First World War 1914-1918 (France-Flanders)

Timeline of Military Conflicts and Notable dates

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First World War 1914-1918 (France-Flanders)

Postby apowell » Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:37 am

Causes of the war
The spark that caused the outbreak of World War One was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary when on the 28 June 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated him and his wife while they were in Sarajevo, Bosnia which was part of Austria-Hungary.

British Campaigns

1914
Battle of Mons
23 August 1914
The battle opened at dawn with a German artillery bombardment of the British lines. Understanding that the salient formed by the loop in the canal was the weak-point of the British defences, throughout the day the Germans focused their primary efforts on attacking the British there. At 9:00 a.m., the first German infantry assault began, with the Germans attempting to force their way across the four bridges that crossed the canal at the salient. Four German battalions attacked the Nimy bridge, which was defended by a single company of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, as well as a machine gun section led by Lieutenant Maurice Dease. Advancing at first in close column the Germans made nearly unmissable targets for the well-trained British riflemen and were mown down by rifle, machine gun, and artillery fire. Indeed, so heavy was the British rifle fire throughout the battle that the Germans thought they were facing batteries of machine guns. In a way, both sides were victorious at the Battle of Mons.[48] The British, outnumbered by as much as 3 to 1, managed to hold off the German First Army for 48 hours while inflicting significantly heavier casualties on their enemies, and were then able to retire in good order. They thus achieved their main strategic objective, which was to protect the French Fifth Army from being outflanked.
Lieutenant Maurice Dease of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. For his actions at Mons, he became one of the first two recipients of the Victoria Cross in the First World War. His award was posthumous.

Battle of the Marne
5–12 September 1914
Allied Army manages to halt the German Armies advance and save Paris.

First Battle of Ypres
19 October-22 November 1914
Allied Army halted German offensive resulting in the creation of the static trench system lasting until the German 1918 Spring offensive. The battle was also significant as it witnessed the destruction of the highly experienced and trained British regular army. Having suffered enormous losses for its small size, "The Old Contemptibles" disappeared, to be replaced by fresh reserves which eventually turned into a mass conscripted army.

1915
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
10–13 March 1915
British offensive in the Artois region and broke through at Neuve-Chapelle, but the British were unable to exploit the advantage. The Indian Corps provided half the attacking force at the battle. Rifleman Gabbar Singh Negi of the 2nd / 39th Garhwal Rifles was awarded the Victoria Cross, The citation for his award, published in the official London Gazette, read:
For most conspicuous bravery on 10 March, 1915, at Neuve-Chapelle. During our attack on the German position he was one of a bayonet party with bombs who entered their main trench, and was the first man to go round each traverse, driving back the enemy until they were eventually forced to surrender. He was killed during this engagement.

Second Battle of Ypres
Thursday 21 April – 25 May 1915
The Second Battle of Ypres consisted of six indecisive engagements
The Battle of Gravenstafel: Thursday 22 April – Friday 23 April 1915, The Battle of Saint Julien: Saturday 24 April – 4 May 1915, The Battle of Frezenberg: 8–13 May 1915, The First Battle of Bellewaarde: 24–25 May 1915, The Battle of Hooge 30 and 31 July 1915 -(First use of German Liquid Fire Attack-Flamethrowers), The Second Attack on Bellewaarde 25 September 1915.

Battle of Loos
25 September - 18 October 1915
largest British offensive mounted on the Western Front in 1915 during World War I. The first British use of poison gas occurred and the battle was the first mass engagement of New Army units. The British offensive was part of the attempt by the French 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 contained by the German armies, except for local losses of ground. Casualties in the Herbstschlacht (Autumn Battle) were high on both sides.

1916
Battle of the Somme campaign
1 July – 18 November 1916

Battle of Albert
1–13 July
British Fourth Army inflicted a considerable defeat on the German Second Army but from the Albert-Bapaume road to Gommecourt the British attack was a disaster, where most of the 60,000 British casualties were incurred.

Battle of Bazentin Ridge
14–17 July
The Fourth Army attacked the German second defensive position from the Somme past Guillemont and Ginchy, north-west along the crest of the ridge to Pozières on the Albert–Bapaume road. Most of the objective was captured and the German defence south of the Albert–Bapaume road put under great strain but the attack was not followed-up due to British communication failures, casualties and disorganisation.

Battle of Fromelles
19–20 July
The attack was the début of the Australian Imperial Force and "the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history" Of 7,080 BEF casualties, 5,533 losses were incurred by the 5th Australian Division.

