Lecture 4: The Western Front, 1915: The problems of trench warfare

1. Lecture 4: The Western Front, 1915: The problems of trench warfare

2. Lecture aims • To introduce the historians’ debate on the British Army’s performance on the Western Front. • To examine the reasons for British failure on the Western Front in 1915.

3. The topic’s importance • The Western Front was the most decisive front of the whole war. • The early failure to achieve breakthrough, and the later achievement ensured, respectively, that the war would continue, and that it would end. • Because of the loss of human life involved, the debate over why there was a failure to achieve breakthrough sooner remains extremely emotive.

4. Lecture themes • The British Army on the Western Front: the debate • The challenges of trench warfare the British Army encountered • Overview of the Western Front, 1915 • Case studies of the British Army in action, 1915

5. The British Army on the Western Front: the debate over the reasons for failure • Clark, Laffin: “donkeys” in charge • Travers: restrictions of pre-war tactical thinking in face of “firepower revolution” • Sheffield: practical difficulties fighting new kind of war • Backdrop of 1915: • Germans defending in west, Allies attacking • Affected nature of each side’s trenches

6. The functional problems of trench warfare (1): communications • Destroying enemy artillery meant pinpointing it • Communication problems hindered this as well as general attack • Specific problems: • Telephones cut by artillery fire • Unreliable methods: semaphore, runners and carrier pigeons • Size of battlefield a factor

7. The functional problems of trench warfare (2): the defender’s advantage, and production • Telephone lines below ground • Shorter and therefore stronger supply and communication lines • Effect of barbed wire and mud • Effective conversion of industrial plant took time: • “Shell shortages” • Too much shrapnel

8. Failure, 1915-style: the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, March 1915 • Haig: meticulous planning • 342-gun barrage enabled British breakthrough • Communication problems delayed news of success to Haig, and Haig’s follow-up orders to front • Germans had time to plug gap and halt further advance

9. The generals’ flawed thinking in 1915 • French (BEF commander, 8.14-12.15): • decent man out of his depth • Used shell shortage as excuse not to think of other solutions • Not of “sound temperament” • Haig (BEF commander, 12.15-11.18): • Much “steady nerve”, less imagination • Drew wrong lessons from 1915 battles • Misplaced faith in a bigger barrage

10. The “morality” of the generals • 1915 mistakes partly understandable. • Less outright callousness than Edwardian “stiff upper lip” • Genuinely thought breakthrough possible – NOT intentionally fighting war of attrition

11. Conclusion • Huge losses down less to stupidity of individual generals than to strategic situation and functional problems • Neuve Chapelle and Loos the best examples • Generals’ readiness to sacrifice troops calculating and flawed, but not necessarily callous