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Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy) is a term for a
common soldier in the British Army that is particularly associated with World War I. German soldiers would call out to Tommy
across no man's land if they wished to speak to a British soldier. French and Commonwealth troops would also call British
soldiers "Tommies". In more recent times, the term Tommy Atkins has been used less frequently, although the name
"Tom" is occasionally still heard, especially with regard to paratroopers.
Trench warfare is a form
of warfare where both combatants have fortified positions and fighting lines are static. Trench warfare arose when there was
a revolution in firepower without similar advances in mobility. The result was a slow and grueling form of defense-oriented
warfare in which both sides constructed elaborate and heavily armed trench and dugout systems opposing each other along a
front, with soldiers in both trench lines largely defiladed from the other's small arms fire and enclosed by barbed wire.
The area between opposing trench lines (known as "no man's land") was fully exposed to small-arms and artillery
fire from both sides. Attacks, even successful ones, often sustained severe casualties as a matter of course. Periods of trench
warfare occurred during the American Civil War, the Russo-Japanese War, and reached peak bloodshed on the Western Front of
World War I. Trench warfare is often a sign of attrition warfare.
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the
German army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important
industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Both sides then
dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France. This
line remained essentially unchanged for most of the war.
Between 1915 and 1917 there were several major offensives along
this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. However, a combination of entrenchments,
machine gun nests, barbed wire, and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties on the attackers and counter attacking
defenders. As a result, no significant advances were made.
In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction
of new military technology, including poison gas, aircraft, and tanks. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics
that some degree of mobility was restored.
In spite of the generally stagnant nature of this front, this theater would
prove decisive. The inexorable advance of the Allied armies in 1918 persuaded the German commanders that defeat was inevitable,
and the government was forced to sue for conditions of an armistice.
Henry John Patch (born June 17, 1898 in Combe Down,
a village in Somerset, England) is, at the age of 109 years, the second-oldest living man in the UK. He is one of the last
three surviving British veterans of the First World War still living in the country, and also one of the last three to have
seen action. He is the last surviving Tommy to have faced combat, as Sydney Lucas was still in training. Following the death
of Lazare Ponticelli, Patch is the last serviceman in the world to have fought in the trenches of the Western Front.
Any
one of them could have been me. Millions of men came to fight in this war and I find it incredible that I am the only one
left
During the war, Patch was conscripted into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, serving as an assistant
gunner in a Lewis Gun section. He was a private at the Battle of Passchendaele (also known as the Third Battle of Ypres).
After the war, Patch returned to work as a plumber, during which time he spent four years working on the Wills Memorial Building
in Bristol and, during the Second World War, a fireman.
Patch featured in the 2003 television series World War I in
Colour, and was quoted as saying "if any man tells you he went over the top and he wasn't scared, he's a damn
liar."
In the same series, he reflected upon his lost friends and the moment when he came face to face with a German
soldier. He recalled Moses descending from Mount Sinai with God's commandment, 'thou shalt not kill', and couldn't
kill the German. He shot him above the knee, and in the ankle. Patch said, "I had about five seconds to make the decision.
I brought him down, but I didn't kill him".
In November 2004 (at the age of 106), he met Charles Kuentz, a
108-year-old veteran who had fought on the German side at the battlefield of Passchendaele (and on the French side in World
War II). Patch was quoted as saying: "I was a bit doubtful before meeting a German soldier. Herr Kuentz is a very nice
gentleman however. He is all for a united Europe and peace and so am I". Kuentz had brought along a tin of Alsatian biscuits
and Patch gave him a bottle of Somerset cider in return.
Battle of the Yser
The entire Belgian Army
was deployed to defend the front. The troops were exhausted and low on ammunition after two months of fighting and retreat.
France reinforced the Belgians with 6,000 Marines and an infantry division.
The first skirmishes started on 16 October
1914. The town of Diksmuide was attacked but the Germans were repelled by French marines and Belgian artillery. The following
day German troops (consisting of trained conscripts, reservists and untrained students) moved southwards from Bruges and Ostend
in the direction of the Yser river. It became clear that the German Fourth Army was to take the line from Nieuwpoort to Ypres.
