Table of Contents
Why has Sir Douglas Haig been Criticised as a general?
Major-General Sir John Davidson, one of Haig’s biographers, praised Haig’s leadership, and since the 1980s many historians have argued that the public hatred in which Haig’s name had come to be held failed to recognise the adoption of new tactics and technologies by forces under his command, the important role played …
Why did Haig order his troops to take part in such an offensive?
However, it is important to remember that Haig issued those orders because he felt he had little choice. Units with experienced officers usually adapted the tactics and suffered fewer casualties than units with inexperienced officers. The attack took place on 1 July 1916.
Who was the name given to the last line of German Defence in ww1?
Hindenburg Line
On September 29, 1918, after a 56-hour-long bombardment, Allied forces breach the so-called Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses on the Western Front during World War I.
What contributions did John J Black Jack Pershing make to the war effort?
Leading the AEF in Europe In 1917, as America entered World War I, General John J. Pershing was appointed commander in chief of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) to assist the Allied powers against German forces. At the time, the U.S. Army was composed of 130,000 men and no reserves.
Was General Haig successful?
Under Haig, the British Empire engaged the main enemy in the main theatre of war and defeated it. Despite this success, he remains a controversial figure and for many his leadership was marked by unacceptable losses.
How many soldiers died under Haig?
By then, Haig’s army had suffered more than 400,000 casualties. For the British, in the grave judgment of noted military historian John Keegan, “the battle was the greatest tragedy…of their national military history” and “marked the end of an age of vital optimism in British life that has never been recovered.”
What does win by attrition mean?
Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel.
Was the Battle of the Somme necessary?
The Somme, like Verdun for the French, has a prominent place in British history and popular memory and has come to represent the loss and apparent futility of the war. But the Allied offensive on the Somme was a strategic necessity fought to meet the needs of an international alliance.
Where was the Siegfried Line breached?
The Siegfried Line was a World War II German defensive system stretching some 390 miles along the western border of the old German Empire. Referred to as the Westwall by the Germans, it ran from Kleve, on the border with the Netherlands, to the town of Weil am Rhein, near the Swiss border in the south.
Who broke the Siegfried Line?
The African American 614th Tank Destroyer Battalion’s aggressive assault across Germany’s Siegfried Line in 1945 earned the respect and camaraderie of white GIs in the front lines.
What did John Pershing do?
He served most famously as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front during World War I, from 1917 to 1918. Pershing also allowed (at that time segregated) American all-Black units to be integrated with the French Army.