Trench Warfare on the Western Front (1914-18) Flashcards
(90 cards)
1
Q
When did Britain declare war on Germany?
A
- 4th August 1914
2
Q
What role was Kitchener given? When? How effective was he in his role?
A
- Secretary of State for War
- 5th August 1914
- He wasn’t an effective administrator or cabinet minister
3
Q
What were 2 advantages of Kitchener’s leadership?
A
- He became a symbol of national unity
- He was the only one that predicted that the war would last 3 or 4 years
4
Q
What did Kitchener’s predictions about the length of the war lead him to do? How successful was he?
A
- Start a large recruitment drive
- 761,000 recruits signed up in August and September 1914
- The average number of volunteers per month until June 1915 was 125,000
5
Q
What were 3 reasons why men signed up?
A
- Pals battalions
- Social pressure (from employers, women and peers)
- Lure of travel and excitement, particularly when compared to the monotonous jobs many held
6
Q
What were pals battalions? How popular were they?
A
- The idea that men who signed up together in the same area would serve together
- By 1st October, 50 pals regiments had either already been formed, or were in the process of being formed
7
Q
Other than a shortage of troops, what other issues did the army face with its personnel?
A
- Shortage of officers
- The high command was inexperienced
8
Q
Why was there a shortages of officers, and by how much? What was wrong with this estimate?
A
- For the infantry battalions raised in 1914-15 alone, Kitchener needed 30,000 more officers
- (That was without taking officer deaths into account, or even other branches of the army)
9
Q
What were 3 ways that the shortage of officers was dealt with?
A
- Courses as Sandhurst and Woolwich were shortened
- Retired officers were brought back into service
- Temporary commissions were given to suitable men, such as from the OTC
10
Q
Who was the BEF lead by at the start of the war?
A
- Sir John French
- The First Army Corps was lead by Sir Douglas Haig
11
Q
What 2 issues were there with the British high command?
A
- Most of the commanders had little practice at their level of command
- Senior commanders had not been prepared well for modern war
12
Q
Give one example of how the British Army had failed to adapt to modern methods of warfare.
A
- Firepower was shown to be hugely important during the Russo-Japanese War
- However, since the Japanese beat the Russians with costly bayonet charges, the Staff College thought that this was what had led the Japanese to victory
- Therefore their only strategy going into WW1 was to always go on the offensive
13
Q
What 3 munition problems did the British army have in 1914?
A
- Each battalion had only 2 machine guns
- The stock of munitions was insufficient
- Only 6000 rifles and 30,000 rounds of shells were being produced monthly
14
Q
What 2 factors exacerbated the munition problems?
A
- The War Office mostly gave orders either to government ordnance factories or long-established contractors
- The large recruitment drive had also included too many skilled engineers
15
Q
What was the German plan of attack for France, its name, and when was it made? What advantage would it give Germany?
A
- The Schlieffen Plan
- 1905
- Part of the German army would tie down the French in Alsace-Lorraine
- Most of the army would attack in the west, through Belgium
- This would allow them to encircle Paris
- The Germans would theoretically be able to avoid strong French defences in the east, such as the fortress at Verdun
16
Q
What did the Schlieffen plan rely on?
A
- Movement; roads and railways
17
Q
What ended the movement that the Germans had been relying on?
A
- Their plan relied on the 1st Army Corps marching at least 15 miles a day for three weeks
- This caused the troops to move too far ahead of their supplies, which included food
- This forced them to slow down
18
Q
How big was the BEF when it was initially deployed, and where was it deployed to?
A
- 120,000
- Mons, a Belgian town
19
Q
When was the Battle of Mons?
A
- 23rd August 1914
20
Q
What happened at Mons? Give 3 details.
A
- The German 1st Army attacked the 2nd Army Corps
- British troops had planned to go on the offensive, but quickly switched to defending
- They stopped the German advance, but needed to retreat
21
Q
What did the retreat from Mons lead to?
A
- It led to British troops ‘digging in’ to a defensive position
22
Q
When was the First Battle of the Marne?
A
- 6th September 1914
23
Q
What caused the First Battle of the Marne?
A
- The Germans stopped approaching Paris from the west, and instead moved east
- The French commander, General Joffre, decided to launch a flank counterattack
24
Q
What did the German retreat from the First Battle of the Marne lead to?
