Research Catalog

Title

Directing operations : British Corps command on the Western Front 1914-18 / Andy Simpson.

Author

Simpson, Andy

Publication

• Warwick, England : Helion & Company, [2019]
• ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

236 pages, xvi numbered pages of plates : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

Based on comprehensive research in primary sources, it is the first work to examine the role of British corps command in the BEF on the Western Front in World War One. It demonstrates the importance of pre-war thinking in the BEF's conduct of operations, tied in with extensive efforts to learn lessons from previous operations and to apply them as the war went on. It stresses the central role of the artillery in offensives on the Western Front, and how corps gained steadily more control over artillery assets during 1915. By 1917, learning from the Battle of the Somme in 1916, corps was the level of command at which most artillery was commanded and organised. This set the stage for corps to become responsible for the detailed planning of the set-piece attacks of 1917 and 1918. They nevertheless demonstrated in the Hundred Days (from August 1918 to the end of the war) sufficient flexibility to delegate artillery control down to divisions when required and resume it for set-piece operations like the assault on the Hindenburg Line in September and October 1918. The final chapter is perhaps the most original of the book, since in it the day to day activities of WW1 generals are analysed - what did these men do when not fighting battles, for example? This is the first time this aspect of command on the Western Front has ever been addressed.

Subject

• Great Britain. Army. Corps
• Great Britain. Army. British Expeditionary Force
• Great Britain. Army > History > World War, 1914-1918
• Great Britain. Army
• 1914-1918
• World War, 1914-1918 > Campaigns > Western Front
• Command of troops
• Military campaigns
• Western Front (World War (1914-1918))

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction -- 1. Field service regulations and operational doctrine in Corps 1914-15 -- 2. Corps command and the Battle of the Somme -- 3. Corps command between the Somme and Third Ypres: April to June 1917 -- 4. Corps command during Third Ypres: May to November 1917 -- 5. Corp command in the Battle of Cambrai -- 6. Corps in defence: January to July 1918 -- 7. Corps in the Hundred Days: August to November -- 8. In command of a corps: The daily life and work of British Corps commanders -- Conclusion -- Appendix I: Corps commanders on the Western Front -- Appendix II: Composition of Corps Headquarters in the BEF, 1914-18 -- Appendix III: List of Corps commanders' visits, inspections, etc.

Call Number

JFE 20-5266

ISBN

• 9781912390670
• 1912390671

OCLC

1121474435

Author

Simpson, Andy, author.

Title

Directing operations : British Corps command on the Western Front 1914-18 / Andy Simpson.

Publisher

Warwick, England : Helion & Company, [2019]

Copyright Date

©2018

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1914-1918

Research Call Number

JFE 20-5266