British Army during the First World War

[3]In the last years of the 19th century, the Army was involved in a major conflict, the Second Boer War (1899–1902), which highlighted shortcomings in its tactics, leadership and administration.

By the end of 1914 (after the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres), the old regular British Army had been virtually wiped out; although it managed to stop the German advance.

Caution therefore should be employed before accepting claims that there was a deliberate attempt to "destroy the Regiment … and nationalise the Army"[25] Women also volunteered and served in a non-combatant role; by the end of the war, 80,000 had enlisted.

The first commander of the British II Corps was Lieutenant General James Grierson, a noted tactician who died of a heart attack soon after arriving in France.

The collapse of the Fifth Army was widely viewed as the reason for the German breakthrough in the Spring Offensive, and Gough was dismissed as its commander in March 1918, being succeeded by General William Birdwood for the last months of the war.

Some of these were found wanting, due to their advanced age, their unwillingness to serve, or a lack of competence and fitness; most were sent back into retirement before the first year of the war was over, leaving a gap that had to be filled by lower-ranking officers.

The common doctrine of headquarters at all levels was outlined in the Field Service Pocket Book, which Haig had introduced while serving as Director of Staff Studies at the War Office in 1906.

[60][61] The infantry's marksmanship, and fire and movement techniques, had been inspired by Boer tactics and was established as formal doctrine by Colonel Charles Monro when he was in charge of the School of Musketry at Hythe.

In the last exercise before the war, it was noted that the "infantry made wonderful use of ground, advances in short rushes and always at the double and almost invariably fires from a prone position".

First World War accounts tell of British troops repelling German attackers, who subsequently reported that they had encountered machine guns, when in fact, it was simply a group of trained riflemen armed with SMLEs.

This company had 10 Vickers guns; it was ordered to give sustained covering fire for 12 hours onto a selected area 2,000 yd (1,800 m) away, to prevent German troops forming up there for a counterattack while a British attack was in progress.

Expecting an offensive mobile war, the Army had not instructed the troops in defensive tactics and had failed to obtain stocks of barbed wire, hand grenades, or trench mortars.

The formation was expected to move forward at a rate of 100 yd (91 m) every two minutes, even though each man carried his rifle, bayonet, gas mask, ammunition, two hand grenades, wire cutters, a spade, two empty sandbags and flares.

[79] The army also mounted a variety of surplus naval guns on various railway platforms to provide mobile long-range heavy artillery on the Western Front.

[98] At the end of the war, Engineers were directly responsible for maintaining buildings and designing the infantry front-line fortifications and artillery positions, the telephones, wireless and other signalling equipment, railways, roads, water supply, bridges and transport.

Once complete, the NCOs would assign daily chores, before the men attended to the cleaning of rifles and equipment, filling sandbags, repairing trenches or digging latrines.

Terms of imprisonment were often suspended, to discourage soldiers from committing an offence to escape the front lines, but also to give a convicted man a chance to earn a reprieve for good conduct.

The policy of commuting 90 percent of death sentences may have been deliberate mercy in the application of military law designed for a small regular army recruited from the rougher elements of society.

By the end of 1917 the Cabinet Committee on Manpower were hearing about an alarming rise in drunkenness, desertions and psychological disorders, and reports of soldiers' returning from the front grumbling about "the waste of life" at Ypres.

[138][139] Under the command of Field Marshal Sir John French,[31] the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) began to deploy to France within days of the declaration of war.

[144][145][146] On 22 April 1915, the German Army launched the Second Battle of Ypres, employing poison gas for the first time on the Western Front and capturing much of the high ground that ringed the salient.

[151] In February 1917, the German Army began to withdraw to the Hindenburg Line and it was these formidable defences that elements of the BEF assaulted in the Battle of Arras in April.

On 21 March 1918, General Erich Ludendorff, Germany's Chief Quartermaster-General,[156] launched the Spring Offensive, which was intended to defeat the Allies on the Western Front before the strength of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) could become overwhelming.

[163] Army reinforcements were moved into Dublin and, by 28 April, the 1,600 rebels were facing 18 to 20,000 soldiers,[162] the rising was suppressed after seven days of fighting, its leaders were court martialled and executed.

[166][168] The force was composed of units of the KAR and the 27th Bangalore Brigade from the British Indian Army, with the 2nd Battalion, Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) under command.

[166] In April 1915, following the failure of the Royal Navy's attempt to capture the Dardanelles, British and ANZAC forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula, under the command of General Ian Hamilton.

[174] The defeat in the Second Battle of Gaza prompted the War Office to change the command of the EEF, and on 28 June 1917, Murray was replaced by General Sir Edmund Allenby, who reinvigorated the campaign.

[166] In February and April 1918, Australian mounted troops took part in two raids east across the Jordan River near Es Salt, a village in Palestine 14 mi (23 km) west of Amman.

Shipwrecked British seamen from HMT Moorina and HMS Tara, who had been held at Bir Hakeim, were rescued by a contingent of armoured cars led by the Duke of Westminster.

In the 1920s, and much of the 1930s, the General Staff tried to establish a small, mechanised, professional army and formed the Experimental Mechanized Force but, with the lack of any identified threat, its main function reverted to garrison duties around the British Empire.