A
- They dug in
- They realised the utility of trenches, barbed wire and machine guns in stopping attackers
25
What happened after the Battle of the Marne? Which battle did this lead to?
- Both sides tried to outflank each other, leading to a 'race' to the sea
- The First Battle of Ypres
26
What happened in the First Battle of Ypres?
- The Germans tried pushing the British out of Ypres, a Belgian town
- The Allies managed to keep Ypres, but at the cost of more than 100,000 British and French casualties
27
What had happened by the winter of 1914?
- Both sides dug in defensively, creating trenches from the Channel coast to the French border with Switzerland
28
How were trenches developed as stalemate was established on the Western Front?
- They were made deeper
- Infrastructure was added, such as artillery posts and telegraph and telephone lines
29
How were trench systems laid out?
- Fire trenches (where soldiers shot the enemy from) were the furthest ahead
- Parallel to them ran firstly the support trench, then the reserve trench
- Perpendicular to these were communication trenches
- Between the 2 sides' trenches was open ground known as No Man's Land, and on each side in front of the trenches there were miles of barbed wire
30
How were trenches designed, and why?
- They were not straight, as by staggering them, this ensured any explosives or rifle fire would be contained in that part of the trench
31
Give 5 details of the conditions soldiers faced on the Western Front.
- Sanitation was extremely basic
- Rats fed on corpses and army rations
- Lice
- Trench foot
- Shell-shock was not treated sympathetically
32
How did soldiers fight?
- Rifles were used to fire from trenches
- For hand-to-hand combat, bayonets and grenades were used
33
What tactic was used by British troops? Explain how it worked. Who was a supporter of it?
- 'Wave and flow'
- A company (roughly 500 men) would advance, each man 2 or 3 yards from the next
- This first wave would hold the Germans in the front trench, until the next wave arrived
- The second wave would push through and capture the next trench
- This would continue
- Haig
34
What were 2 advantages of using the 'wave and flow' strategy?
- The advance would be steady, which was needed due to the barbed wire on the ground, and all the equipment troops carried
- Fronts could be miles-wide
35
What other tactic did some generals, such as Rawlinson, support? How did this differ from 'wave and flow'?
- 'Bite and hold', which was used with the aim of making small gains
- It was less ambitious
36
How useful were machine guns when compared to rifles? Give 4 details.
- Machine guns had greater killing power
- Rifles required a high degree of skill, while machine guns just needed to be moved in an arc
- Tests before WW1 showed that 1 machine gun was worth 50 or more rifles against infantry approaching across open ground
- Machine guns could be placed in dugouts or pillboxes, which were hard to destroy
37
What did the immense killing power of machine guns change about warfare?
- Cavalry became useless
- Attacks by infantry across open ground became extremely costly
38
What machine gun were the British using at the start of the war? Give 2 details about it.
- The Vickers machine gun
- It needed a minimum of 3 men to operate it
- Fired 500 rounds per minute
39
What new machine gun was introduced in 1915, and in what ways did it differ from the Vickers machine gun?
- Lewis machine gun
- Could be operated by one man
- This meant that it could be used during attacks as well
40
What evidence is there that the army recognised the value of machine guns?
- In 1914 the ratio of rifles to machine guns in infantry units was 12:1
- By 1917 it was 2:1
41
How effective was artillery?
- It caused 70% of casualties
42
What 2 methods were used to improve the accuracy of artillery?
- Flash-spotting: judging distance from the flash of an exploding shell
- Aeroplanes could note where shells landed and give back information
43
What did improved artillery accuracy allow the army to do?
- Create a 'creeping barrage'; artillery would aim in front of advancing infantry
- This would destroy opposition, and sections of barbed wire and trenches
44
Which battle can be used to evaluate the utility of the creeping barrage?
- The Battle of the Somme
- (See cards 76-77)
45
Who first used gas on the Western front, and when? Which type of gas was this?
- Germans
- The Second Battle of Ypres, April 1915
- Chlorine gas
46
When did the British first use gas?
- Battle of Loos, September 1915
47
How did the use of gas develop? Who was driving this?
- Phosgene gas was first used by the Germans in December 1915
- It was six times more toxic than chlorine
- In July 1917, the Germans were the first to use mustard gas
48
How did defence against gas attacks improve?
