Spring 1918 - were the Allies overwhelmed?

We are looking forward to seeing friends old and new at the Garden Railway Show in Peterborough on April 7^th. 

We will have examples of  the Wren 0-4-0 locomotive, the Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0, two forms of the Bagnall Excelsior, the 0-4-2 Tattoo and Baldwin Gas Mechanical locomotive on display, and kits to sell. Pictures of these locomotives, and our kits, can be found on the website of the show. Please see https://www.nationalgardenrailwayshow.org.uk/exhibitor/wrightscale/

The New Data Protection Legislation
Those of you who have put their names on lists of interest may be wondering about changes to the law on Data Protection. As you probably know, these changes come into effect on May 25^th. We have considered the implications of these changes, and how our information might affect your privacy.

In due course, our Webmaster will put up our privacy policy on the website.

We currently store our email address book online. It simply has name and email, no other personal details. Any member of the public who emails and expects a reply goes into this email address book automatically. Every couple of months, I try to remove the ‘once onlies’ in our email address book. Everyone who emails us has the right to havehis/her address removed immediately. We shall remind every first contact of this right. This is our only online data-base.

Our interest list is held off-line. In it, we try to include date of contact, a full name, postal address and phone number as well as email. This is because email addresses keep changing and we need an alternative way of keeping in touch. We, for example, have been obliged by our providers to change our own email address at least three times. We do not keep other personal details such as partner’s name, date of birth etc.

We do not hold any bank details online. As you all know, our policy is cash or cheque if at all possible. Where bank transfer is convenient, we do not hold details online though they will show up in our bank statements which are off-line. Privacy during the transaction will be ensured by the systems of the banks involved. Our bank is the Clydesdale. We have used paypal; in this case privacy is guaranteed by paypal and our own system as described above. If you wish any email correspondence deleted after a payment, please inform us.

The German army devised the flame-thrower in 1917. The Allies soon grasped the principle and this is one of their own photographed before March 1918 'Illustration' magazine

 This blog has been following the First World War as events took place one hundred years ago. The month of March 2018 is the centenary of the German Spring Offensive, also known as die grosse Schlacht or les coups allemands.   

Thanks to peace agreements with the new Soviet Government, the Central Powers no longer had to fear Russia. This released 60 divisions from the east, a force which could be added to the 144 divisions already posted on the western front. Everyone was aware that, given time, the forces of the USA would be entering the War and so a pre-emptive strike from Germany was expected.

The Germans were not going to waste this opportunity. They reorganised their attack around the new concept of the storm-trooper and a recent introduction, the deadly flame-thrower. Up until now, it had been impossible to clear a trench of defenders. Even if attackers had braved no man’s land and were actually in a trench, it could not be raked by fire. The trench was designed without straight lines so there was no straight line of fire.  The feisty flame-thrower was no respecter of angles. If the defenders weren’t actually burned, they died from suffocating heat. 

When waves of German attackers broke over the British 3^rd and 5^th armies on 21^st March one hundred years ago, the British were driven back by the speed, weight and fury of the attack. At four am a terrific bombardment started over 90 kilometres/55 miles of front. It stopped at ten past nine. In the time, more than 650,000 shells had been fired.

Normally, a bombardment would go on considerably longer. On this occasion, by the time that the smoke began to clear, the Germans were well on their way across No Man’s Land. They came in their thousands. Against 14 British divisions, there were 47 German ones.

'Courage, mon ami, on vous aidera' Clemenceau rushed to British HQ to reassure General Haig. In return, British troops were taken under French command. 'Illustration' magazine

On the south side, the ten divisions of the 5^th Army suffered terrible losses both of casualties and of terrain – up to 12 km/nearly 8 miles in one single day. The four divisions of the 3^rd fared better but also had to retreat to keep a united front.

The Germans were lucky to have attacked a load of soldiers just off the troop transports and they certainly made use of their luck. By March 23^rd, they had achieved  their target; they threatened communications with Paris. The remains of the 5^th Army had left the railway through Ham unguarded.

Pétain ordered Humbert back. The French 1^st Army plugged the first gap and then had to reinforce a second, the road to Paris through Montdidier. The British 3^rd and 18^th Army corps joined the French to ‘defend the beating heart of France’ as Hunbert put it.

Fearing the worst, Frenchinfantry guard the Amiens-Paris railway where it crosses the Noye.  'Illustration' magazine

By 26^th March, the Germans turned their main force on a secondary target, Amiens; Paris would have been better. As the centre of communications for the whole of France, the capture of Paris would have left the rest of the country a tangle of writhing limbs. Amiens was still valuable. It controlled communications with northern France, the Channel and Britain. By April 4^th the Germans were within 16 km (10 miles) of the city.

Was the German succes due to British incompetence, or did they make the best of a bad job? Arguments have raged for 100 years. Critics say that British intelligence should have been better, they shouldn’t have spread their forces so thinly, their technique was poor, both in attack and defence. These critics could point to instances of wishful thinking at the top, refusal to learn hard lessons, the lack of artillery on the field.

To quote a couple of examples from an extensive literature there is the book ‘The Mons Myth’ Terence Zuber The History Press 2010. It argues that: ‘British historians portrayed the battles of Mons and Le Cateau as successes of the heavily outnumbered British expeditionary Force which mowed down the Germans with precise and rapid fire… German … fighting techniques have been misunderstood, British troop leading was poor etc’

In The Myth of the Great War Profile Books 2002 edition, John Mosier is even more scathing about British leaders and their unfortunate troops - and also French leadership up until mid-1917. At every stage, the General Staff refused to learn the hard lessons of war. Their attitude towards the ordinary soldier was in every situation a disgrace. They wilfully threw away opportunities. In the earlyyears the vast system of trenches only grew up by accident. The valuable stronghold of Antwerp was thrown away without remorse. He had much that was unflattering to say about 'the miracle of the Marne' They insisted, as a matter of 19^th century principal on trenches being dug in the most dangerous place, a gentle dip slope in full view of the enemy - this suited guns with a horzontal field of fire.

Digging in. The defence was assured by heroic action fromAustralians,French and Britsih who had to dig new trenches to stoip the German advance. The enemy reachedt Villers-Bretonneux on April 4th 1918. 'Illustration'

We have left the brave Aussies hanging on with their fingernails against the storm- roopers of the German Army.  To find out what happened next, wait for the following episode.