The Battle of Messines Ridge was a great success for the British. At 3:10 in the morning of June 7th 1917, 19 mines, which lay under the German trenches, were exploded. Within seconds of this, shells from 2000 heavy guns poured down onto the German trenches. British troops charged across no-mans land. The artillery barrage crept forward ahead of the attacking infantry. Within three hours the German trenches on the ridge had all been seized. British casualties were only a one-fifth of what was initially expected. This was the first time in the war that the Allies controlled part of the high ground around Ypres.
On august 8th 1918 General Haig launched a huge British offensive. It took the Germans by surprise. There was no preliminary bombardment. Instead the artillery used a creeping barrage (shells were aimed to land a few feet in front of the advancing infantry). This forced the enemy to keep their heads down until the attackers were almost upon them. The attack included 400 tanks. Hundreds of Allied planes also attacked the enemy with their machine guns and dropped ammunition and food to advancing troops. On this one day the British Army advanced 8 up to miles.
As the offensive continued the German army began to crumble. The troops were dispirited. The German army was now to weak to hold back the Allies. Haigs’ earlier policy of ‘attrition’ had now been fulfilled. However the Germans weren’t defeated yet, they were inflicting heavy casualties on the advancing Allies. The Germans were also falling back on the ‘Hindenburg Line’ of defences. In September British troops attacked the Hindenburg Line. In two days the artillery, tanks and infantry created a 12-mile wide hole in the Hindenburg Line. This was a major success for Haig and the British Army.
General Haig was unsuccessful during the years of 1917-1918 because he lost or the advantage was to the Germans in the majority of the battles. These battles were The Nivelle Offensive; the tactics were the same as the ones used at The Somme. At first all seemed to be going well. The French advanced with little resistance. They failed to realise that this was deliberate, the Germans had withdrawn to stronger defences, the ‘Hindenburg Line’. When the French approached the new defences they were cut down in their thousands.
When the British stormed Arras and took the German front line, the state of the roads and railways behind the soldiers made it impossible to bring up enough reinforcements. The Germans were able to bring up reinforcements and plugged the gap. If General Haig had realised that the roads and railways were in such a poor state then he could of planned for this. This was a downside of Haigs battle plan; he liked to use a full force offensive and didn’t consider the consequences.
In July 1917 Haig launched a British offensive on Flanders. It was called The 3rd Battle of Ypres. The main plan was to drive the German army away from the Belgian coastline; this was where the Germans had built U-boat bases. An attack on Flanders would also stop the Germans attacking the French in the south. Like the Somme Haig didn’t mind how much land was gained, he believed it would contribute to the ‘wearing down’ of the Germans Army. The land in Flanders is very low-lying and floods easily; this is why the attack was planned for July. Shortly before the attack it rained very heavily. The land turned to mud. Haig still decided to press on with the attack. The artillery bombardment lasted two weeks. It turned the battlefield into a sticky mess; in some places the mud was twenty feet deep. The British soldiers found it difficult to wade through the mud, some even drowned. Tanks were also sent into the battle, they found it impossible to operate in the mud. On the other hand the rain made it difficult for the Germans to defend. Their trenches flooded and collapsed. The Germans still resisted. British progress was extremely slow. There were huge casualties on both sides and little ground was gained.
