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Description: | Everyday life for British front line soldiers on the Western Front in 1917.
By 1917 the Western Front was the dominant front of a truly world-wide war. The primary division had come to be between those in the fighting zone and those outside it. No-one who did not live in this "landscape of madness" could understand it, except perhaps the war artists. While in the air individuality could still be maintained, in the trenches all was anonymous. There was little hatred and much sympathy between front line enemies. By the end of the year all armies showed signs of a massive nervous strain. The British Army, now almost entirely a conscript citizen army, was five million men, of which nearly two million were on the Western Front. There were 304,000 courts martial and 3,080 death sentences of which 346 were carried out, the overwhelming majority on the Western Front and for desertion; the discipline of the British Army never broke down. The front line had its compensations, chiefly in comradeship between friends. In 1917 the debate on whether the war could be won on the Western Front reached its peak. Prime Minister Lloyd George opposed the idea, but General Sir William Robertson, the CIGS, supported it strongly. Britain's Allies were weak: Russia went out of the war in 1917, the USA could send only four divisions by the end of the year, Italy was defeated at Caparetto. But France slowly revived under a new Prime Minister, Georges Clémenceau. Appointed in November, he believed in the Western Front and in continuing the war. The deadlock on the Western Front resulted from the failure of artillery to overcome trench defences without ruining the ground for mobility. On 20th November at Cambrai the British used 476 tanks and no preliminary bombardment, and broke through part of the Hindenburg Line in four hours. At home church bells were rung in celebration; but it was not a decisive victory and the German counter-attack drove the British back almost to their start lines. As Christmas 1917 approached the prospects for the British for the next four months were the most dangerous since 1914.
16mm | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | 01/3(4-15).7 01/3(4-15).76 | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Shaw, Sebastian | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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