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Battle Of Loos
The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. The French and British tried to break through the German defences in Artois and Champagne and restore a war of movement. Despite improved methods, more ammunition and better equipment, the Franco-British attacks were largely contained by the Germans, except for local losses of ground. The British gas attack failed to neutralize the defenders and the artillery bombardment was too short to destroy the barbed wire or machine gun nests. German tactical defensive proficiency was still dramatically superior to the British offensive planning and doctrine, resulting in a British defeat. Background Strategic developments The battle was the British part of the Third Battle of Artois, an Anglo-French offensive (known to the Germans as the (Autumn Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Front (World War I)
The Western Front was one of the main theatres of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made. Among the most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun, in 1916, with a combined 700 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Engineer Tunnelling Companies
Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were specialist units of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army, formed to dig attacking tunnels under enemy lines during the First World War. The stalemate situation in the early part of the war led to the deployment of tunnel warfare. After the first German Empire attacks on 21 December 1914, through shallow tunnels underneath no man's land and exploding ten mines under the trenches of the Indian Sirhind Brigade, the British began forming suitable units. In February 1915, eight Tunnelling Companies were created and operational in Flanders from March 1915. By mid-1916, the British Army had around 25,000 trained tunnellers, mostly volunteers taken from coal mining communities. Almost twice that number of "attached infantry" worked permanently alongside the trained miners acting as 'beasts of burden'. From the spring of 1917 the whole war became more mobile, with grand offensives at Arras, Messines and Passchendaele. There was n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and led to heavy, fairly immobile siege engines. As technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery cannons developed for battlefield use. This development continues today; modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility generally providing the largest share of an army's total firepower. Originally, the word "artillery" referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armor. Since the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, "artillery" has largely meant cannons, and in contemporary usage, usually refers to shell-firing guns, howitzers, and mortars (collectively called ''barrel artillery'', ''cannon artillery'', ''gun artillery'', or - a layman t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Army Group North (France)
Army Group North (french: Groupe d'armées du Nord, GAN) was a grouping of French field armies during the First World War, which was created on June 13, 1915 from french: Groupe Provisoire du Nord (GPN) which had been formed on October 4, 1914. On July 6, 1918, GAN was renamed '' Groupe d'armées du Centre'' (GAC). Composition October 1914 * 2nd Army (général Philippe Pétain) * 10th Army (général Louis de Maud'huy) * Détachement d'Armée de Belgique (DAB) (général Victor d'Urbal) July 1, 1915 from North to South : * Belgian Army (general Félix Wielemans) * 36th French Army Corps (général de division Alexis Hély d'Oissel) * 2nd British Army (general Horace Smith-Dorrien) * 1st British Army (general Douglas Haig) * 10th French Army (général Victor d'Urbal) * 2nd French Army (général Philippe Pétain) July 1, 1916 from North to South : * 6th Army (général Émile Fayolle) * 10th Army (général Victor d'Urbal) February 15, 1917 from North ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chief Of The Imperial General Staff
The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board. Prior to 1964, the title was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS). Since 1959, the post has been immediately subordinate to the Chief of the Defence Staff, the post held by the professional head of the British Armed Forces. The current Chief of the General Staff is General Sir Patrick Sanders, who succeeded his predecessor, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, in June 2022. Background The title was also used for five years between the demise of the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in 1904 and the introduction of Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1909. The post was then held by General Sir Neville Lyttelton and, briefly, by Field Marshal Sir William Nicholson. Throughout the existence of the post the Chief of the General Staff has been the First Military Member of the Army Boar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archibald Murray
General Sir Archibald James Murray, (23 April 1860 – 21 January 1945) was a British Army officer who served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. He was Chief of Staff to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in August 1914 but appears to have suffered a physical breakdown in the retreat from Mons, and was required to step down from that position in January 1915. After serving as Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff for much of 1915, he was briefly Chief of the Imperial General Staff from September to December 1915. He was subsequently Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from January 1916 to June 1917, in which role he laid the military foundation for the defeat and destruction of the Ottoman Empire in the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant. Army career Born the son of Charles Murray and Anne Murray (née Graves), and educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Archibald Murray was commissioned into the 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
24th Division (United Kingdom)
