An Illustrated Introduction To The First World War by Phil Carradice

Author:Phil Carradice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2014-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

A French ammunition convoy makes its way along the Sacred Way, the only route into the besieged town of Verdun, around 1916.

British soldiers, complete with equipment to replace and repair barbed wire, make their way to the front during the Battle of the Somme.

Falkenhayn needed a target that was a symbol, the loss of which would destroy the morale of the French nation. He found it in the fortress city of Verdun. Even though the forts of Verdun were already redundant, the French people did not realise this – to them they were a symbol of French pride and military efficiency.

The attack began on 21 February 1916, an enormous bombardment that could be heard 50 miles away. The forts and the town were reduced to rubble, but the French line held. Despite the fact that Verdun was of little strategic value Joffre ordered that there should be no retreat, and thus fell happily into Falkenhayn’s trap.

What ensued was a bloodbath, as both sides fought to a standstill. The French commander, General Henri Petain, and his subordinate Robert Nivelle, were inspirational as the Germans threw themselves against the defences. ‘They shall not pass’ was the cry, willingly and eagerly taken up by the men in the trenches.

This was a battle of attrition, where the victor would be the side who could endure the longest. To do this, supplies of weapons and reinforcements were essential. The German forces had good rail and road links behind their lines; the French had just one way into the city, a road that soon became known as La Voie Sacrée (The Sacred Way). Along this 75-mile track nearly 3,000 lorries and carts passed each day, carrying 50,000 tons of munitions and supplies.

When fighting finally died away at the end of June, the French had suffered over 400,000 casualties. The Germans had lost nearly 350,000. It was a senseless battle with no objective other than to wear down the other side. In the end it was a victory, of sorts, for the French. They had, more or less, held their ground, but Falkenhayn never knew how close he had come to his objective. Verdun destroyed the spirit of the French Army and the mutinies that broke out later in the year were directly related to the horror of this senseless, mindless bloodbath.

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME

Joffre’s original intention had been to launch a combined British and French offensive on the Somme in the summer of 1916. Clearly this could not now happen and Haig, bowing to pressure from the French, agreed to mount an attack with predominantly British forces.

Haig had become convinced that this undamaged and gently rolling pasture land was the spot where the war could be won. British forces were moved into the area, most of them men of Kitchener’s New Army. This was to be their blooding and they, like Haig, were convinced that they would succeed where others before them had failed.

However, the Germans held all the high ground and, more significantly, because

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