The First World War

[knobby109]

Originally Posted by Ennath

One of the major problems for World War I generals was that weapons technology had wat outpaced communications technology. Radio was not yet portable, phone wire got ripped up by artillery and couldn't keep up with an advance anyway. Field commanders had to fall back on messengers (usually on foot), pigeons and the old heliograph. Much of what appeared to be ponderous and slow-moving decision-making by the generals was simply an inability to get information to and from the battlefield in good time.

On top of this, local commanders could only see their own part of the battle so it took some time to piece together the true situation. By which time of course it had probably changed anyway.
By 1918 in Haig's Army there were quite reasonable communications worked out so tanks, infantry, artillery and aircraft could to some extent work in cooperation.This wasn't missed by the Germans but was apparently forgotten by the British Army which got caught out by the same thing in 1940.

[tygrkhat40]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

I have a great great uncle somewhere in France; no one knows where, or even how or on what day he went missing. He disappeared. I am sure millions of others in Britain also have missing spaces on their family memorials, relations forever lost. It was a truly impersonal and pitiless process, whereby unique personalities became not even a headstone, often not even a name on a memorial, just memories evaporating on the breeze. My grandfather told me when I was a small boy that his uncle joined a pals battalion (he never said which one) and they never saw him again, just a telegram to say he was missing, presumed dead.

Pals battalions; the scars still burn red on war memorials all over the north of England, where you see the same names, five, six, sometimes ten and more, often killed on the same day. Things like that leave their wounds down the generations.

One can see a similarity here in the States with our Civil War. Battalions were formed from towns and their outlying areas. They trained together and went into battle together, the reasoning being that you would be more willing to fight harder alongside those you had known all your life. The downside, of course, was that many of these units were slaughtered in battle and many small towns in both the North and the South had very few to none of their young men return after the war.

I think that it wasn't until WWII that the US Army separated mass groups of soldiers-to-be in basic training to prevent such a depopulation of towns.

[haroldeye]

The British Regimental system especially in the Territorial Army used men from the same area. They lived and died together and one mans disgrace was also his family's. I worked in a foundary one summer. Old Jack who I worked with was just about the only man not frightened of the manager. During the retreat in 1940 Jack had been the Sgt and the manager had been a young soldier who had run. A rifle butt sorted out the young man but forever afterwards he was frightened that Jack would tell all. Course Jack told everyone but the manager didn't know that.

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by tygrkhat40

One can see a similarity here in the States with our Civil War. Battalions were formed from towns and their outlying areas. They trained together and went into battle together, the reasoning being that you would be more willing to fight harder alongside those you had known all your life. The downside, of course, was that many of these units were slaughtered in battle and many small towns in both the North and the South had very few to none of their young men return after the war.

I think that it wasn't until WWII that the US Army separated mass groups of soldiers-to-be in basic training to prevent such a depopulation of towns.

Even in WWII the US hadn't quite learned the lesson. Look up the Sullivan Brothers.

[Trintron]

I saw a documentary about Lord Kitchener's Army and the territorial army system, it talked about how whole factories, towns and villages formed up regiments to go to France and fight the war. Everyone was so drunk with the belief that WW1 would be a quick war and they would all be back in time for Christmas.

By the end of the Battle of the Somme many of these men were casualties of the battle.

The other side effect of this is that many of the women who worked as servants in many wealthy country homes, manors and estates of the nobles and the rich left to work in the cities and replace the men who went to fight. Many of them stayed in the cities and never returned after the war.

[haroldeye]

Not just the Somme. In the village I grew up in nearly half of the names on the war memorial were killed in March 1917 at Arras. Not a good month.

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by Trintron

The other side effect of this is that many of the women who worked as servants in many wealthy country homes, manors and estates of the nobles and the rich left to work in the cities and replace the men who went to fight. Many of them stayed in the cities and never returned after the war.

The First World War had major effect on the social life of Great Britain, which, after the War changed the entire social picture. Many of the people, who before the war had been 'in service', or working in the big houses, either served in the Armed Forces, or in the case of women, factories or nursing and many other jobs, to fill in for the men at the front. A lot of these people did not want to return to the menial low paid, and long hours. of their pre-war jobs.

Interestingly, a lot of the Upper Class women, had also served in various capacities during the war, In 1918 women got the right to vote at 30 with property qualifications or as graduates of UK universities, while men could vote at 21 with no qualification. Bear in mind that the heirs to a lot of historic estates and titles, had died in the trenches, so these estates, not the titles,were now inherited by women. The right for women to vote at 21, without restriction, was given in 1928.

The Labour Party which had been a bit Party, since 1900, also rose in influence, forming its first Government in 1924, all of which changed Britains social attitudes and empowered the ordinary people, far beyond their prewar status.

We do still have upper class twits and snobs, who believe they are better than anyone else now, but to show the diference, most British Armed Forces Officers today, have a background of State Schools pre World War I, they were exclusively from the Public Schools system in the Army, and well to do famillies in the Navy.

