1205 The Great War The Yanks came but only after Paschendale and all those blank blocks of stone

There was an inevitability about the Great War of 1914 to 1918 or so it seems in hindsight, although it was precipitated by an assassination and what followed was a combination of long standing ambitions and fears, treaties entered into in different times and circumstances, and as with all conflicts, the agendas of participants changed. In the beginning millions of men went off to war because they believed they would be victorious and would benefit and because they believed their cause was just and that God was on their side.

During 1915, 1916 and until the summer of 1917 the Western front of 400 miles moved back and forth within a narrow area, consuming a generation of men in their million and those who survived that summer could see no change except for their death or serious injury. The Eastern front changed over a greater distance and consumed men in their millions until the Russian will collapsed and with the October revolution an armistice of defeat had to be agreed. This changed everything because for the first time Germany would have a superiority of numbers on the Western front and over the Winter of 1918 began the build up forces and munitions for a win or lose plan to break through the British lines and drive them back into the channel, and then push the French army until Paris could be taken, and all before the American Army became activity involved.

The allies were aware of the plan and short of manpower feared defeat. The French were only able to replace one third of their ongoing losses while the British army needed replacement in their tens of thousands. The Americans were still getting ready and so it became a matter of time, in which the allies had to hold the line and the Germans had to advance, and at first it looked as if the German plan would succeed. The British line was breached and the retreat of men and of refugees commenced back to positions of 1914 and 1915. Then the decision was taken by the French and the British to hold position to the last available shell, the last bullet and the last man.

The halting of the German Spring offensive had been costly for the allies with 240000 British casualties and 100000 French, but it had also cost the Germans more, some 350000 casualties and it had also cost them 40 days during which the American build up progressed to the point of readiness.

Since the declaration of war by the Americans it had been over a year before they were ready to participate in active combat and given how long it had taken the British to get ready in 1914, the only grounds for questioning the American delay was that if they did not come soon there would be no war to fight, as allies would have lost. The concern of the allies was that unlike the British who had to create an organised industrial war machine, American industry had several years of gearing up to supply the allies with their weapons. There were two factors which governed the American approach. The first was that this was a war to be fought a long way from home and the public would not tolerate massive loss of life if its men were not properly trained, equipped and supported. The Commander in Chief, Pershing, was also determined that this would be an American army fighting under an American Flag, and he did not want to simply become a recruiting sergeant for Americans to fill the increasing gaps in the British and French armies and lines.

The beginning of the end came when the German command decided to make a temporary switch from the drive on British lines to those of the French in the champagne country, and such was their initial surprise and success that the capture of Paris became such a possibility that the effort was concentrated here and the original plan to first push the British armies into the Channel was deferred. It was around this period that Pershing yielded to pressure from the allies and agreed for men to be sent to France and to rely on artillery and material of the allies although this had its own problems when guns were provided on which they had not been trained. However the impact of the first American Division entering active combat, and then the second, third and fourth cannot, and should never be underestimated. The allied armies, the British) which covered the UK, the Australians, the Canadians, the New Zealanders and others, the French and the Italian, were stretched to breaking. The replacements were either battle weary men returning from injury whose expectation was death without glory, and young men just out of school or apprenticeships who had been badly nourished over three years, and the longer they could be prepared with better diets, organised exercise and fresh air, the more they could become an offensive force instead of cannon fodder. The Americans had been well nourished, they were fit, they were well trained and they were ready without the experiences of defeats and the months of battles in which they saw those all around them killed or injured.

The impact on the morale of the allies and the civilian population was also a significant factor in leading to the belief that instead of just holding the German offensives, it was possible to make small scale counter attacks. One of these was planned for July 4th using American troops alongside an Australian force with a record of success. At the last moment the American troops were nearly withdrawn but pressure from the Australian commander led the decision to being reversed and with the space of an hour and half the goals of offensive was achieved with a small number of casualties 750 Australians and 130 Americans and some 1500 German prisoners taken. This was first allied offensive success for a year. There was then two battles which effectively brought the end. The first was the battle of the Marne in August 1918 which led to the retreat of the German army which not only meant that Paris was saved but meant that the failure of the German decision to deal fatal blows before the American involvement strengthened.

The second development was a secret British plan the launch an offensive at Amiens. The build up was possible because the industrial machine had been able to replace the 1000 guns lost during the German spring offensive before it ended and in fact to improve upon the position. During the next two months the strength of the men improved with the number of British divisions increased from 45 to 52. But what made the offensive such a success was its secrecy with 2000 guns, over 500 tanks and a Calvary of 15000 brought to position and 1000000 French army brought up to the support British Australian and Canadian forces. The Germans were caught unprepared and the on the first day all the objectives were achieved and such was the success that the press had to admit that the pubic were as surprised as the enemy.

The German Command realised that it was moving into a position that it had to think of peace, just as the Austrians, the Bulgarians and the Turks wanted peace, but their view was of peace with honour whereas the allied leaders, in the US, in France and in London were in no such mood, but wanted and needed outright victory. Haig's third army of New Zealanders attacked and took prisoners, two further battles achieved more prisoners and throughout the rest of August the headlines were all of advances and victories. Now the issue was could the German's hold their Hindenburg Line. As the advance progressed during September ti was realised that only an offensive involving the whole line would achieve this objective.

On September 26th the major advance commenced. On the following day British Armies made a 12 mile breach of the Hindenburg line. On the 28thAmerican and Belgium army at Ypres crossed Passendale in one day which previously had taken three month. The momentum was such that the German Command understood that the end had to come as soon as possible, but how?

I can understand the growing euphoria among the allied commanders and the public across the British Empire, in Italy and above all in France and Belgium. To day as the anniversary of that end approaches once more, I begin think of the relationship between this time and the Great War of my childhood. Recently a memorial has been created in England for the 16000 British service men and women killed in action since the end of World War 2. For every family, their parents, their wives or husbands. Lovers and sweethearts, their children and friends each of those lives is not just a blood sacrifice to be remembered and honoured but a personal loss to be mourned, and yet one has to put the total into the perspective of three times this number being lost in one day of the great war by British forces alone. These days whenever the Prime Minister begins his Question time the names of each individual killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, or elsewhere is read aloud to ensure there is national recognition and national record, where as in the Great War there was page upon page upon page of lists in order of rank. In the new memorial there are list of names regardless of rank. This is progress. There are also areas of blank stone.