Admiral Hood of the Royal Navy commanded three monitors, Severn, Humber and Mersey, which bombarded the German army
in Lombardsijde from the sea the following day.
On 18 October the German offensive started.
The use of poison gas in World War I was a major
military innovation. The gases ranged from disabling chemicals, such as tear gas and the severe mustard gas, to lethal agents
like phosgene and chlorine. This chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first total war of the
20th century. The killing capacity of gas was limited only 4% of combat deaths were due to gas however, the proportion of
non-fatal casualties was high, and gas remained one of the soldiers' greatest fears. Because it was impossible to develop
effective countermeasures against gas attacks, it was unlike most other weapons of the period. In the later stages of the
war, as the use of gas increased, its overall effectiveness diminished. This widespread use of these agents of chemical warfare,
and wartime advances in the composition of high explosives, gave rise to an occasionally expressed view of World War I as
"the chemists' war".
"It is a cowardly form of warfare which does
not commend itself to me or other English soldiers.... We cannot win this war unless we kill or incapacitate more of our enemies
than they do of us, and if this can only be done by our copying the enemy in his choice of weapons, we must not refuse to
do so."
Caporetto in Italy,
where the Allies(G.B., France, and the US) drove back German and Austrian armies; France in general, largely the scene of
the horrific trench warfare that has come to typify the struggle, eventually won by the Allies, but initially, during the
Frontiers of France campaign that began the war, a decided German advance checked by desperate reinforcement(some French troops
arriving to the front in Parisian cabs). Russia was also the scene of several major battles, and defeats against the German
army, specifically Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes. However, the Russians were not knocked out of the war until the Bolshevik
Revolution of 1917. A fourth and equally decisive campaign was that of the British and Arabs versus the Ottoman Empire in
the Middle East, the English victory presaging a long and difficult presence of Western power and influence in Muslim nations
for the benefit of internationmal oil cartels. Those important battles were Bagdad, Jersalem, and Gaza, all three scenes of
unrest to this very day.
Following the
successful Allied attack and penetration of the German defences at Cambrai, Ludendorff and Hindenburg determined that the
only opportunity for German victory now lay in a decisive attack along the western front during the spring, before American
manpower became a significant presence. On 3 March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, and Russia withdrew from
the war. This would now have a dramatic effect on the conflict as 44 divisions were now released from Eastern Front for deployment
to the west. This would give them an advantage of 192 divisions to the Allied 173 divisions, which allowed Germany to pull
veteran units from the line and retrain them as sturmtruppen. In contrast, the Allies still lacked a unified command and suffered
from morale and manpower problems: the British and French armies were sorely depleted, and American troops had not yet transitioned
into a combat role.
Ludendorff's strategy would be to launch a massive offensive against the British and
Commonwealth designed to separate them from the French and her allies, then drive them back to the channel ports. The attack
would combine the new storm troop tactics with ground attack aircraft, tanks, and a carefully planned artillery barrage that
would include gas attacks.
Final allied offensives
In July, Foch initiated
an offensive against the Marne salient produced during the German attacks, eliminating the salient by August. A second major
offensive was launched two days after the first, ending at Amiens to the north. This attack included Franco-British forces,
and was spearheaded by Australian and Canadian troops, along with 600 tanks and supported by 800 aircraft. The assault proved
highly successful, leading Hindenburg to name 8 August as the "Black Day of the German Army".
The German army's
manpower had been severely depleted after four years of war, and its economy and society were under great internal strain.
The Hundred Days Offensive beginning in August proved the final straw, and following this string of military defeats, German
troops began to surrender in large numbers. As the Allied forces broke the German lines at great cost, the Chief QuarterMaster-General
of the army, Ludendorff (who had wielded almost dictatorial power in , was forced to step aside to allow peace feelers to
be extended to the Allies. Fighting was still continuing, but the German armies were in retreat when the German Revolution
put a new government in power that quickly signed an armistice which stopped all fighting on the Western Front on Armistice
Day (11 November 1918). The German Imperial Monarchy collapsed as Ludendorff's successor General Groener agreed, for fear
of a revolution like that in Russia the previous year, to support the moderate Social Democratic Government under Ebert rather
than sustain the Hohenzollern Monarchy.
