Trench Warfare

S4

Battle of Ypres 1914-1917

• German advance through Belgium in 1914 was halted at Ypres in Flanders.

• The territory became known as The Salient (part of the battlefield that has enemy on 3 sides)

• The Ypres Salient was formed by British, French, Canadian and Belgian defensive efforts against German incursion during the 1914 ‘Race to the Sea’ culminating in the battle of Yser and first Battle of Ypres

• These battles saved the Ypres Salient from occupation but also led to the beginning of trench warfare in the Salient as both sides ‘dug in’ around the line

First Battle of Ypres

• 19th Oct – 22nd Oct

German advance from the ridge was repulsed although they nearly broke through at Gheluvelt on the Menin Road

Both sides suffered heavy losses

Second Battle of Ypres• 22nd April – 25th May 1915

In renewed attack, Germans used poison gas for first time and almost achieved a breakthrough.

Canadian and British reinforcements saved the situation

Again, heavy losses

Front line of Salient now reduced, making city more vulnerable to artillery fire

Third Battle of Ypres • 31st July – 10th November 1917

Major battle of WWI fought for control of the village Passchendaele near Ypres.

Objective was to wear out enemy

Defining feature = mud

Naturally swampy, after years of fighting in the area the land was largely destroyed. 1917 also year of particularly foul weather. Weather did much to hamper operations

More than 1 million soldiers and civilians were killed, wounded or missing in the Ypres battles

Commemoration

• The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing those of all Commonwealth nations who died in the Ypres Salient and have no known grave

• UK & New Zealand servicemen who died after 16th Aug 1917 are commemorated at Tyne Cot Cemetery

Battle of the Somme

• Took place between 1st July & 17th November 1916

• Over 14 mile length of Western Front in Somme region of Picardy

• Planned as a French-led offensive against strongly entrenched German Imperial Forces led by General Falkenhayn

• British Empire forces under General Haig assumed main burden

• Main thrust by British Army did not achieve surprise & there were only limited breakthroughs

• Territorial gains were also limited in proportion to the amount of losses sustained

• There were some strategic successes and some lessons were learned

• Tanks were used for the first time by the British

• When winter ended the battle, both sides were left exhausted in a sea of mud and shell holes

The first day• Haig ordered troops ‘over

the top’ at 7.30am, expecting the way forward to be relatively clear

• The reality was tragically different

• Moving forward in ‘waves’ the troops were cut down by the German machine-gunners emerging from deep trenches and dug-outs

• By days end, 58,000 British soldiers lost

• Remains a one day record & dubbed ‘blackest day in British military history’