[rustler]

Originally Posted by Trintron

I saw a documentary about Lord Kitchener's Army and the territorial army system, it talked about how whole factories, towns and villages formed up regiments to go to France and fight the war. Everyone was so drunk with the belief that WW1 would be a quick war and they would all be back in time for Christmas.

By the end of the Battle of the Somme many of these men were casualties of the battle.

That was one of the many tragedies of The First World War, the 'Friends Battalions', as they were often known, where whole streets or even villages would go to the recruiting office to join up.......

All could perish within a few minutes of each other and entire communities would be completely devastated in an instant. The manhood and an entire generation lost in a moment....

My fathers step-mothers fiancée was amongst the fallen on the Somme... She never courted again until she eventually married my grandfather, himself a World War One veteran, during World War Two.

[rustler]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

This was the reason for the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, because so many were unidentified, it may be of interest that The Three Unkown Warriors, all hold the highest decorations awarded by France. Great Britain and The United States of America.

Britain awarded the American Unknown Soldier the Victoria Cross, and the US awarded the British Unknown Soldier The Medal of Honor (sic), this is displayed in a glass case on a wall a few metres from the grave in Westminster Abbey.
However, I do not know what awards were given by the British and American Allies to the French Unknown Soldier. I have never heard of their fallen receiving an award from us...??? Though I presume that France awarded their fallen the Legion De Honeur, militaire, 1st class?

EDIT: The US, according to Wikipedia, did in fact award the Medal of Honor to the French Unknown Soldier after the First World War.

[Ennath]

January 5-31, 1878
Balkans Launching a surprise winter offensive, the Russians defeat the badly extended Turks and are soon on the outskirts of Constantinople. A British fleet is sent to warn the Russians away from trying to take the city.

January 5, 1896
Technology Wilhelm Roentgen, in Austria, discovers X-Rays.

January 5, 1915
Western Front The French blow up a half mile of German trenches in the Argonne. This is part of a week of successful, though modest, French gains.
French Command Maurice Dubail is replaced at French 1st Army by Pierre Rocques. Dubail takes command of Army Group East.
Cameroon German troops attack vigorously at Edea, hoping to recapture the town, but the French garrison holds fast and the Germans withdraw.
South Africa Loyal forces occupy Schuit Drift on the Orange River.
British Planning Churchill receives a response from Carden. “I do not consider Dardanelles can be rushed. They might be forced by extended operations with large number of ships.” After consulting with military advisors, Churchill telegraphs back, “Your view is agreed to by high authorities here. Please telegraph in detail what you think could be done by extended operations, what force would be needed, and how you consider it should be used.”

January 5, 1916
Central Powers Planning German and Bulgarian commanders meet at Nish. Zhekov insists on an offensive to clear the Allies from Macedonia, but gains no support for such a move from the Germans.

January 5, 1917
Eastern Front Major Russian attacks occur in the Riga sector between Lake Babit and the Tirul Marsh. Artillery support is inadequate and some troops refuse to attack. Gains are few.
Rumanian Front The Germans gain between the Rimnic and Buzeu Rivers. The Dobruja has been completely cleared of Allied troops.
German East Africa British troops occupy Kibambawe in the Rufiji valley.

January 5, 1918
Western Front The Germans make an attack on British positions at Bullecourt, Cambrai sector, but are repulsed.
War in the Air Five German Navy airships blow up and burn at their base at Ahlhorn. It is a setback for the force as only one ship can be delivered every two months.
Aden The British capture a Turkish post at Hatum.
Diplomatic Relations Turkey begins putting out peace feelers to the Bolshevik regime.
Sweden recognizes Finnish independence.
Allied Diplomacy While Woodrow Wilson dithers over his statement of war aims, continually revising it after discussions with Colonel House and other advisers, Prime Minister Lloyd George preempts the president, outlining his aims in a speech to the Trades Union Congress that he hopes induce the Labor Party to remain part of his coalition while placating the Liberal Party and antiwar groups. Lloyd George declares that Great Britain intends no aggression against the German people. He insists that territorial settlements following the war must be based on “the consent of the governed”, but that Germany must make reparations to Belgium and return Alsace and Lorraine to France. Germany’s colonies will not be returned. The prime minister advocates allowing independence for Poland, granting Italy legitimate territorial concessions, and giving the minority peoples of the Hapsburg Empire self-government. He also calls for an international organization to resolve future disputes. Never consulted beforehand or apprised that the prime minister intended to make such a public statement, Wilson takes offense, feeling that Lloyd George’s proposals are so near his own as to preclude public delivery of his speech. Colonel House persuades him otherwise, convincing Wilson that Lloyd George’s statement actually improves the climate for his own.

January 5, 1919
Eastern Europe Soviet troops, following the withdrawing Germans, occupy Vilna, continuing on to the Bug River in February. Poland, intent on returning to pre-1772 borders, reacts violently. An undeclared war breaks out.
Germany The German Workers’ Party is founded in Munich, lead by Anton Drexler. It supports middle-class Germans of Aryan decent.