The movement of B.E.F. troops started on the 9th of August 1914. On the 17th of August the B.E.F. started moving onto Belgium territory towards the town of Mons. Here they took up defensive positions and awaited the incoming German army under General von Kluck.
On August the 23rd the German First Army encountered the B.E.F. troops at Le Mons. The Germans attacked with masses of troops in organised lines. The B.E.F. had been trained in rapid fire, and this led the Germans to believe they had many more machine guns than they actually did. The Germans incurred vast losses at Le Mons, and decided to abandon their front line attacks on the British. The German Army started attacking the B.E.F. in short bursts and they also tried to outflank the B.E.F. and surround them. The B.E.F. were heavily outnumbered and this forced them to fight a fighting retreat. There was the danger of being encircled and destroyed, but the B.E.F., travelling up to forty miles a day, saved themselves from disaster.
The fierce fight put up by the British at Le Mons proved to be extremely vital, as it enabled the French to mobilise its troops to fight in the battle of Marne. The German First Army (which was west of the second Army and had planned to occupy Paris from the West) lost contact with the Second Army, and started to drift east. At this point, General Joffre, the French commander in Paris launched a counter-attack on the Germans on the River Marne on the 4th of September. Here there was fierce fighting, and eventually the French forced the Germans to retire forty miles back to defensive positions on the River Aisne. This was the failure of the Schlieffen plan, as the first German army had not encircled and outflanked the French and British armies.
After the Failure of the Schlieffen plan, the German General was replaced and he decided to try and outflank the Allies to the North and capture the Channel Ports of Calais and Boulogne. This would have proven disastrous for the Allies, as vital inflow of British troops and supplies from Britain to France used these ports. IN a counter move, the Allies also decided to try and outflank the Germans to the north. This was the race to the coast. Throughout October and November there was fierce fighting between the Germans and the allies. Antwerp fell to the Germans, but The British managed to halt the Germans at Ypres.
Ypres was a terrible and bloody battle; there were some 50,000 British causalities. This had the B.E.F. practically destroyed, but it prevented the Germans access to the coast ports and prevented a German break through. This helped put a stop to the German plans for 1914.
By the end of 1914 the rival armies had reached a stalemate. Both sides were tired, and had suffered over half a million each. Both armies began to dig in their position; to fortify their positions. These fortified positions soon became trenches and they stretched from the Channel coast to Switzerland. This was the end of the War of Movement, and the beginning of trench warfare. Neither side was willing to compromise as they had both suffered such devastating losses – they would only settle for victory.
Trench warfare had commenced at the beginning of 1915 – and endured nearly until the end of the war. Trench Warfare gave tremendous advantage to the defending side, proving it extremely hard for the attacking side to attack.
In 1915 the Germans changed their whole plan of attack and took up a defensive position on the Western front, and mobilised many of their troops onto the eastern front to fight the Russians. The B.E.F were on the other hand looking to make various attacks on the Germans. They had new recruits and were eager to make an impact on the German trenches. The British had a strategy in 1915 (which they actually continued until 1918) of a ‘Big Push’. This was when they assembled their artillery and troops in one point in the trench, bombed the living daylights out of the German trenches, and then piled British troops into no mans land in search of having a break through. Of course, the Germans stayed in the safety of the trenches while they were being bombed by the British, and when the bombardment stopped they came out of the trenches to face the British. The effect was disastrous for the British. This was shown in an attack the 10th of March 1915 on Nueve Chappelle. Here, 12,000 British men were killed and there was no break through.
The French also attempted the same kind of thing, and also failed.
After the Failure of the British attacks on the German trenches, the British concluded that they were to launch another similar attack, but just with more men. The result was worse – 50,000 British soldiers died.
The Germans did launch one attack on Yvres in April 1915, using frightful weapons of poison gas. This proved to be effective, but failed when the German troops started running into their own poisonous gases, when they were forced to retreat.
The role of Britain on the Western front in 1914 and 1915 was extremely vital to the success of the Allies during the first part of the war. The British halted the Germans in their tracks – defied the purpose of the Schlieffen plan, which was to move swiftly and occupy France in a rapid movement. The British bought time for the French to mobilise to the North and protect their capital.
The British affect on the first part of the war was tremendous, as the Schlieffen plan was ingenious and would have probably worked if there had not been any initial strong resistance.
