key battles

• • many battles took place at Ypres
  • fighting took place here because it was on rout to channel ports of Calais and Dunkirk
  • British needed to defend to make sure troops still recieved supplies and reinforcement
• Ypres:

  • 1 - prevented Germans from taking control of English channel used for supplies and reinforcements
  • 2 - after Hill 60, first use of chlorine gas
  • 3 - British to break out of Ypres, weather made ground waterlogged and muddy
• • Hill 60 was fought over during the battle of Ypres
  • it was a manmade hill
  • the hill was captured by Germans, so gave advantage to Germans of seeing the enemy
  • the British mined Hill 60, and tunnelled under the hill
  • explosives were used which ruined the land
• Somme:

  • launched by British in July 1916
  • death of 20,000 British and 57,000 injured - led to medics needing to work under pressure
  • tanks destroyed ground - difficult for wounded to be transported for treatment
  • first use of tanks - many problems
• Arras:

  • took place in 1917
  • 24,000 British attacked German trenches from tunnels
  • before battle, British soldiers dug tunnels in chalky ground
  • fitted tunnels with lights, water and electricity and used as accomodation
  • underground hospital fitted with operating theatres
  • sheltered men from German attacks
• Cambrai:

  • took place in 1917
  • tanks used on larger scale than during Battle of Somme
  • 450 tanks used
  • tanks ruined ground
  • tanks did not have enough infantry support
  • British lost all ground they took
• problems:

  • dropping of bombs left holes that made transported injured difficult
  • bacteria in soil led to infected wounds - land was once fertilised farmland
  • stretcher bearers worked day and night so had to move during fighting
  • ambulances difficult to move in mud - soldiers left injured for days
  • high casualty rates slowed down medical treatment
  • more medical treatment available away from frontline