1915 May 23 - Italy entered the war, and Italian Chief
of Staff Gen. Luigi Cadorna began attack on the Isonzo where Austrian Gen. Boroevic took command of the 5th Army and built
defensive line, Italy took Brado by May 26, but failed to break through Austrian lines. The battles on the Isonzo over the
next 2 years would be "a disaster" for Italy, according to the documentary film Fight for the River.
June
5 - Italy attacked Doberdo plateau on the Isonzo, advanced behind sandbags to take the strategic summit of Mt. Krn
June 23 - 1st Battle of the Isonzo began with Italian artillery bombardment for one week, then main assault June 30 on 21-mile
front.
July 18 - 2nd Battle of the Isonzo began with attack by Italian 2nd and 3rd Armies, but run out of artillery
shells and stopped by Austrian barbed wire defense lines; battle ended Aug. 3 with 41,886 Italian casualties.
Oct.
18 - 3rd Battle of the Isonzo began with Italian 3rd Army attack on Mt. Sabotino and Mt. San Michele with the main objective
of occupying Gorizia with its stone arched bridge; battle ended Nov. 4.
Nov. 10 - 4th Battle of the Isonzo began
with italian attack at Carso. On Nov. 29, italians took Oslavia Ridge. Battle ended Dec. 3, with 48,967 Italian casualties
and 30,000 Austrian.
1916 Mar. 11 - 5th Battle of the Isonzo stopped early by snow and rain.
May 15
- Trentino offensive, or Asiago Offensive, began with Austrian barrage and attack, forced Italian retreat to 3rd line of defense.
June 16 - Italian counter-attack at Trentino stopped Austrian attack.
June 28 - Austrians fired cyanide
gas shells at Italians near Mt. Cosich, but winds blew gas back into Austrians and attack failed.
Aug. 4 - 6th
Battle of the Isonzo began with barrage and attack of Duke of Aosta's 3rd Army against Austrian 5th Army of Boroevic,
gained west bank of middle Isonzo and Podgora, began to enter Gorizia by Aug. 8. Cadorna ended the offensive Aug. 17, even
though it was one of the most successful, and gained 3-4 miles.
Sept. 14 - 7th Battle of the Isonzo began with
Italian 3rd Army gas attack on 6-mile front.
Oct. 9 - 8th Battle of the Isonzo began with attack of Italian 2nd
and 3rd Armies against Austrian 5th Army. Cadorna still emphasized the frontal assault, packed 6 soldiers per yard in the
advance, the highest concentration of the war.
Nov. 1 - 9th Battle of the Isonzo began with Italian attack on Carso
east of Gorizia.
Nov. 21 - Emperor Franz Joseph died, succeeded by Charles I.
1917 Apr. 1 - British
6-in howitzers and French heavy guns arrived on Isonzo front. Gen Diaz took command of new 23rd Corps; Cadorna added 10 divisions
to reserves. On Apr. 8, foch visited Cadorna at Vicenza and planned Allied reinforcements in case of German intervention in
Italy.
Apr. 28 - young Atalo Balbo joined 8th Alpini Regiment.
May 12 - 10th Battle of the Isonzo began
with 2-day Italian barrage on 25-mile front. Allied artillery helped to stop Austrian counter-attacks May 17. By the end of
May, Italians won some gains around Carso, and Italian artillery moved to10 miles from Trieste.
May 23 - British
monitors at sea and 130 Allied airplanes attack Austrians near Adriatic Sea at Kostanjevica.
June 10 - Italian
6th Army offensive in Trentino failed.
June 30 - In the Trentino, the Ortigara tragedy demoralized Italian troops;
28,000 Italians and 9000 Austrians were killed in 12 days on Mt. Ortigara .
