The huge losses suffered by the Pals brigades at the Somme saw them largely disbanded in later years however, when conscription was introduced to breach the gap caused by waning morale. Known as the Hull Pals, this battalion and 3 others like it would fight again at Oppy Wood in 1917. The 10th (Service) Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, pictured here, spent the evening before the first day of the Somme cutting through British barbed wire to pave the way for their attack in the morning. Many of these battalions served for the first time at the Somme, with tragically heavy casualties. Pals battalion troops from the East Yorkshire Regiment marching to the trenches near DoullenĪt the start of the war, men were encouraged to sign up in Pals battalions, where they could volunteer to fight alongside their friends, neighbours, and colleagues.
It required a team of 6-8 men to operate, with one acting as the gunner, another feeding in the ammunition, and the rest needed to carry all of the equipment. The Vickers machine gun was employed by the British army throughout the First World War, and was based on the designs of the 19th-century Maxim gun. Vickers machine gun crew wearing gas masks near Ovillers In the hollowed out caverns below the battlefield, soldiers waiting to be sent above ground etched their names and messages into the walls. Graffiti from soldiers waiting to attack at the Somme Lasting 2 weeks, the Battle of Albert was the first military engagement of the Somme, and witnessed some of worst casualties of the entire war. The Lancashire Fusiliers’ trench before the Battle of Albert 1 July is unlikely to ever be replaced as the most tragic day for the British Army. Instead of the breakout advance the Allies were hoping for, the army was bogged down in months of stalemate. But Field Marshall Haig’s plan was flawed, and the troops suffered terrible losses. Following the failure of the German 1918 offensive Ludendorff suffered a nervous breakdown and was forced to resign, just before the end of the war.On 1 July 1916, British Tommies went over the top in what was the biggest attack in British military history, the Battle of the Somme. Between they gained control not just of the armed forces but also of Germany’s war effort and of the political scene, for example insisting on unrestricted submarine warfare despite the objections of the chancellor, Bethman Hollweg, who resigned. As the narrative unfolds it is clear how Ludendorff became the driving force though always acknowledging Hindenburg’s senior position, and, of course, always paying lip service to the All-Highest. When Hindenburg was appointed Chief of theGeneral Staff in August 1916 and moved to the Western Front, Ludendorff went with him as his deputy in the newly created post of First Quartermaster-General. Within a week they had won a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg and became instant heroes. Thus began the partnership that was to last till Ludendorff’s resignation over four years later on 26th October 1918. Ludendorff first came to notice when he took charge of operations that led to the capture of the fortress of Liege on 7th August 1914, for which he was awarded the Pour le Merite, and which he describes in detail.Two weeks later he was sent to the Eastern Front as Chief of Staff of 8th Army under the newly appointed commander, von Hindenburg. In 1913 he was posted to Dusseldorf as CO 39th Fusiliers and in 1914 he moved again, on promotion, to Strasburg as commander 85th Brigade on the outbreak of war he became Deputy Chief of Staff of General von Bulow’s Second Army.
From March 1904 to January 1913 he was, with only one short interval, in the Operations Department of which he became Chief. After several regimental postings and the Kriegesakademie Ludendorff joined the General Staff being promoted Major in 1900.
Born on 9 April 1865 in Kruschevnia, Posen district, Ludendorff passed through the Military Academy at Lichterfelde and in 1885 was commissioned into the 57th Infantry Regiment, a Westphalien regiment. He is going to give an account of the “magnificent deeds” of the German Army, deeds from which Germany can take heart and “with which my name will for all time be associated”. In his introduction, Ludendorff remarks that he had no time to keep any record of events and the narrative that follows is based chiefly on his memory. Given his enormous prestige and high position in the imperial German Army it is hard to believe he was not ‘von’. The first thing to be made clear is that Ludendorff was NOT a ‘von’ as he is so often shown, even by reputable historians.