The Long, Long Trail

By far the most important theatre of war, both strategically and numerically, was the Western Front, running some 400 miles through Belgium and France. Here the British faced the German army, the main enemy.

The early strategic manoevres of the Allies, with the British initially placed on the left of the French line, quickly became a retreat that finally ended on the Marne, to the east of Paris. This placed the BEF a long way from their supply ports, so a decision was taken to move north, nearer the Channel Ports. And this is where they stayed, until late 1918. The length of line occupied by the British changed as the strength of the army grew. Here they shouldered an increasing burden and eventually played a lead role in defeating the German army in the second half of 1918.

Audacious strategy, bad luck, or bungling? In 1915, an ambitious action to capture Constantinople (Istanbul), starting with an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula, was launched.

Sadly, this breathtaking plan was not matched by the tactics or execution of the attack, nor by the political or material backing of the British Goverment, and after suffering proportionately very high losses, the Army evacuated in late 1915 and early 1916. There were two enemies faced here: the unexpectedly good Turkish army, in alliance with and advised by the Germans, and the terrible debilitating effects of disease.

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Now virtually forgotten, the British Army also fought in Mesopotamia (Iraq) against the Turks, originally with the intention of defending British oil interests. Another disease-ridden campaign, the British suffered the mortifying loss of a garrison beseiged at Kut-el-Amara, before gradually overcoming Turk resistance in the area.

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The British had historically built a significant army presence in Egypt, which was menaced by the Turks who occupied Palestine. In 1917, the British launched an attack through the Sinai up into the Holy Land and Jordan. This was a very different scene from the trench warfare of the Western Front, with great distances involved, in unhospitable terrain. This was a highly successful campaign (the second largest in terms of numbers deployed after the Western Front), which had significant political effects which to some extent last to the present day. The British also fought minor actions from Egypt against tribes and small groups who sought to take advantage in this area.

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British Divisions were sent from the Western Front to Italy in late 1917, initially as a response to an apparent collapse of the Italian army in front of a German attack at Caporetto. The Italians, who had been battling away without notable result against the Austro-Hungarian army, recovered. The British remained here on two separate fronts, facing the Austro-Hungarians. In late 1918, units of the 48th Division became the first Allied soldiers to enter the territory of the Central Powers when they crossed into Austria.

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In October 1915, an Allied force landed in Macedonia in an effort to persuade the Bulgarians not to attack Serbia. Politically motivated and complex, this campaign was dogged by indecision and terrible conditions that saw many more men die of sickness than fighting. Large numbers of Allied troops were pinned down in what the enemy regarded as little more than an internment camp.

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British units fought actions in West Africa and East Africa that roamed over thousands of square miles.