BATTLES OF WORLD WAR I
TRENCH WARFARE
BATTLE OF THE MARNE
• The 1st Battle of Marne - The First World War - Sept 1914
• Germans continued their push towards Paris. This was part of the
Schlieffen Plan
• British and French troops retreated to positions south of the Seine and
Marne rivers. French 6th Army launched a counter attack.
• French managed to save Paris. (Reinforcements were sent in taxi's
from Paris.)
BATTLE OF THE MARNE
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Around 600 taxis used to transport 6,000 French troops to
battle.
Over 2 million troops fought in First Battle of the Marne.
260,000 ALLIED CASUALTIES
250,000 GERMAN CASUALTIES
YPRES
• First Battle of Ypres was last major
battle of the first year (1914)
• This battle marked the end of the Race to
the Sea where Germans tried to reach
French ports of Calais and Dunkirk,
which were the main supply routes for
the British Expeditionary Force.
• Germans called the battle "The Massacre
of the Innocents" (German
"Kindermord").
• Many of German units consisted of
enthusiastic students. Their offensive
had been stopped by a British force,
which although outnumbered was highly
professional having learned many
lessons from the Boer War.
• The BEF was effectively destroyed at
First Ypres but bought the British
valuable time to reinforce the lines
YPRES X3
• The Battle of Ypres includes three
battles. They were fought in
Ypres, Belgium.
• The town of Ypres was always
under attack from the Germans
because it was a key point in
keeping them from the English
Channel.
VERDUN
• "They shall not pass." -Philippe Pétain
• fought between Feb and Dec 1916.
• resulted in nearly one million deaths and an additional
450,000 wounded and missing.
• one of longest and bloodiest battles in history.
VERDUN
• Douaumont Ossuary (remains of 130,000 unknown soldiers) and
National cemetery (15,000 graves of identified French soldiers).
• Germany captured a centre of France's fortifications -Fort
Douaumont but could not capture Verdun itself.
Verdun
• Germans assaulted French forces
with massive artillery barrage
and then advanced on French
trenches using flamethrowers for
the first time.
VERDUN AFTERMATH
• apparent successes of fixed fortification system (with
the exception of Fort Douaumont) led to adoption of
the Maginot Line as preferred method of defense
along the Franco-German border during the interwar years.
• France's army was plagued not with desertions, but
rather with a general refusal to march face-first into
the teeth of Germany's impregnable positions.
• France's troops remained in their trenches, willing to
fight only in a defensive capacity.
BATTLE OF THE SOMME
• 1916- Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles, with
more than one million casualties. The British and French forces
attempted to break through the German lines along a 25 mile
(40 km) front north and south of the River Somme in northern
France. One purpose of the battle was to draw German forces
away from the battle of Verdun; however, by its end the losses on
the Somme had exceeded those at Verdun
BATTLE OF THE SOMME
• The battle is best remembered for its first day, 1 July
1916, on which the British suffered 57,470 casualties of
which 19,240 were killed or died of wounds. It remains
the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.
BATTLE OF THE
SOMME MOVIE
• For the first time the home front
in Britain was exposed to the
horrors of modern war with the
release of the propaganda film,
The Battle of the Somme which
used actual footage from the first
days of the battle.
• The film spanned five reels and
lasted 63 minutes . It was first
screened on 10 August, 1916,
while the battle was still raging.
• On 21 August the film began
showing simultaneously in 34
London cinemas.
SOMME MOVIE CONT…
• film was screened for British soldiers at rest in France where it
provided new recruits with some idea of what they were about to
face. Soldier's main complaint was failure of film to capture
sounds of battle. However, as a silent film, the titles could be
remarkably forthright, describing images of injury and death.
• film was shown to British public as a morale booster and was
favourably received. British public's response to film was
enormous with an estimated 20 million tickets being sold in two
months. On this basis, The Battle of the Somme remains one of the
most successful British films ever.
PASSCHENDAELE
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Battle of Passchendaele, otherwise known as Third Battle of Ypres, fought by
British, ANZAC, & Canadian soldiers against German army near Ypres
village is now known as Passendale, the term Passchendaele alone is now used to
refer to this battle. The label "Passchendaele" should properly apply only to battle's
later actions in Oct–Nov 1917, but has come to be applied also to the entire
campaign from July 31. After three months of fierce fighting, the Canadians took
Passchendaele on Nov 6, 1917, ending the battle.
PASSCHENDAELE
• "...I died in Hell
• (they called it
Passchendaele) my
wound was slight
• and I was hobbling
back; and then a shell
• burst slick upon the
duckboards; so I fell
• into the bottomless
mud, and lost the
light"
• -- Siegfried Sassoon
VIMY RIDGE
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seminal event in Canadian history
Vimy, located in northern France, was one of most heavily
defended points on Western Front and was thought to be
impregnable.
Germans fortified it with tunnels, 3 rows of trenches
behind barbed wire, and numerous machine gun nests.
French and British had suffered thousands of casualties in
previous attempts to take Ridge; the French alone lost 150
000 men at Vimy in 1915. The ridge was a crucial point
that allowed Germans to control much of surrounding
territory.
Canadians determined to learn from mistakes of French
and British and spent months planning their attack.
Built a replica of the Ridge behind own lines, and trained
using platoon-level tactics, including issuing detailed maps
to ordinary soldiers rather than officers or NCOs alone.
Each platoon given a specific task by commanding
officers, rather than vague instructions from an absent
general.
employed older techniques such as detonation of large
mines under German trenches.
VIMY RIDGE
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On April 2, 1917, the Canadians launched
largest artillery barrage in history up to
that point. They shelled the German
trenches for the next week, using over one
million shells. The attack was loud enough
that it could be heard in London.
Easter Monday, April 9, the 30 000-strong
Canadians began the attack, using a
creeping barrage, a new technique
whereby soldiers walked across No-Man's
Land just behind a continuous line of
shells
After less than two hours, three of the four
Canadian divisions had taken their
objectives; the fourth division, however,
was caught by the machine gun nests on
the highest point of the Ridge known as
Hill 145. The 87th Battalion suffered 50%
casualties.
VIMY RIDGE CONT…
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By April 12 the Canadians controlled the
entire Ridge, at a cost of 3598 men
killed and 7104 wounded. The Germans
suffered approximately 20 000
casualties. The Canadians also took
4,000 German POWs.
It was the first time in Canadian history
that its army fought as a complete
organization in an independent battle.
The capture of the Ridge by the
Canadian Corps, under the command of
British General Julian H.G. Byng with
Canadian General Sir Arthur Currie
acting as Chief-of-Staff), was a turning
point for Allies.
The success of the Canadian forces in
this battle and others earned them a
place at the post-war peace negotiations,
a clear mark of the nation's
independence from Britain.
GALLIPOLI
• The Battle of Gallipoli took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli in
1915. A combined Allied operation was mounted in order to eventually
capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. The attempt failed, and an
estimated 131,000 soldiers were killed and 262,000 wounded.
• In Britain it is called the Dardanelles Campaign and in Australia and New
Zealand it is known simply as Gallipoli
GALLIPOLI MOVIE
• The film Gallipoli (1981) is an
account of several young men from
rural Western Australia who enlist
in the Australian armed forces.
They are sent to Turkey, where
they take part in the Battle of
Gallipoli.
• It stars Mel Gibson.
• The climax of the movie occurs on
the Anzac battlefield at Gallipoli
and depicts the ill-fated attack at
the Nek on the morning of the
August 7, 1915
GALLIPOLI