From the Somme to the Sambre: British Trench Warfare 1916 ...



From the Somme to the Sambre: British Trench Warfare 1916 – 1918 (Mr Rob Thompson)

The First World War was the first mass industrial conflict ever fought and Britain’s greatest military endeavour to date. Unlike the vast continental armies of France and Germany, Britain relied primarily on its navy and the British Expeditionary Force was intended only as a token contribution to aid France in 1914. But by the end of the war the BEF had expanded from a tiny force of 100,000 men to become a true military titan of over 6 million citizen-soldiers, changing the very nature of warfare itself.

From 1914 – 1916 Britain struggled to expand its armies and industries to match the colossal scale of fighting on the Western Front. On 1 July 1916 Britain undertook its first major battle – the Somme – sustaining 60,000 casualties on the first day alone. Despite this disastrous beginning, the grinding battles of attrition waged throughout 1917, and further heavy losses in the spring of 1918, the BEF eventually matched, superseded and then defeated the hitherto ‘unbeatable’ German Army.

Much ink has been spilt on the subject of British strategy and generalship during the war, the latter in particular attracting much venom and controversy. However, until recently little has been written on the ‘operational level’ of warfare on the Western Front, the point where strategic plans are turned into reality and the “meat meets the metal”. This is the area that the group will focus on in order to answer a central research question: how, despite all handicaps, did the BEF manage to defeat the German Army?

To explore this question students will research the following interrelated subject areas:

• “Hark the Gods of War”: Technology and weapons on the Western Front.

• Life in a Trench City: ‘Tommy’s’ experience of trench warfare

• “Everything bar the shouting”: Logistics and engineering in the trenches

• “The Gee in the Gap or Bite and Hold”?: Two approaches to operational warfare on the Western Front

• ‘Blobs & Diamonds’: BEF tactical development 1916 – 1918.

• ‘Organising Chaos’: BEF operational units and command on the Western Front.

The research will require the analysis of British, Australian and Canadian primary and secondary operational sources in both hard copy and electronic forms.

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