Aug. 18 - 11th Battle of the Isonzo
began on 30-mile front by Italian 2nd and 3rd Armies, but lost 166,000 by Sept. 12. Cadorna was warned of impending German-Austrian
attack and began to dig in with defenses, faced growing desertion rate up to 5500 per month
Oct. 24 - 12th Battle
of the Isonzo, or the Battle of Caporetto, began with Austrian gas bombardment and attack by 10 divisions along 20-mile front.
The German 12th Division took Caporetto. On Oct. 27, Cadorna ordered general retreat. French and British divisions began arriving
Oct. 30. Cadorna ordered final defense line behind the Piave River. On Nov. 9, Gen. Diaz replaced Cadorna.
Nov.
11 - 1st Battle of the Piave succeeded in stopping the Austrian-German offensive. By Nov. 20, British and French divisions
reinforce the line
1918 June 15 - 2nd Battle of the Piave began with Austrian attack, stopped by British and French.
The Italian 4th Army began counter-attack. On June 20, Boroevic ordered retreat of Austrian army back across river.
July 8 - Ernest Hemingway, an American Red Cross ambulance driver, was wounded at Fossalta di Piave.
Oct. 24
- 3rd Battle of the Piave, or Battle of Vittorio Veneto, began on anniversary of Caporetto, with barrage from 1400 guns and
attack by Italian 4th Army on 13-mile front.
Oct. 29 - Austria sought armistice, signed on Nov. 3
Nov.
3 - in the last hours before armistice took effect at 1500, the U.S. 332nd regiment took part in attack on Austrians at Tagliamento
River.
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Kitchener was a British military leader and statesman
who, as secretary of state for war in the first years of World War One, organised armies on an unprecedented scale. He was
also depicted on the most famous British army recruitment poster ever produced.
Horatio Kitchener was born on 24
June 1850 in County Kerry, Ireland. He was educated in Switzerland and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. In 1871, he
joined in the Royal Engineers. He took part in the unsuccessful operation to relieve General Charles Gordon at Khartoum in
1884-1885, and in 1886 was appointed governor general of eastern Sudan. Six years later served he became commander in chief
of the Egyptian army. In 1896, he began the reconquest of Sudan from the forces of al-Mahdi, culminating in the Battle of
Omdurman and the reoccupation of Khartoum in 1898. Kitchener was then made governor of Sudan, having become a national hero.
In 1900, Kitchener was appointed chief of staff to Lord Roberts, British commander in the Boer War. When Roberts returned
to England, Kitchener was left to deal with continuing Boer resistance. His ruthless measures - including the use of camps
to imprison civilians (the origin of the term 'concentration camp') - were much criticised.
On returning
to England in 1902, he was created Viscount Kitchener (he was made an earl in 1914) and was appointed commander in chief in
India. In 1911, he became the proconsul of Egypt, serving there and in the Sudan until 1914. When war broke out, Kitchener
reluctantly accepted the appointment of secretary of state for war. Unlike many in government and the military, he foresaw
a war lasting for years, and planned accordingly. He rapidly enlisted and trained huge numbers of volunteers for a succession
of entirely new 'Kitchener armies'.
But his cabinet colleagues did not share the public worship of Kitchener
and he was gradually relieved of his responsibilities. His support for the disastrous Dardanelles operation, combined with
the 'shell crisis' of 1915, eroded his reputation further. Sent on a mission to Russia in June 1916, he drowned on
5 June when his ship, HMS Hampshire was sunk by a German mine off the Orkneys.
Historically, artillery (from French artillerie)
refers to any engine used for the discharge of large projectiles in war. The term also describes soldiers with the primary
function of manning such weapons and is used organizationally for the arm of a nation's land forces that operates the
weapons. This term includes coastal artillery which traditionally defended coastal areas against seaborne attack and controlled
the passage of ships. With the advent of powered flight at the start of the 20th century, artillery also included ground-based
anti-aircraft batteries. In military terminology, a unit of artillery is commonly referred to as a battery.
