Emperor's Battle. It was also known as: The 1918 Spring Offensive, The March 1918 Offensive and The Michael Offensive. It was planned as a flexible multiple blow offensive. It was to start with Michael I in the south, followed by Michael II in the centre and Michael III in the north. When Michael had broken through the front, Mars would be launched to the north and a whole series of Georges and other smaller offensives would fall upon the British and French in the Ypres Sector in Belgium. Other offensives would be launched further south.
The British had long suspected that such a blow would fall on them in the Spring of 1918, as this would provide the good flying weather that had becoming an increasingly important consideration when offensives were planned. The Germans deployed 700 aircraft in support of the ground troops on the first day of Michael.
Although the British commanders strongly suspected that the more northern sector that gave protection to the Channel Ports, would be the objective of the offensive, Ludendorff was giving firm indications that it would be in the South.
The British commanders were doing their best with the straitened resources available to them after the disasters of 1917. On the 1st March 1918 the total number of British infantry soldiers on the Western Front only totalled half a million and made up a considerable lower proportion of Haig's troops than they were in early1917. Many of his infantry were 18 and 19 year-old conscripts with some of the older conscripts aged up to fifty.
Moreover, British reinforcements and replacements were not arriving in the desired numbers. A cautious British Government in London held them back to discourage the 'wasteful' generals. Also, planned improvements in battlefield tactics were not taking place as rapidly as was hoped. The weakness of the French after the mutinies of 1917 also meant the British had been asked to extend their coverage over a considerably increased area of the Front.
The Americans were not yet an important factor in the equation and the French Army had not fully recovered it operational readiness. All in all, the British were not in a good position to face a determined offensive.
When the blow did fall in the centre, just before dawn on the 21st March 1918, the result was far worse than anyone could have imagined. The British Front Line was broken almost everywhere and over 20,000 surrounded troops surrendered. Huge numbers of casualties piled up (38,000 British on the first day) and a ragged retreat began.
On the 20th April 1918, the Americans finally joined in on The St. Mihiel Salient after a special Presidential Order was sent to the commander General John Joseph Pershing.
The German offensive continued for a month and after many reverses and alarums, eventually ground to a halt on the 29th April 1918; Ludendorff called off the Michael Offensive. The Germans had advanced up to a maximum of 40 miles (64km) and captured over 2,500 sq. miles (6,400sq. km) of Allied territory, but they had outrun their resources and the physical ability of their troops to advance further.
It was stalemate and a step back to trench warfare,
But, Ludendorff did not give up, and launched versions of the other planned offensives in various localities across a 160 miles (250km) front as tactical opportunities arose.
The German 1918 Offensive
* MICHAEL I - III, 21st March - 5th April 1918.
* GEORGETTE/LYS, 9th - 29th April 1918.
* BLUCHER-YORCK, 27th May - 17th June 1918.
* GNEISENAU, 9th - 13th June 1918.
* SECOND MARNE, 15th - 19th July 1918.
But, despite some successes, the German's bolt had been shot and the Americans were taking to the battlefield in ever increasing strength. The first success of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was at Cantigny in May 1918. Their victories with the French at Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood in June and July helped to halt the Blucher-Yorck Offensive.
The united and co-ordinated Allied riposte began in late July and early August 1918 with a truly concerted attack on the German defences.
First, there was a successful attack in July by the French in the forest of Compiegne, whilst the Americans concentrated on Lorraine in Eastern France. The British in turn attacked in the Amiens Sector in early August with infantry backed by tanks and highly efficacious heavy artillery. The outcome led Ludendorff to say 'August 8th [1918] was the black day of the German Army in the war.'
This began the continuous Allied offensive that came to be known as the 100 Days Campaign that led to the Armistice on the 11th November 1918. The Great War was over.
The 100 Days Campaign
* AMIENS, 8th August - 4th September 1918. Br.
* HINDENBURG LINE, 26th August - 12th October 1918. Br.+ Fr. +Be. (Belgians).
* ST. MIHIEL, 12th - 16th September 1918. US. (United States).
* MEUSE/ARGONNE, 26th September - 11th November 1918. US + Fr.
* FLANDERS, 28th September - 11th November 1918. Br. + Fr.
* PICARDY, 17th October - 11th November 1918. Br.
The outcome of the Final Showdown
When the much warranted victory celebrations had died down, the true realisation of what the Allied victory on the Western Front meant began to sink in. An unlikely alliance of largely reluctant countries, and in one case a tardy ally at that, had crushed, fair and square, on the European battlefield, what was to date undoubtedly the most professional army of them all.
* For France: It meant a whole generation of its finest men had been squandered to achieve recompense for the humiliation of 44 years before - the Franco- Prussian War of 1870-71. A large tract of its most productive industrial and agricultural land had been laid to waste.
But, as history was soon to prove, no lasting solution to the problem of rival European political and territorial ambitions had been found.
* For Britain and its Empire: Huge financial reserves hard won over three centuries and a generation of its young men had been expended to settle a feud that should have been settled by three royal cousins sitting round a table.
However, the small pre-war British Army, largely designed for colonial duties and boosted by willing volunteers and conscripts from at home and the Empire, had been wrought by the fire of four years of desperate battle into a highly efficient fighting machine that during the final months of the war was able to undertake more than its fair share of the fighting..
Supported on one side by a weakened French Army and other Allied troops, and on the other by a burgeoning and youthful American juggernaut, the British and Empire Army had outfought and outclassed the German Army, whose only final recourse was to demand an Armistice.
Coincidentally, the crucible of war had forged the individual nationhood of the British Dominion countries and began the process of their moving away from the Motherland that continues to this day.
* For Germany: Its territorial ambitions had been thwarted and its army neutralised. But although bankruptcy loomed, the land was unspoiled by the passage of war.
Many of its soldiers, including one Corporal Adolf Hitler, passionately believed the war had been lost due to the self-seeking machinations of venal politicians. Thereby, a legacy for another upsurge of nationalist fervour was firmly implanted in the minds of the German people.
* For the Americans: Their threatened and actual, if reluctant, entry into a European war, although almost too late in the day, forced the Germans into a fateful offensive stance. A stance that they had largely so successfully avoided after the initial invasion of France and Belgium.
It also marked the beginning of the passage of the USA to the unique role of Global Super-power.
