The Great War

by Peter Hart

  Private William Quinton, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment

  This is typical of the British accounts of the fighting. Although they were indeed causing severe casualties, at the same time the British battalions were slowly being eroded away by the German attacks and the fierce artillery bombardments that preceded them. A salient was formed, with the British lines bending back on either side of the Menin Road as the Germans edged forward, village by village, ridge by ridge, copse by copse. Yet still they did not quite break through: in consequence the increasingly desperate German High Command resolved to move some more experienced units from the south to form an impromptu Army Group under the command of General Max von Fabeck, slotting in between the German Sixth and Fourth Armies.

  The British were fortunate in the leadership provided by Haig, the commander of I Corps, which bore the brunt of the middle stages of the battle at Ypres. Haig kept his nerve and deployed his meagre reserves as best he could. The crisis came at the ‘point’ of the salient at Gheluvelt, where a see-saw battle raged for two days from 29 October. When Gheluvelt was lost on 31 October, it appeared for a while as if the Germans had broken through. Haig rode forward up the shell-bespattered Menin Road, where his insouciance under fire seems to have calmed the situation.

  Haig moved the cavalry brigade, his last reserves, to the support of 1st Division. He traced across his map a line a little more than a mile from the walls of Ypres, to which the Corps should retire if it were driven back. ‘And there,’ he said, ‘it must fight till the end!’ Then, with his personal staff and escort, he rode slowly up the Menin Road, through the stragglers, back into the shelled area, his face immobile and inscrutable – saying no word, yet by his presence and his calm restoring hope to the disheartened and strength to his exhausted troops.47

  Colonel John Charteris, Headquarters, I Corps

  When informed of the difficulties facing I Corps, Foch responded in very similar fashion to Haig: ‘It is absolutely imperative that no retreat is made, and to that end to dig in on the ground on which you happen to be.’48 In the end, a successful counter-attack by the 2nd Worcesters at Gheluvelt Château briefly stabilised the situation and the ring around Ypres contracted a little – but held. Haig would always carry it in his mind that the Germans could have broken through at Ypres if they had just made one more concentrated assault. It would certainly influence his own conduct of battles later in the war.

  In November 1914, the BEF was being eroded away. On 1 November, Captain Beauchamp Tudor St John was caught unawares as he approached the village of Wytschaete up on the Messines Ridge slightly to the southeast of Ypres.

  I walked quietly out from behind the cover of the cottage and proceeded towards the wood. I had not gone very far, however, when I became the centre of attraction of a hot fire which must, I think, have come from a machine gun. I started to run to the wood at once and the ground all round me was spattered up like the surface of a puddle in a rainstorm. I got another 30 or 40 yards when I felt as if I had suddenly hit my right arm against a hard obstacle in the dark. It was a very hard and very sharp blow and left a numb sort of tingling sensation in my arm quite different from the stinging of the blows of one or two pebbles which had been knocked into my legs by the shots on the ground which had hurt me quite as much. I still ran on but the wood looked a long way off and the shock of the wound had scared me a bit and I felt rather dizzy and out of breath. So I decided I would do a ‘die’ and selecting as comfortable a place as I could I wheeled round in the most approved fashion and fell on my face. This had the desired effect for a minute or two and the firing stopped.49

  Captain Beauchamp Tudor St John, 1st Northumberland Fusiliers

  Unfortunately, as he tried to get himself comfortable and to check the state of his wound, the Germans realised he was not dead and took action to correct their error.