The Battle of Verdun began on 21 February 1916 after
a nine-day delay due to snow and blizzards. After a massive eight-hour artillery bombardment, the Germans did not expect much
resistance as they slowly advanced on Verdun and its forts. However, heavy French resistance was countered by the introduction
of flamethrowers by the Germans. The French lost control of Fort Douaumont. Nonetheless, French reinforcements halted the
German advance by 28 February.
The Germans turned their focus to Le Mort Homme to the north from which the French
were successfully shelling them. After some of the most intense fighting of the campaign, the hill was taken by the Germans
in late May. After a change in French command at Verdun from the defensive-minded Philippe Pétain to the offensive-minded
Robert Nivelle the French attempted to re-capture Fort Douaumont on 22 May but were easily repulsed. The Germans captured
Fort Vaux on 7 June and, with the aid of the gas phosgene, came within 1,200 yards (1 km) of the last ridge over Verdun before
stopping on 23 June.
Over the summer, the French slowly advanced. With the development of the rolling barrage, the French
recaptured Fort Vaux in November, and by December 1916 they had pushed the Germans back 1.3 miles (2 km) from Fort Douaumont,
in the process rotating 42 divisions through the battle. The Battle of Verdun also known as the 'Mincing Machine of Verdun'
or 'Meuse Mill'became a symbol of French determination and sacrifice.
While World War I on
the Western Front developed into trench warfare, the battle lines on the Eastern Front were much more fluid and trenches never
truly developed. This was because the greater length of the front ensured that the density of soldiers in the line was lower
so the line was easier to break. Once broken, the sparse communication networks made it difficult for the defender to rush
reinforcements to the rupture in the line to mount a rapid counteroffensive and seal off a breakthrough. There was also the
fact that the terrain in the Eastern European theatre was quite solid, often making it near impossible to construct anything
resembling the complicated trench systems on the Western Front, which tended to have muddier and much more workable terrain.
In short, on the Eastern front the side defending did not have the overwhelming advantages it had on the Western front.
Because of this, front lines in the East kept on shifting throughout the conflict, and not
just near the beginning and end of the fighting, as was the case in the West. In fact the greatest advance of the whole war
was made in the East by the German Army in the summer of 1915.
The Battle of Albert began on September 25, 1914
as part of the Race to the Sea during World War I. It directly followed the First Battle of the Marne and the First Battle
of the Aisne as progress toward advancing the trench lines to the sea continued.
The French Tenth Army began to assemble
at Amiens from mid-September and on September 25 began to push eastwards. De Castelnau, under the command of Joffre, launched
a frontal attack on the German lines near Albert after attempts to stretch the line northward failed. De Castelnau was met
with immediate resistance and counterattack as the German Sixth Army had reached Bapaume on September 26 and advanced to Thiepval
on the 27th, in the midst of what was to become the Somme battlefield of 1916. The German aim was to drive westward to the
English Channel, seizing the industrial and agricultural regions of Northern France, cutting off the supply route of the British
Expeditionary Force (BEF) and isolating Belgium.
Neither side was able to make any decisive ground and the battle around
Albert ended around September 29 as the fighting moved northwards towards Arras and Lille and into West Flanders. This confrontation
and those to follow were deemed draws as the fighting settled into prolonged trench warfare.
The German army came within 43 miles (70 km) of
Paris, but at the First Battle of the Marne (September 6), French and British troops were able to force a German retreat by
exploiting a gap which appeared between the 1st and 2nd Armies, ending the German advance into France. The German army retreated
north of the Aisne River and dug in there, establishing the beginnings of a static western front that was to last for the
next three years. Following this German setback, the opposing forces tried to outflank each other in the Race for the Sea,
and quickly extended their trench systems from the English Channel to the Swiss frontier.
