The Era Of The Great War #4: Military Tactics Flashcards
Describe the creeping barrage
- artillery would fire just ahead of attacking infantry
- this would keep the enemy soldiers pinned down until the attacking force was on them
Example of creeping barrage
Battle of Arras (April-May 1917)
A successful creeping barrage ensured it remained the ideal 100m ahead of the attacking troops
Describe extensive tunnelling
This involved the creation of underground supply and storage tunnels, as well as the creation of assault tunnels
When was the Battle of Arras?
April/May 1917
When was extensive tunnelling used?
- At the Battle of Arras (April 1917)
- The supply and storage tunnels hid 24000men pre-attack and assault tunnels were used to place mines near the German line and detonate
Describe reconnaissance aircraft
This was when airplanes were used to monitor and report back on enemy’s lines
Give an example of reconnaissance aircraft
- Battle of Arras in 1917
- British used this to report of Germans
- It was partly ineffective: German fighter pilot Manfred Von Richtofen was effective in shooting them down, so the average life expectancy of a British pilot in Arras was 18hours
Describe open formation
This was when an advance was made speedily, fluidly, or in the leapfrog formation
Give an example of open formation
Canadian Troops effectively used this at the Battle of Arras in 1917 to capture Vimy Ridge to the north of Arras
Describe bombardment
This involved the use of RFC intelligence and the Field Survey company which could pinpoint the enemy’s heavy artillery and target them
Give an example of bombardment
When this was used at the Battle of Arras in 1917, at least 80% of the German heavy artillery was destroyed
Describe the ‘all arms battle plan’ (combined arms)
This involved the use of infantry, artillery, tanks, and aircraft altogether in attack
Give an example of the ‘all arms battle plan’ (combined arms)
This tactic helped the British to win the war at the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, along with at the subsequent Hundred Days Offensive
Describe the use of snipers
- Trained snipers would creep into No Man’s Land at night time and hide under camouflage.
- They would then wait for an enemy soldier to lift his head out of the trench before shooting them, causing fear amongst the enemy.
Describe the use of the navies + give an example
- Navies were used to attack the enemy, both at sea and on land. Naval ships might fire artillery at enemy positions.
- Britain also successtully used a naval blockade of Germany to try and starve the country into surrender.
Describe the use of submarines
- Submarines were also used during the war, especially by the Germans with their feared U-boats.
- This was not just to attack military ships, but also to destroy civilian ships believed to be carrying war resources.
Loos Summary
- Indecisive battle, didn’t make the war any closer to finishing
- 20 Scottish regiments and 30,000 troops
- 1 in 3 missing soldiers was Scottish
- Gas was used for the first time with little success
- 8/12 battalions that lost 500 men were Scottish
- 5 Scots were awarded the Victoria cross for valour at loos
- Huge Losses for the cameronians, black watch and Gordon highlanders
- Seven Scottish battalions lost their commanding officers
When was the Battle of Loos?
25 September - 16 October 1915
When was the Battle of the Somme?
1 July - 18 November 1916
Somme Summary
- 51 Scottish infantry divisions were involved
- 600,000 casualties overall
- 20,000 killed on the first day
- Not much land was gained
- It weakened the German spirit
- 16th highland infantry attacked Frankfurt trench, but some left behind when the rest of the army withdrew
When was the Battle of Arras?
9 April to 16 May 1917
Arras Summary
- Well planned transport
- gas stopped German horses so they couldn’t move their guns
- 10 Scottish divisions
- 1/3rd of 159,000 casualties were Scots
- artillery did its job well
- Attacks were launched in waves rather than all at once
- Developed “all arms” battle plan
How many Scots took part in Loos and how many died?
- 30,000
- 7000 of all 21000 casualties were Scots
British army casualties at Somme
Overall, 400,000 lost their lives.
ON DAY ONE 1ST JULY 1916
-19200 dead and around 60000 missing/ wounded
- most of these fell in the first 100m of no man’s land
Highland Light Infantry casualties at Somme
500+
McCrae’s Battalion of Royal Scots casualties at Somme
75%
How was the bombardment of enemy lines ineffective at Somme?
- Haig battered the enemy lines with a five-day-long artillery barrage intended to destroy the German barbed wire, wreck their trenches and kill the defenders
- But when the artillery barrage stopped, German machine gunners were out of their shelters and ready to fire within two minutes
Why did Haig command the battle of the Somme?
- French had been taking severe losses at Verdun to the East of Paris for months
- The Allied High Command decided to attack the Germans to the North of Verdun, forcing them to move some of their men away from the Verdun battlefield thus relieving the French
What has the battle of the Somme been described as?
the graveyard of the various local battalions raised across Scotland in the late summer of 1914
What were General Douglas Haig’s (in charge of attack) worries at Loos?
- the attacking soldiers had almost no cover and so would be in full view of the German machine gunners
- he planned to release chlorine gas from canisters but the success of the attack depended on a steady wind blowing the gas towards the Germans
Who was impacted by the losses at Loos?
Almost every town and village in Scotland
Why were the Brits confident before Somme?
The British generals staged a massive artillery bombardment and sent 100,000 men over the top to take the German trenches
Why was the Somme a failure?
- Haig instructed General Rawlinson to prepare for ‘a rapid advance’ but not enough British guns to achieve this goal
- 2/3 of the shells were shrapnel, ineffective against the concrete dugouts
- estimated that as many as 30% of the shells failed to explode
- The British artillery unable to neutralise the German artillery, critical on the first day
- infantry assault was scheduled for 29 June but was postponed for 48 hours due to bad weather
- Despite the two extra days of bombardment, no additional shells were available
- British soldiers were unable to break through the German defences and were mown down in their thousands by machine gun and artillery fire
- only gained 3 square miles of territory
How many allied casualties at Somme?
Over 1million