  I must have wriggled too much, however, for again a hot fire was opened on me. I lay for a few seconds wondering where it would get me, the bullets splashing mud all round me. Suddenly I felt as if someone had gently drawn something rather hot along my shoulder and round my throat. This could not have been the bullet as it appeared to me to take quite an appreciable time to get from my left shoulder to the right side of my throat. I think it must have been the blood flowing. Certainly as soon as it reached my throat I began to cough blood through my mouth and nose and felt as if I were choking and everything looked a sort of blue colour. I thought I was done for and wondered how my family would take the news and whether I would know how they took it. I felt aggrieved and angry at the thought of leaving this jolly old world for to me it had always been a jolly place and it seemed hard lines having to leave without seeing Roger and Madge again. However, I prayed to God to hurry the matter up as I was getting very uncomfortable.50

  Captain Beauchamp Tudor St John, 1st Northumberland Fusiliers

  The BEF fell back step by step, pushed off the Messines Ridge and thrown back from the Passchendaele Ridge. They just about clung on to the bulk of the Gheluvelt Plateau, although the village of Gheluvelt itself fell to the Germans. In the end Foch and the French performed as near-perfect allies, moving up their reserves and gradually taking over more and more of the salient as the BEF shrank. The successful defence of Ypres was to the equal credit of the French and the British. In the end the Germans were held back.

  By the end of the First Battle of Ypres the trenches stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea. They had been tested repeatedly, but neither side could break through. It was clear that trench warfare was no temporary phenomenon. A young French marine, thrust into the line near Nieuwpoort, frustratingly close to his more natural element, reflected on the remarkable ability of even a crude trench to blunt the power of the guns.

  The German artillery is quite remarkable. The fire of the heavy guns is admirably precise and well regulated. The other day I saw six shell craters in a 30 metre diameter circle; and these shells came from more than 7,000 metres away. But however accurate their fire, a trench gives shelter untouchable by artillery. Well dug-in infantry can only be dislodged by infantry, and properly by enemy bayonets. Unfortunately we are little versed in trenches – being sailors – and lack any understanding of what is required! There is much talk of military engineering, but as far as the Naval Brigade is concerned, you don’t see it. So our trenches are really just holes in the ground, sited at random where men get precarious rest on slippery clay, covered with a thin bed of straw.51

  Lieutenant Pierre Dupouey, 3rd Battalion, 1st Naval Regiment

  In December both sides tried exploratory attacks, often designed to straighten the line or to secure a tactically significant position, but to little real effect. It is symptomatic of the modern age that one curious anomaly has attained great renown: the Christmas Truce. In some sectors of the line the opposing forces momentarily decided to abandon fighting. This was the experience of Private William Quinton, who was in the trenches on 24 December.

  All around us lay about 3 inches of snow, a typical picture-postcard Xmas. Things very quiet. That ‘peace and goodwill to all men’ feeling seemed to be in the air. We could hear the Germans still strafing up Ypres way, but the next night, Xmas Eve, even up there was much quieter. Something in the direction of the German lines caused us to rub our eyes and look again. Here and there showing just above their parapet we could see very faintly what looked like very small coloured lights. What was this? Was it some pre-arranged signal, and the forerunner of an attack, or was it to make us curious and thus expose ourselves to a sudden raking of machine gun fire? We were very suspicious, and were discussing this strange move of the enemy when something even stranger happened. The Germans were actually singing! Not very loud, but there was no mistaking it. We began to get interested. The enemy at least were going to enjoy themselves as much as the circumstances would permit. Suddenly, across the snow-clad No Man’s Land, a strong clear voice rang out, singing the opening lines of ‘Annie Laurie’. It was sung in perfect English and we were s
pellbound. No other sound but this unknown singer’s voice. To us it seemed that the war had suddenly stopped! Stopped to listen to this song from one of the enemy. Not a sound from friend or foe and as the last notes died away a spontaneous outburst of clapping arose from our trenches. Encore! Good old Fritz!52

  Private William Quinton, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment

  Through the action of courageous individuals risking their lives to test the good intentions of their enemies, a truce was arranged and together the two sides began to bury the corpses littering No Man’s Land.