On the Entente side,
the final lines were occupied by the armies of the allied countries, with each nation defending a part of the front. From
the coast in the north, the primary forces were from Belgium, the British Empire and France. Following the Battle of the Yser
in October, the Belgian forces controlled a 35 km length of Flanders territory along the coast, with their front following
the Yser river and the Yperlee canal, from Nieuport to Boesinghe. Stationed to the south was the sector of the British Expeditionary
Force (BEF). Here, from 19 October until 22 November, the German forces made their final breakthrough attempt of 1914 during
the First Battle of Ypres. Heavy casualties were suffered on both sides but no breakthrough occurred.By Christmas, the BEF
guarded a continual line from the La Bassée Canal to south of St. Eloi in the Somme valley.The remainder of the front,
south to the border with Switzerland, was manned by French forces.
The Battle of the Somme,
fought in the summer and autumn of 1916, was one of the largest battles of the First World War. With more than one million
casualties, it was also one of the bloodiest battles in human history. The Allied forces attempted to break through the German
lines along a 25-mile (40 km) front north and south of the River Somme in northern France. One purpose of the battle was to
draw German forces away from the Battle of Verdun; however, by its end the losses on the Somme had exceeded those at Verdun.
Verdun would bite deep into the national consciousness of France for generations,
and the Somme would have the same effect on generations of Britons. The battle is best remembered for its first day, 1 July
1916, on which the British suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,240 dead the bloodiest day in the history of the British
Army. As terrible as the battle was for the British Empire troops who suffered there, it naturally affected the other nationalities
as well. One German officer (Captain von Hentig) famously described it as "the muddy grave of the German field army".
By the end of the battle, the British had learned many lessons in modern warfare, while the Germans had suffered irreplaceable
losses. British historian Sir James Edmonds stated: "It is not too much to claim that the foundations of the final victory
on the Western Front were laid by the Somme offensive of 1916."
For the first
time, the home front in the United Kingdom was exposed to the horrors of modern war with the release in August of the propaganda
film The Battle of the Somme, which used actual footage from the first days of the battle.
British offensives, American troops arrive
On
7 June a British offensive was launched on Messines ridge, south of Ypres, to retake the ground lost in the First and Second
Battles of Ypres in 1914. Since 1915 engineers had been digging tunnels under the ridge, and about 500 tons (roughly 500,000
kg) of explosives had been planted in 21 mines under the enemy lines. Following four days of heavy bombardment, the explosives
in 19 of these mines were set off resulting in the deaths of 10,000 Germans. The offensive that followed again relied on heavy
bombardment, but these failed to dislodge the Germans. The offensive, though initially stunningly successful, faltered due
to the flooded, muddy ground, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.
On 11 July 1917 during this battle, the Germans
introduced a new weapon into the war when they fired gas shells delivered by artillery. The limited size of an artillery shell
required that a more potent gas be deployed, and so the Germans employed mustard gas, a powerful blistering agent. The artillery
deployment allowed heavy concentrations of the gas to be used on selected targets. Mustard gas was also a persistent agent,
which could linger for up to several days at a site, an additional demoralizing factor for their opponents. Along with phosgene,
gas would be used lavishly by both German and Allied forces in later battles, as the Allies also began to increase production
of gas for chemical warfare.
On 25 June the first U.S. troops began to arrive in France, forming the American Expeditionary
Force. However, the American units did not enter the trenches in divisional strength until October. The incoming troops required
training and equipment before they could join in the effort, and for several months American units were relegated to support
efforts.In spite of this, however, their presence provided a much-needed boost to Allied morale.
Beginning in late July
and continuing into October the struggle around Ypres was renewed with the Battle of Passchendaele (technically the Third
Battle of Ypres, of which Passchendaele was the final phase). The battle had the original aim of pushing through the German
lines and threatening the submarine bases on the Belgian coast, but was later restricted to advancing the British Army onto
higher (and drier) ground around Ypres, no longer constantly under observation from German artillery. Canadian veterans from
the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the Battle of Hill 70 joined the depleted ANZAC and British forces and took the village of Passchendaele
on 30 October despite extremely heavy rain and casualties (suffering around 36,000[citation needed] casualties). Again the
offensive produced large numbers of casualties for relatively little gain, though the British made small but inexorable gains
during periods of drier weather. The ground was generally muddy and pocketed by shell craters, making supply missions and
further advancement very difficult.
