Following last week's study of tech developments in the First World War, today we looked into some battles that used these new methods of warfare and the addition of chemical warfare. The Battle of Verdun began February 21, 1916 and ended December 18, 1916. This offensive was mounted by the Germans under General von Falkenhayn, and it took several months for the Allies to counterattack, which happened October 24, 1916, by the French. This battle was also the first incident of air-to-air combat with the Nieuport 17 aircraft equipped with rockets. On May 22, 1916, five of six German balloons were shot down by the French over the battlefields around Verdun. The destruction of the Verdun sector was devastating, as this was the first massive offensive as a "war of attrition." This term is used frequently to describe the battles of WWI, especially in regards to Verdun, and is defined as a "...steady erosion. As you wear down the other side they will hopefully realize that they are slowly being annihilated and will eventually capitulate... The goal of this strategy is that repeated defeat, even on a small scale, should lead the enemy to forecast eventual total loss and so submit. However the sting of defeat and the cost of capitulation may be such that commanders fight on to the very end. Against this, troops who also realize the inevitable may mutiny, desert or fight without spirit and so accelerate their doom... This can easily lead to a Pyrrhic victory where the cost to the victor leaves little to celebrate."(http://changingminds.org/disciplines/warfare/strategies/attrition.htm)
Bonus material on this battle, a 48 minute documentary: The Battle of Verdun, providing additional information on Fort Douaumont and a point by point explanation of the lead up to battle and the ensuing months of battle.
A few months later, the Battle of the Somme began on June 24, 1916, and ended on November 18, 1916. Epic History: WWI: Battle of the Somme was used in class. The casualties on the first few days of this battle were astronomical and very little was accomplished. German casualties: 12,000. French casualties: 7,000. British casualties: 57,000, the bloodiest day the British military had ever seen in its history. In nearly five months of battle, total casualties are difficult to fathom. German: 450,000. French: 200,000. British: 430,000.
Bonus material on this battle, a 51 minute documentary: Instruments of Death: Season 1, Episode 4-- The Somme 1916, providing information on trench warfare in this battle, infantry weapons, and tactics that did not utilize or recognize that this was a different war and the methods needed to match the technological advancements on the battlefield. Other bonus material is footage from the Battle of the Somme.
Trench warfare has been touched on several times in this study. These videos offer an explanation and diagrams on how trenches were built, used, and how deadly they would become. Trench Systems (Cross Section) and What Was Life Like in the Trenches of World War I? In conjunction with trench study, Weird Weapons and Equipment of WWI shows the makeshift weapons of men in the trenches.
For men in the trenches, the greatest threat and fear was gas, the newest advancement in warfare technology. The Father of Poison Gas--Fritz Haber (bonus material), was a German scientist who believed in the future of chemical warfare. His first wife was a chemist, and upon realizing what Haber was attempting and how it would effect the war effort, shot herself in the head. Later on, after the war was over, he continued his work in Germany until the Nazis came to power at which point they removed him from their employ for being a Jew, regardless of being Christianized. He moved to Britain, believing he would have a job. His innovations in chemical warfare, unsurprisingly did not garner him acceptance in Great Britain. Haber's work in chemicals and their use in war paved the path to Zyklon B, the gas used by the Nazis in death chambers and death camps like Auschwitz. Four different gases were invented for use in the First World War: tear gas, chlorine, phosgene/diphosgene, and mustard gas. Their affects and use in battle are documented in Poison Gas Warfare in WWI.
It's hard to imagine an area of land completely devastated by war. These weren't just battle fields. The names of these battles were primarily towns where people lived and went their way until the front came to them. Many times, the small villages were ravaged beyond recognition and have been left to grow over. Yet even after 100 years, the scars of war are still very much evident. The Destroyed Villages of France-Fleury walks through the remains of the village of Fleury, a village near Fort Douaumont and Verdun.
Several times over the course of this study, it has been made known that generals were woefully out of date, that expectations rarely fit the reality, and the age of the servicemen. For many who served, they were well under the 18-19 year old requirement. They were boys and on the frontlines. Britain's 250,000 boy soldiers in World War I is a 50 minute bonus video.
One last mention for this first period were the Pals Battalions, Heroes of WWI: Britain's Stock Broker Battalion, men who were encouraged to enlist together so they could fight alongside one another and not be placed in a battalion where they know no one. At first this seemed like a fantastic idea, especially when men joined up with friends and fellow tradesmen; i.e. all the bakers, or butchers, or bankers, etc. joined up together and serve. As the war trudged on past the "done by Christmas" slogan, and the horrors of war worsened, whole generations of men from single villages were wiped out along with their talents in the community of village life.
Second Period:
Tolkien wrote about the Siege of Gondor and the captain, and it's not too big of stretch to see it in terms of the Battle of the Somme. "Yet their Captain cared not greatly what they did or how many might be slain: their purpose was only to test the strength of the defense and to keep the men of Gondor busy in many places. All before the walls on either side of the Gate the ground was choked with wreck and with bodies of the slain; yet still driven as by a madness more and more came up." (Loconte, 73)
Years later, Blackadder took the generals of the First World War to task in clips from Advanced World War I Tactics with General Melchett. Bonus video by The Great War on Youtube: How Accurate is Blackadder Goes Forth? While not necessarily ALL true, there is a kernel of truth to the madness of tactics.
We moved on to Chapter Three of A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Loconte. Most pertinent details of this chapter are on the battles of the Somme and trench warfare, covered in the first period. Given this, it makes sense for the chapter name to be "In a Hole in the Ground There Lived a Hobbit." Tolkien had a firm belief in the greatness that the little people can aspire to. In cases where the frontline soldiers were low ranking or mere boys, there is the greatest sense of heroics as they performed their duties in ghastly environments and little hope for survival. "As bad as the water, mud, rats, roaches, and lice was the smell: the stench of decaying flesh, human an animal, seemed to cover everything. Snipers, grenades, random shell fire, untreated wounds, disease-- any number of causes made death, and the smell of death, a constant presence for soldiers on the front line. Writes historian John Keegan: 'You could smell the front line miles before you could see it.'" (page 59) It puts to mind Pippin's song before Lord Denethor in Minas Tirith.
Ypres, Belgium saw chemical warfare up close for the first time on a large scale. Along the relatively straight trench line, running north/south in France, Germany, and Belgium, had bulges in some places. This bulge is called a salient. For this area, it was known as the Ypres Salient. Ypres: the Gas Inferno, a 43 minute documentary on the battles at Ypres and the use of gas, was shown in class, but only the first fifteen minutes or so. There were five battles around Ypres, and its decimation was immense. A French scout shot aerial footage of the destruction in 1919. These weren't just battle fields. They were cities. And nothing remained in the aftermath. Unlike Fleury, after the war, the people of Ypres returned and rebuilt the city in its original form. The West Yorkshire Regiment served at Ypres, and this link documents the battlefields of the area (Flanders Fields) and shows the rebuilt Ypres. There is an exceptional amount of footage of the battlefields and the men involved in the conflict.
One of the Battles of Ypres was at Passchendaele. Here are four links that detail the battle and why it was important to Ypres: Preparing for Battle, The First Day, Struggling in Mud, and A New Approach. Bonus material for Passchendaele is the 47 minute documentary The Battle of Passchendaele (100th Anniversary).
Also at the Battle of Ypres was Corporal Adolf Hitler, and his experiences in the First War influenced the rest of his life.
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