The British at First and Second Ypres

Bob Carruthers

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781473836075
• eBook ISBN: 9781473876576
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This new volume in the long-running Images of War series features the actions of the British Army at Ypres from 1914-15. Rare photographs illustrating the optimistic men of the BEF in the act of mobilization and transport to France are contrasted with photographs from the battlefield during the opening phases of the campaign, which culminated in the four-year struggle for the Ypres salient. The photographs are accompanied by a fascinating text, featuring Bruce Bairnsfather's personal description of the conditions endured by the men in the rudimentary trenches on the Ypres salient during 1914-15 as the early phase of the battle for Ypres raged around them. This book incorporates a wide range of photographic images encompassing the actions of the cavalry, infantry and artillery. Also featured are images, which depict the myriad activity behind the lines, dealing with German prisoners of war, the endless supply columns of the commissariat and the extraordinary efforts to provide proper medical care for the wounded.

Chapter One

THE BEF AND THE ROAD TO YPRES

The photographs in this book depict the men of the British Expeditionary Force, or BEF, who, from 1914–1918, formed the garrison of the beleaguered Belgian town of Ypres and the salient which surrounded it. The BEF was the force sent to the Western Front during the opening days of the First World War. The first wave of men from 1914 who look back at us from these pages were the regular volunteers of the standing army and they represented the cream of Britain’s manpower; highly trained, motivated and professional in their outlook.

Under the terms of the Entente Cordiale, the British Army’s role in a European war was to embark soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, which initially was to consist of six infantry divisions and five cavalry brigades that were arranged into I Corps and II Corps. However, the British Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, believing Britain should husband her resources for a long war and guard against German invasion, convinced the Cabinet on 6 August that the initial BEF led by General French would consist of only four infantry divisions (and one of cavalry), and not the six which had been promised.

The hurried preparations for the movement of the BEF to France are brought vividly to life by the photographs in this book, which are largely drawn from contemporary periodicals. Where possible the flavour of the period has been honoured by using the original captions. This can lead to a rather jingoistic tone, but that was certainly the mood of 1914 and it seems appropriate to reflect that in these pages.

Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who was purportedly dismissive of the BEF, allegedly issued an order on 19 August 1914 calling on the Imperial German army to ‘exterminate… the treacherous English and walk over General French’s contemptible little army’. Hence, in later years, the survivors of the regular army dubbed themselves ‘The Old Contemptibles’. It is important to note, however, that no evidence of any such order being issued by the Kaiser has ever been found. It was probably a British propaganda invention, albeit one often repeated as fact.

The term ‘British Expeditionary Force’ is often used to refer only to the forces present in France prior to the end of the First Battle of Ypres on 22 November 1914, although the more widely recognised alternative endpoint of the BEF is 26 December 1914, when, with the Ypres salient firmly established, the BEF was divided into the First and Second Armies. However, the BEF remained the official name of the British armies in France and Flanders throughout the First World War.

In 1914 Lord Kitchener stated that the conflict would plumb the depths of manpower ‘to the last million’. Against Cabinet opinion, Kitchener controversially predicted a long war that would last at least three years, require huge new armies to defeat Germany and cause huge casualties before the end would come. As a result of his realistic stance a massive recruitment campaign began to raise a new army. The activities which surrounded the raising of that army can be traced in the pages which follow. The recruiting campaign for the new armies featured the famous poster of Kitchener, taken from the 5 September 1914 London Opinion magazine cover (shown above right). It played its part in encouraging large numbers of volunteers and has proven to be one of the most enduring images of the war. Kitchener built up the ‘New Armies’ as separate units because he distrusted the Territorials from what he had seen as an observer during the Franco-Prussian War with the French Army in 1870. This may have been an erroneous comparison, as the British reservists of 1914 tended to be much younger and fitter and more courageous than their French equivalents a generation earlier.

At the War Council on 5 August 1914, Kitchener and Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Haig argued that the BEF should be deployed at Amiens near the French...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Chapter One: The Bef and the Road to Ypres
• Chapter Two: The Race to the Sea
• Chapter Three: The Ypres Salient
• Chapter Four: The First Battle of Ypres
• Chapter Five: The Second Battle of Ypres