The 24th Division was an infantry division of the British Army, raised in September 1914 from men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies during the First World War. After almost a year spent training in England the division was sent to the Western Front between August and September 1915. It served in Belgium and France in the trenches of the Western Front for the duration of the war. Unit History The Division was one of the six created for the Third New Army on 13 September 1914. It moved to France in August 1915 and it saw action at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 and the Final Advance in Picardy in 1918. From its arrival in France to May 1917, it was commanded by Major-General John Capper. It was disbanded by March 1919. Order of Battle The 24th Division was constituted as follows during the war: 71st Brigade * 9th (Service) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment * 9th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment * 8th (Service) Battalion, Bedfo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
21st Division (United Kingdom)
The 21st Division was an infantry division of the British Army during World War I, raised in September 1914 by men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies. The division moved to France in September 1915 and served on the Western Front for the duration of the First World War. The division's insignia was the "triple-seven". Unit history The Division was the first of the six created for the Third New Army on 13 September 1914. It moved to France in September 1915. It took part in the Battle of Loos in September 1915, the Battle of the Somme in autumn 1916, the Battle of Arras in April 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele in autumn 1917 and the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. The division suffered 55,581 killed, wounded and missing, being the highest number of casualties suffered by any New Army division. The Division ceased to exist on 19 May 1919. Order of battle The following units served with the division: 62nd Brigade * 12th (Service) Battalion, Northumberla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guards Division (United Kingdom)
The Guards Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was formed in the Great War in France in 1915 from battalions of the Guards regiments from the Regular Army. The division served on the Western Front for the duration of the First World War. The division's insignia was the "All Seeing Eye". There was also a Guards Division in the Second World War which was formed on 12 June 1945 from the Guards Armoured Division which had undergone reorganisation. History First World War Formation In July 1915, during the First World War (1914–1918), George V approved the formation of a Guards Division and in August 1915 the division was formed at Lumbres, near St Omer, France. The 4th (Guards) Brigade was transferred complete from the 2nd Division and redesignated as the 1st Guards Brigade; the 2nd Guards Brigade was formed with two battalions from England and two more transferred from 1st (Guards) Brigade, 1st Division; and the 3rd Guards Brigade likewise w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Haking
General Sir Richard Cyril Byrne Haking, (24 January 1862 – 9 June 1945), was a British general who commanded XI Corps in the First World War. Arguments over the late release of Haking's Corps on the first day of the Battle of Loos were instrumental in forcing the resignation of Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Haking is remembered chiefly for the high casualties suffered by his forces (including many Australian troops) at the second Battle of Fromelles, launched while the Battle of the Somme was underway 80 km to the south, although at least one British historian has sought to defend his reputation, regarding him as an "intelligent and capable man" unfairly maligned in the popular mythology of the war. Although blocked from further promotion, he continued to command XI Corps – including in Italy in the winter of 1917–1918 and in Flanders in April 1918 – until the end of the war. He was the League of Nations High Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
XI Corps (United Kingdom)
XI Corps was a corps-sized formation of the British Expeditionary Force, active during the First World War that served on the Western Front and in Italy. It was recreated as part of Home Forces defending the United Kingdom during the Second World War. First World War Western Front XI Corps was formed in France on 29 August 1915 under Lt-Gen Richard Haking. Its first serious engagement (as part of Sir Charles Monro's First Army) was the Battle of Fromelles (19 July 1916), a diversion to the Somme offensive in which two untried divisions were launched into an ill-planned subsidiary attack in Flanders. It achieved nothing but cost thousands of casualties, and caused great resentment in Australia. ;Order of Battle at Fromelles General Officer Commanding Lt-Gen R. Haking * 61st (2nd South Midland) Division * 5th Australian Division Italian Front XI Corps was one of two corps HQs moved to the Italian Front in November 1917. ;Order of Battle in Italy 1 December 1917 GOC Lt-Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Cavalry Corps
The Indian Cavalry Corps was a formation of the British Indian Army in World War I. It was formed in France in December 1914. It remained in France until March 1916, when it was broken up. The corps consisted of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division and the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division, and together with the Indian Corps it formed Indian Expeditionary Force A. The high number of officer casualties had an effect: British officers who understood the language, customs, and psychology of their men could not be quickly replaced; as well, the alien environment of the Western Front had an adverse effect on the soldiers.Haythornthwaite P.J. (1992). ''The World War One Sourcebook'', Arms and Armour Press. Hew Fanshawe, from the 19th Hussars, commanded the 2nd Indian Cavalry Division in 1914. He was head of V Corps from 1915 to 1916. See also *Indian Cavalry Corps order of battle First World War The Indian Cavalry Corps was formed 18 December 1914.Edmunds 1925, p.484 Command :Commander Lieu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