  As daylight crept in, we were surprised to see the Germans waist-high out of their trenches, gazing across at us with impunity. Imagine the position: whereas yesterday the mere sight of a bit of field-grey uniform would have caused a dozen British rifles to crack, here was the enemy in full view of us, gazing serenely across No Man’s Land at us, and we at him. To us in the front line the whole world had changed. We could take stock of our surroundings at our leisure. At 9 o’clock precisely, the German burying party climbed from their trenches, shovels and picks on their shoulders. They advanced about 10 yards in our direction and waited expectantly. A word from our company officer and our party were soon out. The officers looked on apparently conversing. The digging party soon lost interest in their task and before long were busy fraternising. Cigarettes were being exchanged and they seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely! Needless to say, before very long we in the trenches were soon out on top, sauntering about in the snow, but keeping this side of our wire entanglements. Likewise the Germans. For the whole of that day and for many days to come, friend and foe mixed freely out on No Man’s Land. Except for the fact that a few of the enemy could speak a little English, we found the language difficulty a bar to conversation, but we made do with signs and gestures. I remember distinctly a German holding out an opened box of chocolates for me to take one! The Germans wanted to play us a football match on No Man’s Land, but our officers would not allow it!53

  Private William Quinton, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment

  The truce eventually ended when, so it was rumoured, a Scottish unit moved into neighbouring trenches and opened fire on a German working party, triggering the renewal of hostilities. This truce was wider than many have imagined. The French and Germans also ceased fighting in some sectors.

  Our four days in the trenches have been difficult because of the cold with a hard frost, but the Germans have left us alone. On Christmas Day, they made a sign that they wanted to talk to us. It was me that went to within 3 or 4 metres of their trench from which three of them emerged to talk. It was the Christmas Day holiday, a day of festivities and they wanted no shooting from us during the day and night, saying they themselves wouldn’t fire a single shot. They were tired of making war, they were married like me (they had seen my ring), did not want to fight the French but the English! They passed me a bundle of cigars, a box of gold tipped cigarettes, I gave them the Petit Parisien in exchange for a German newspaper. I returned to the French trench where I was soon robbed of my German tobacco! Our neighbours across the way kept their word better than we did! Not a shot. The next day, so they could see it was Christmas no longer, our artillery sent them a few well directed shells right into their trench.54

  Adjutant Gustave Berthier, 256th Infantry Regiment

  Although often represented as some kind of triumph of humanity, the truce can equally well be seen as an indictment of men all too willing to return to the killing despite seeing for themselves that their enemies were men just like themselves. The reality was that they were willing participants in the war, a war furthermore that at this time still satisfied popular opinion among all the combatant nations. There was no real desire for compromise or negotiation: the Christmas Truce was an exercise in sentimentality and nothing more.

  BY THE END OF 1914 it was evident that General Alfred von Schlieffen had been both right and wrong. He was right that if the war continued for a substantial time Germany’s enemies would use their sheer press of numbers to defeat her. But in seeking a swift victory the Germans had lost their best chance of maximising lesser tactical gains and then negotiating peace from a position of relative strength. In seeking outright victory in the summer of 1914 the Germans had in the end fallen short. The war was set on a grim path of attritional fighting, with all sides engaged in attempting to degrade the opposition forces to the level that they could no longer resist. With all sides able to draw on millions more men it was nigh on impossible to secure an easy victory. Far too many would die before the war would be resolved.

  3

  THE EASTERN FRONT, 1914

  ‘To the training of our army in peacetime alone did we owe this feat. The battle was a glorious triumph for the generals and their troops, indeed, for every officer and man, and the whole country. Germany and Austria-Hungary rejoiced – the world was silent. At my suggestion, the battle was named the Battle of Tannenberg.’1

  Major General Erich von Ludendorff, Headquarters, Eighth Army

  THE RUSSIAN ARMY OF 1914 was a huge beast. Even though the reservoir for conscription was largely restricted to the Russian Christian population, and multifarious reasons were justification for exemption, the empire was so huge that the standing army of 1,400,000 would reach 5 million on mobilisation. Individual conscripts served three years in the infantry on call up, then seven years in the reserve, followed by eight years in the second-class reserve, before a final period in the militia until they reached the age of forty-three. In 1914, the mobilisation plans were greatly speeded up by a combination of preparatory measures and the French-financed improvements to the railway system, which allowed the Russians to place 2 million men ready for action on the Eastern Front within thirty days. Their training had been rudimentary, concentrating on basic soldierly skills, with little effort made to combine in the higher formations or to engage in realistic exercises; nor indeed was there much practice in co-operation between the infantry, artillery and cavalry. Yet in some areas, the Russian Army was surprisingly innovative, with a large Imperial Air Service and much experimentation ongoing into the possibilities of armoured cars. Yet many of these new weapons were not in an operational state and neither aeroplanes nor armoured cars had yet been fully integrated into basic tactical doctrine – indeed, Russian military doctrine generally was weak.