- Gas masks went from being made of fabric to respirator masks that had goggles and a canister filter
49
Were gas attacks effective? Give a figure.
- It caused relatively few deaths
- For example, only 8000 British Empire troops were killed by gas
50
What happened at the Battle of Loos?
- British units that managed to break through couldn't advance further as French mishandled sending the reserves
51
What happened to French after the Battle of Loos?
- Haig and French accused each other of mishandling the reserves
- French resigned
- Haig replaced French in December 1915
52
What other factor contributed to French's resignation?
- Haig had a good relationship with the King George V, and used this to his advantage
53
What did French blame one of his earlier failures (at Aubers Ridge) on? To what degree was this fair?
- A shell shortage
- Kitchener refused to extend the list of authorised firms
54
When was conscription introduced? Who did it apply to?
- January 1916
- Unmarried men between 18 and 41
55
What were 3 reasons why conscription was introduced?
- The number of recruits was dropping
- The French army was increasingly unable to match the Germans when it came to the number of new recruits
- Stalemate in the east followed by the Russian surrender freed more German troops to fight on the Western Front
56
Was the introduction of conscription effective? Give a figure.
- It wasn't effective, as it produced 40,000 men monthly, which was less than how many were produced under the volunteer system
57
Give 2 reasons why conscription was ineffective.
- 1.5 million were already being kept behind by the Ministry of Munitions
- There were over 700,000 claims for exemption, most of which were valid
58
What was fuse 106, and what were 2 advantages of using it instead of traditional shells?
- Fuse 106 exploded sideways instead of exploding when buried in the mud
- This made it more effective at destroying barbed wire
- It also created a smokescreen
59
When was fuse 106 widely available? Which battle was it used in effectively?
- 1917
- Battle of Arras
60
When did the British first properly use tanks?
- Battle of Cambrai
- November 1917
61
How successful was the use of tanks at Cambrai? Give 2 details.
- They advanced 5 miles and only lost 5000 men
- 380 tanks had been used
- German counterattacks managed to regain lost ground in 2 weeks
62
When were tanks first used? What issue was there with this, and why? Whose idea was it to use them at this stage?
- 1916
- Only 3 managed to travel 3 miles out of the 49 used
- Tanks lost their element of surprise
- Haig
63
Where could tanks be seen to be their most effective? Why?
- Battle of Amiens
- August 1918
- They advanced 9 miles in one day, which made the elusive 'breakthrough'
64
How did the development of new weapons and techniques using them change the nature of fighting on the Western Front?
- They led to movement again
65
List 4 ways that Lloyd-George had an impact on the Western Front.
- He was appointed minister of munitions in 1915
- He threatened to withdraw from Asquith's coalition if conscription wasn't introduced at the end of 1915
- As prime minister, he made a war cabinet in December 1916, with members chosen for their ability
- He made producing aeroplanes the top priority in 1917, as requested by Haig
66
What 4 things did Lloyd-George do as minister of munitions? Give figures to show his impact.
- The number of new munitions factories multiplied
- More women and unskilled men were employed
- Between 1914 and 1916, machine gun production went up from under 300 to over 33,000
- He encouraged the production of the new light mortar, even though the War Office had rejected it
- He supported the production of tanks, despite Kitchener being against it
67
What sort of background did Haig have, and how did this impact his strategy?
- He was a former cavalryman
- He was a believer in attack, and therefore had a strategy of 'continuous offensive'
68
What were 2 personality traits of Haig's that affected his strategy?
- He was unimaginative
- He was insensitive, as he continued his attacks despite the high number of casualties
69
How experienced was Haig when it came to trench warfare? What did this mean for the British?
- Not very
- This wasn't a big issue as everyone was new to trench warfare
70
What led to the Battle of the Somme?
- At the beginning of 1916, the Germans attacked Verdun, a symbolic French fortress
- They thought that the French would protect Verdun at all costs, and wanted to fight a war of attrition focused there to break French morale
- This was working
- The British and French therefore decided to have a joint offensive on the River Somme to relieve pressure from Verdun
71
How many French casualties were there at Verdun?
- 300,000
72
When was the Battle of the Somme?
- June 1916
73
Going into the Battle of the Somme, what issues were there with troops and commanders?
