5.2 The context of the British sector of the Western Front

• Britain declared war on Germany on August 4 1914. Germany invaded France through Belgium. The British government sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to northern France to try to stop the German advance through Belgium.

  The BEF was made up of 70,000 professional soldiers, fighting alongside a larger French army.
• Near Mons, close to the French-Belgian border, the BEF faced a German army that was more than double their size- 160,000 soldiers. Although they stopped the German advance briefly, they were ordered to retreat to the River Marne in order to prevent Paris falling to the Germans. After the Battle of the Marne, the German forces pulled back to the River Aisne and it was here that trench warfare began.
• The trench system:

  By the end of 1914, much of Belgium and northern France had been occupied by the Germans, although they had been stopped from advancing into the heart of France. This meant that battles could not follow along the same lines as previous wars, it became a static war based on trenches, which needed to be defended from the enemy, with attempts made to advance from the trenches to seize land from the enemy army. A line of trenches was eventually established all the way from the English Channel in the north, to Switzerland in the south.
• Construction and organisation:

  Although some basic trenches were dug in 1914, a more complex system began to evolve from 1915. The trenches were generally dug to a depth of about 2.5m. 

  Trenches were easier to defend than attack. Machine guns could fire rapidly, and barbed wire was placed in no-man’s-land (the area between two opposing lines of trenches) to slow down the progress of any attack.

  New tactics were developed to try to deal with the advantages held by the defenders. Such tactics included the use of gas.
• The main elements in the trench system are:

  ·      The frontline trench: this was where attacks would be made from

  ·      The support trench: this was about 80 metres behind the frontline trench and the troops would retreat here if the frontline trench came under attack.

  ·      The reserve trench: this was at least 100 metres behind the support trench and was where reserve troops could be mobilised for a counter-attack if the frontline trench was captured by the enemy.

  ·      The communications trench: this trench ran between the other trenches.
• ·      At the very rear were artillery emplacements.

  ·      Trenches were dug in a zig-zag pattern.

  ·      Holes were dug into the side of the trenches where men could take protective cover when needed. These were known as dugouts.
• Salient*: An area of a battlefield that extends into enemy territory, so that it is surrounded on three sides by the enemy and is therefore in a vulnerable position.
• 1914: the First Battle of Ypres

  During the first months of the war, the BEF had moved to the town of Ypres in western Belgium, in order to prevent the German advance towards the sea. In the autumn of 1914, the Germans launched an attack on the British positions to the east and north-east of Ypres. Although the British lost over 50,000 troops in this battle, which went on from 12 October to 11 November, they held on to Ypres. This meant they controlled the English Channel ports, so that supplies and reinforcements could be provided.
• The use of mines at Hill 60:

  Hill 60 was a man-made hill to the south-east of Ypres. The Germans had captured it in December 1914 and its height gave them a strategic advantage in this area. The British used the method of offensive mining to take it back in April 1915. This involved tunnelling into and under the hill. Five mines were placed in the tunnels. When they exploded they blew the top off Hill 60 and the British were able to take this strategically important position.
• 1915: the Second Battle of Ypres: first use of chlorine by Germans

  As soon as the battle for Hill 60 was finished, the Second battle of Ypres began. This took place as a sequence of battles over a period of about one month, from 22 April through to 25 May 1915.

  It is significant in the history of the First World War as it was the first time that the Germans used chlorine gas on the Western Front.

  British losses during this month totalled about 59,000 men. By the end of the battle, the Germans had moved about two miles closer to the town of Ypres on the eastern side of the salient. 
• 1916: the Battle of the Somme

  The British attack on the Somme aimed to take ground from the Germans and was launched on 1 July 1916. The casualties on both sides were enormous: on the first day alone, British casualties were over 57,000, with deaths totalling around 20,000 men.
• The British tried two new strategies, which would both eventually contribute to increased casualty rates:

  ·      The use of the creeping barrage, which saw artillery launched from the trenches towards the German lines just ahead of the British infantry as it advanced forwards.

  ·      The first use of tanks in warfare

  • however, the use of tanks had many technical problems and they were not very successful.

  By the time the Battle of the Somme ended in November 1916, it is estimated that the British had suffered over 400,000 casualties. 
• Tunnels, caves and quarries at Arras

  The area around Arras is very chalky, and so it is easy to tunnel through. In 1916, the British decided to link the existing tunnels, caves and quarries to create an underground network around Arras to act as shelters against German attacks. The work was carried out by Tunnelling Companies from Britain and New Zealand. In total, they dug more than 2.5 miles of tunnels in five months. Up to 25,000 men could be stationed in the tunnels, which contained electric lights, running water, a light railway system and a fully functioning hospital.
• 1917: the Battle of Arras

  In April 1917, 24,000 men who had been hiding in tunnels dug near the German trenches attacked. The aim of the offensive was to break through the German lines. In the first few days, it appeared that this aim was achieved, as the British advanced about eight miles. However, as the advance slowed, virtually no further progress was made and by the end of the offensive in May, there was a large number of casualties (nearly 160,000 British and Canadians).
• 1917: the Third Battle of Ypres

  The purpose of the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 was for the British army to break out of the Ypres Salient. The British wanted to remove the German advantage of having the higher ground.