Both sides lost a combined total of over a half million men during this offensive.
The battle has become a byword for bloody and futile slaughter among British historians, whilst the Germans called Passchendaele
"the greatest martyrdom of the War". It is one of the two battles (the other is the Battle of the Somme) which have
done most to earn British Commander in Chief Sir Douglas Haig his controversial reputation.
The fighting in World
War I ended when an armistice took effect at 11:00 hours on November 11, 1918. In the aftermath of World War I the political,
cultural, and social order of the world was drastically changed in many places, even outside the areas directly involved in
the war. New countries were formed, old ones were abolished, international organizations were established, and many new and
old ideas took a firm hold in people's minds.
Woodrow Wilson and the American peace commissioners
during the negotiations on the Treaty of Versailles.
Trench Warfare In Ww1
...machine guns, and tanks.
However, it was often fought as if it were a 19th century war. Commanders would march their troops across open land into the
face of machine guns and often slaughter and as a result of this action, the tactic known as trench warfare was developed.
At the time, many viewed trench warfare to be an effective tactic against enemy advancement and because of this view, trench
warfare proved to be an ineffective and traumatizing experience for soldiers. Trench warfare was so horrific,
soldiers had to endure this style of fighting under three significant conditions that made everyday life brutal; their daily
sight of death in forms of raids and disease, the poor supplies they had to rely on, and thirdly the poor defensive conditions
and vulnerability from the new weapons in use, like poison gasses, or shrapnel shells.
Death was a constant companion
to those serving in the line, even when no raid or attack was launched or defended against. Rotting carcasses
lay around in thousands the overwhelming smell reeked the trenches. Soldiers were under constant threat from enemy fire and
shellfire directed by the enemy brought random death. Many soldiers died by consequence of a precisely aimed sniper's
bullet. Soldiers always had to be awake and alert, they couldn't go to help their friends in no mans land. They had to
let them die. Private Ralph E. John states, "There were so many dead around us, that the smell was almost unbearable.
Some started digging graves for these men, and whenever they would stand up in sight, the Germans would open up on then in
full blast." If they were shot in the stomach they could scream and suffer for days, before they would finally die. The
soldiers in the front line trenches often stayed there for at least 10 days at a time, usually with very little sleep.
1st battle of Passchendaele
On those days, the battalion
was in the front line for the first Battle of Passchendaele. A very significant feature of the battle was the rain. Torrential
rain fell on a battlefield where all the field drainage system had been destroyed in the fighting.
In the two days up
to the 9th October an inch of rain had fallen, over half the normal rainfall for the month. The whole battlefield was a sea
of mud. October 1917 was the wettest October that century.
While Harry’s battalion was in the front line,
the main attack on the 12th October was carried out by the Australian and New Zealand troops. Their losses were enormous.
They had little success. The casualties experienced by the 9th battalion York & Lancaster Regiment must have been incidental
to the main attack, drawing significant casualties from the fighting resulting from it.
"Recovering the New Zealand
wounded from the battlefield took two and a half days days even with 3,000 extra men from the Fourth Brigade, artillery and
other units plus a battalion from the British 49th Division. The conditions were horrendous and six men were needed to carry
each stretcher because of the mud and water. The Germans suffered the same problems and an informal truce for stretcher-bearers
came into force, although anyone without a stretcher was fired on. By the evening of October 14 there simply was no one left
alive on the battlefield."
Field-Marshall Sir Douglas Haig’s account of the battle paints a sorry picture
of brave men engaged in a totally futile task.
“They advanced every time with absolute confidence in their power
to overcome the enemy, even though they had sometimes to struggle through mud up to their waists to reach him. So long as
they could reach him they did overcome him, but physical exhaustion placed narrow limits on the depth to which each advance
could be pushed, and compelled long pauses between the advances.”
Throughout the duration of the war Haig
never once visited the front line to see, first-hand, what his troops endured.
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