- Only 2 of Haig's corps commanders had commanded a division, let alone a corps
- Troops were not as well-trained as Haig would have liked, as they were mainly volunteers
74
How many casualties did Haig expect, and how did this compare to reality? How many troops did the British Empire lose overall in the Battle of the Somme? How did this compare to the Germans?
- 40,000 in the first 3 days
- There were 58,000 casualties on the first day alone
- This was the worst day for the British Army in history
- 400,000
- German losses were even higher
75
What 3 things did Britain achieve at the Battle of the Somme?
- 7 miles
- It had some attritional effect, as the Germans had less men, so could afford their losses less
- It may have helped relieve pressure from Verdun
76
What caused British attacks to fail at the Somme? What was particularly problematic about this?
- German troops survived the unsuccessful artillery barrage, even though it had lasted for a week
77
What were 6 reasons why the artillery barrage at the Somme was unsuccessful?
- There was a lack of heavy guns
- They had the wrong shells to cut through barbed wire
- The Germans were too well entrenched and the British did not know this, so they left deep dugouts untouched
- Shells detonated in no-man's-land, making it harder to cross
- A third of the shells (hastily produced by the Ministry of Munitions) did not detonate
- The barrage stopped too early because gunners were afraid of shooting their own troops, and this alerted the Germans of when British troops were coming, so they were ready
78
What was a social impact of the Battle of the Somme?
- The use of Pals battalions was ended, as it could have a devastating effect on local areas
- For example, over 80% of the Accrington Pals were either killed or wounded during the Battle of the Somme
79
What did Haig believe should happen between offensives, and why?
- He thought trench warfare made soldiers passive and inactive between offensives
- He ordered them to frequently carry out small raids on the German lines in order to maintain an 'active front'
80
Which offensive did Haig launch in 1917?
- The Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele
81
How did the Battle of Passchendaele start? What issue did this lead to?
- With a two-week-long artillery barrage
- 4 times as many shells as were fired before the Somme were used
- This destroyed Flanders' drainage system, and, when it rained, this turned the soil into deep mud
82
How successful was the Battle of Passchendaele? Why?
- They only gained 9km
- The new German strategy of defence in depth made it very hard to make any gains
83
How did defence in depth work? Give 3 details.
- Most of the infantry stayed back, moving them out of the range of artillery
- Front line of machine guns
- There would be more and more strong points as the enemy advanced further into German lines
84
How successful was Haig at the Battle of Passchendaele? Give 3 examples.
- He caused confusion as while he hoped for a breakthrough, generals were using the 'bite and hold' strategy instead
- There were a quarter million casualties, but it was the same for the Germans (which meant the Germans were, once again, worse off)
- There were 35,000 casualties in the first 3 days, which was much better than the Somme
85
What led to the end of WW1?
- Ludendorff launched a final offensive against the French in July 1918 that failed
- After that, the French and British went on the offensive in what is known as the Hundred Days' Offensive
86
What was Haig's most successful battle? How did the Germans label it?
- Battle of Amiens
- Ludendorff called it the 'black day of the German Army'
87
Give 5 examples of Haig's success at the Battle of Amiens.
- Gained 13km- German troops withdrew all the way to the Hindenburg Line (German defensive system from 1916 onwards)
- This was at the cost of only 8000 casualties
- Learning from his past mistakes, Haig stopped the advance after a couple days and resumed it where the Germans had depleted their troops to stop the first advance
- He used 500 tanks, and they managed to surprise the Germans as he used aircraft to block out their noise
- He had superior intelligence thanks to the RFC
88
During the Hundred Days' Offensive, in what 3 ways did the Germans still have a strong position?
- The Hindenburg Line was never broken for more than a few hours
- There was a daily loss of over 3000 men for the British (more than the average at the Somme)
- Germany still controlled most of Belgium and large parts of France
89
What 2 factors forced Germany to surrender?
- The Allies had beaten their other allies: Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria
- Political issues in Germany
90
How successful was Haig overall? Give 5 examples.
- He led the army through some of its bloodiest days (e.g. the Battle of the Somme)
- He was responsive to new ideas such as tanks
- He did make mistakes, but by 1918 it was clear that he had learnt from them
- The Hundred Days' Battle has been referred to as the greatest British military victory
- Haig has been given credit for winning the war