Battle of Delville Wood
14 July – 15 September
Operation to secure the British right flank, while the centre advanced to capture the higher lying areas of High Wood and Pozières. The début of the South African 1st Infantry Brigade , which held the wood from 15–20 July. When relieved the brigade had lost 2,536 men.

Battle of Pozières Ridge
23 July – 7 August
Success capture of the village by the 1st Australian Division the only success in the Allied fiasco of 22/23 July, when a general attack degenerated into a series of failures due to communication and supply failures and poor weather.

Battle of Ginchy
9 September 1916
The 16th Division captured the German-held village.

Battle of Flers–Courcelette
15–22 September 1916
The battle is also notable for the début of the Canadian Corps and New Zealand Division on the Somme and the first use of the tank.

Battle of Thiepval Ridge
26–28 September 1916
British assualt on the well fortified Thiepval Ridge with only some success.

Battle of the Ancre Heights
1 October – 18 November 1916
The last big British operation of the year completing the capture of Regina Trench/Stuff Trench, north of Courcelette to the west end of Bazentin Ridge around Schwaben and Stuff Redoubts.

Casualties of the Somme Campaign
The Somme was one of the costliest battles of the First World War. The original Allied estimate of casualties on the Somme was 485,000 British and French casualties and 630,000 German.

A German officer wrote:
Somme-The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word.

1917
Battle of Arras
9 April – 16 May 1917
British offensive British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front. At Arras the Allied objectives were to draw German troops away from the ground chosen for other French attacks and to take the German-held high ground that dominated the plain of Douai.

The British effort was a relatively broad front assault between Vimy in the northwest and Bullecourt in the southeast. After considerable bombardment, Canadian troops advancing in the north were able to capture the strategically significant Vimy Ridge and British divisions in the centre were also able to make significant gains astride the Scarpe river. In the south, British and Australian forces were frustrated by the elastic defence and made only minimal gains. Following these initial successes, British forces engaged in a series of small-scale operations to consolidate the newly won positions. Although these battles were generally successful in achieving limited aims, these were gained at the price of relatively large numbers of casualties.

1918
Operation Michael
21 March – 5 April 1918
German military operation were launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was to break through the Allied lines and advance in a north-west direction and seize the Channel ports which supplied the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and drive the BEF into the sea. Just two days into the operation, Ludendorff changed his plan, and pushed for an offensive due west along the whole of the British front north of the Somme. This was designed to separate the French and British Armies and crush the British forces by pushing them into the sea. The offensive ended at Villers-Bretonneux, a little to the east of the key Allied communications centre of Amiens, where the Entente managed to halt the German advance. Over 75,000 British soldiers had been taken prisoner, and by the standards of the time, a substantial advance across enemy ground had occurred. It was, however, of little military value given both the casualties suffered by the German crack troops and the fact that Amiens and Arras remained in Allied hands. The German advance stalled largely through very heavy casualties, an inability to maintain supplies to the advancing troops and the arrival of Allied reserves.

Both sides suffered massive losses during the battle. The Allies lost nearly 255,000 men (British, British Empire, French and American losses). The British suffered 177,739 killed, wounded and missing, (90,882 of them in Gough’s Fifth Army and 78,860 in Byng’s Third Army) of these, just under 15,000 died. An unusually high proportion of those who died have no known grave. The greatest losses were to 36th (Ulster) Division (7,310), 16th (Irish) Division (7,149) and 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division (7,023). All three formations were destroyed and had to be taken out of the order of battle to be rebuilt. Six other divisions each lost more than 5,000 men. They also lost 1,300 artillery pieces and 200 tanks. All of this could be replaced, either from British factories or from American manpower. The Germans had captured 1,200 sq mi (3,100 km2) of France and advanced up to 40 mi (64 km) but they had not achieved any of their strategic objectives. German troop losses were 250,000 men,largely specialist shock troops who were irreplaceable. German casualties, for a slightly different period of 21 March – 30 April (which includes the Battle of the Lys) are given as 348,300. A comparable Allied total over this longer period would be French losses of 92,004 plus British of 236,300, making just over 328,000. In terms of morale, the initial German jubilation at the successful opening of the offensive soon turned to disappointment as it became clear that the attack had not achieved decisive results.

Conclusion
Hostilities ended on the 11th Novemebr 1918 and formally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles signed 28 June 1919.
apowell
 
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