  The Russian officer corps was also distinctly variable in quality. The top was riven by personal animosities, professional jealousies, factionalism and regional parochialism. Many officers had also been distracted by extensive counter-insurgency duties in the aftermath of the 1905 Revolution, while others were swamped by paperwork, or thwarted by the innate conservatism of many of their superiors. Another dragging factor on the efficiency of the Russian Army was the illiteracy of the vast majority of the lower ranks, a function of the poor Russian educational system.

  Theoretically, the Russian Army was better equipped than is sometimes imagined, with the standard rifle the magazine bolt-action 7.62 mm Mosin-Nagant rifle, which was a reliable and accurate weapon. The infantry regiments of 4,000 men were further equipped with eight machine guns of the belt-fed water-cooled Maxim M1910 type, also firing 7.62 mm bullets, which proved to be both efficient and practical in action. Like the British and German infantry, the Russian soldier wore a camouflage uniform, a greenish-khaki which came in many different shades, especially after heavy wear.

  The main field gun, the Pulitov 76.2 mm, was a fine weapon, while the heavier 122 mm and 152 mm Schneider guns were the main heavy artillery – although, as with most armies, there was a severe shortage. But other shortages would become apparent during mobilisation and even more so when the fighting began: rifle and machine gun ammunition, shells and, frustratingly, many basic items of equipment and uniform, including an inexplicable dearth of boots – surely an easily calculable essential. The problems of the Army were deep set within the state for Russia was still a backward, primitive society which could only ever harvest a small proportion of its huge assets ev
en in the cause of war. This was just as well for the Central Powers, for Russia’s population outnumbered those of Germany and Austria-Hungary put together.

  Facing the Russians was the Austro-Hungarian Army. In peacetime it numbered some 440,000 men, but on mobilisation would expand to a more intimidating 3.35 million, deployed in forty divisions. Yet this was another state that had neither the internal cohesion nor the modernised infrastructure to capitalise on its huge size. With a population of around 50 million, it was the third most populous state in Europe in 1914, but it had no concept of nationhood; here was a country ready to be torn apart by nationalism. The infantry conscripts were called up at eighteen years old and served two years before passing on to ten years in the Landwehr reserve, followed by a further period with the inactive Landsturm until they were fifty-five years old. Overall their standard of training was basic. Dressed in a light blue uniform, they were armed with the 8 mm bolt-action magazine Mannlicher M1895 rifle, which was both reliable and capable of extremely high rates of fire – up to thirty-five rounds a minute! Austrian machine gun companies tended to have four sections, each armed with two water-cooled 8 mm Schwartzlose M.07/12, guns which had the advantage of being significantly lighter than their competitors’, although at the cost of some loss of range and penetrating power. The artillery was functional with a high proportion of mountain guns of various calibres. Unlike most countries, Austria had developed some formidable heavy artillery typified by the Skoda 305 mm 1911 siege howitzer. This beast had a crew of at least fifteen and was towed by a 15-ton motorised tractor. When in place it fired either an armour-piercing delayed action fuse shell weighing 850 lb which could penetrate six feet of concrete, or a 630 lb shell which had incredible explosive power creating craters eight yards wide and threatening any exposed infantry within a quarter of a mile. Eight Skodas would be lent to the Germans to assist in the reduction of the Belgian forts on the Western Front in August 1914. The Austrians had a similar expertise in the manufacture of powerful – and deadly – mortars.