  The British launched their main attack on 31 July, marching east from Ypres towards Passchendaele. The army advanced about two miles on the first day. Soon though, the weather turned to rain and the ground became waterlogged- so much so that many men fell in the mud and drowned.
• 1917: The Third Battle of Ypres

  This campaign lasted until November. By then, the British had moved the edge of the salient back by about seven miles. The cost of this advance was an estimated 245,000 British casualties. 
• 1917: the Battle of Cambrai

  The Battle of Cambrai was launched on 20 October 1917. The artillery barrage was changed so that less warning of the coming attack was given to the Germans. It was accompanied by the first large-scale use of tanks- nearly five hundred were used in this battle. They were able to move easily across the barbed wire and their machine guns were very effective.
• Problems of transport and communications:

  The constant shelling, and the type of terrain that soldiers were fighting on (similar to the conditions in the Third Battle of Ypres), left the landscape full of craters and holes and destroyed many roads. This led to major problems in transporting injured men away from the frontline. Before the war, this region had been used as farmland, and the use of fertiliser was extensive. This meant there was a lot of bacteria in the soil that could lead to infected wounds. 
• Men who were injured on the Western Front needed to be moved away from the frontline in stages, as soon as their condition was stable enough. Stretched bearers, like Edward Munro, would carry away the large numbers of wounded from the frontline, both during the day and at night. This meant they often had to expose themselves to shelling and gunfire. Further away from the frontline, it was possible to carry out more advanced medical procedures, and also to provide some protection against shelling. The faster an injury could be treated, the more likely a person was to survive.
• Horse-drawn and motor ambulances:

  When the BEF was first sent to France in August 1914, the military leadership decided not to send any motor ambulances with them. It was soon realised that this was a mistake, as the horse-drawn ambulance wagons could not cope with the large number of casualties.

  Men who were transported in these wagons were shaken about, which often made their injuries even worse. This lack of transport actually led to soldiers being left to die or being taken prisoner by the Germans.
• When news of this reached Britain, The Times newspaper ran a public appeal for donations. By October 1914, after only three weeks, the appeal had raised enough money to buy 512 ambulance wagons, which would make transporting wounded soldiers much easier, and would prevent injuries being made worse from the move.
• The first motor ambulances were sent to the Western Front in October 1914, as a result of work by the Red Cross. However, motor vehicles could not operate in much of the muddy terrain of the frontline, so horse-drawn wagons continued to be used throughout the war. In worse terrain, six horses, rather than the usual two, pulled the ambulance wagons.
• Train, barge and ship ambulances

  Wounded men might also be transported by train or by canal in the final stage of their evacuation to the Base Hospitals on the French coast. In the first few months of the war on the Western Front, the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), which was responsible for medical care in the army, had to use French goods trains. The first ambulance train designed for carrying wounded soldiers arrived in France in November 1914. It had spaces for stretchers fitted down both sides of the carriage.
• Later, some trains sent to France even contained operating theatres. There were concerns that the numbers of wounded being moved on the railways damaged the war effort because they contributed to too many trains moving around on the rail network of northern France and Belgium. This led to the decision to also make use of canal barges as transport for the wounded to Base Hospitals. Although the journey was slow, it was comfortable, and some of the wounded bypassed the Base Hospitals to be transferred directly onto the ships that were transporting wounded men back to Britain.
• When did Britain declare war on Germany?

  August 4, 1914
• What was the purpose of sending the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to France?

  To stop the German advance through Belgium
• How many soldiers were in the BEF?

  70,000 professional soldiers
• What was the size of the German army near Mons?

  160,000 soldiers
• What was the outcome of the BEF's encounter with the German army near Mons?

  They stopped the German advance briefly
• Why did the BEF retreat to the River Marne?

  To prevent Paris from falling to the Germans
• Where did the German forces pull back to after the Battle of the Marne?

  The River Aisne
• What type of warfare began after the German forces retreated to the River Aisne?

  Trench warfare
• What characterized the trench system established by the end of 1914?

  • Static war based on trenches
  • Defended from enemy attacks
  • Attempts to seize land from enemy
  • Trenches extended from English Channel to Switzerland
• What was the depth of the trenches generally dug in 1915?

  About 2.5 meters
• What are the main elements of the trench system?

  • Frontline trench: where attacks were made
  • Support trench: 80 meters behind frontline
  • Reserve trench: at least 100 meters behind support
  • Communications trench: connects other trenches
  • Artillery emplacements: at the rear
  • Zig-zag pattern for trenches
  • Dugouts: protective cover in trenches
• Why were trenches easier to defend than to attack?

  Machine guns could fire rapidly
• What was placed in no-man’s-land to slow down attacks?

  Barbed wire
• What new tactics were developed to counter the advantages of defenders?

  Use of gas
• What is a salient in military terms?

  An area surrounded on three sides by the enemy
• Where did the BEF move to during the first months of the war?

  The town of Ypres