DOCSLIB.ORG

2359 Eblj Article 5, 2007

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
2359 Eblj Article 5, 2007 The Keyes Papers at the British Library Michael St John-McAlister The Keyes Papers,1 acquired by private treaty in 1978, having previously been on deposit at Churchill College, Cambridge, are a fascinating insight into one of the twentieth century’s most important naval figures. The papers are a fitting addition to the Library’s impressive holdings of the papers of naval figures, including Nelson, Viscount Cunningham, Sir Arthur Power, and Keyes’s contemporary, Jellicoe. The first half of the twentieth century saw Britain struggling to maintain its long- established naval supremacy. In the years before World War One Germany asserted her naval strength. In the immediate post-war years, whilst Germany was no longer a threat, Britain had to contend with the growing naval power of Japan and the United States. By the mid- 1930s Germany had rejoined the band of naval powers threatening Britain’s hegemony and her naval building programme, despite being banned by the Treaty ofVersailles, had reached such a level that Britain felt the need to reach an accommodation with her erstwhile enemy.2 Roger Keyes was a central figure through all the vicissitudes of Britain’s naval affairs in this period. He was a senior officer in the early days of the submarine service, served with distinction in several theatres in World War One, was Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) Mediterranean during an extremely tense period in the 1920s, fought to maintain the Royal Navy’s control of its own aircraft, and was instrumental in the development of commando forces for use in combined operations during World War Two. Roger John Brownlow Keyes was born in October 1872 at Tundiani Fort on the north west frontier of India. He was the second son of Gen. Sir Charles Patton Keyes, the commander of the Punjab Frontier Force. Keyes’s mother, Lady Katherine, was the sister of Field Marshal Sir Henry Norman. Keyes enrolled at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, aged thirteen and joined his first ship, HMS Raleigh, on the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa station before he was even fifteen. He saw active service in East Africa and during the Boxer Rebellion, during which he led two daring raids to capture four Chinese destroyers and a fort.3 These exploits set the pattern for Keyes’s career. 1 Add. MSS. 82373-82578. The papers have only recently been incorporated and are not yet foliated. References are either to entire volumes on one subject, to individual letters arranged by date in volumes of special correspondence, or to items found in the alphabetical general correspondence sequence. Other papers relating to Keyes can be found at Add. MSS. 81080 C, 81277 C, and 82579-82580. Several other institutions hold material relating to Keyes: see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/ for details. 2 The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 1935 permitted Germany to maintain a navy 35% as strong as Britain’s (45% for submarines), effectively condoning German rearmament. 3 These and the following biographical details are derived from a number of sources. Keyes wrote an autobiography covering the period to 1906, Adventures Ashore and Afloat (London, 1939), two volumes of Naval Memoirs (London, 1934 and 1935), The Fight For Gallipoli (London, 1941), and Amphibious Warfare and Combined Operations, Lees Knowles Lectures (Cambridge, 1943). He is the subject of a biography by Cecil Aspinall-Oglander, Roger Keyes (London, 1951). Many of the letters and papers in this collection have been published by the Navy Records Society in three volumes, The Keyes Papers, ed. Paul G. Halpern (London, 1979, 1980, and 1981). See also Paul G. Halpern, ‘Keyes, Roger John Brownlow, first Baron Keyes (1872–1945)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34309. 1 eBLJ 2007, Article 5 The Keyes Papers at the British Library A post at the Naval Intelligence Department of the Admiralty gave Keyes a major role to play preparing the Admiralty’s case for the International Court of Enquiry following the North Sea Incident. During the Russo-Japanese war, the Russian Baltic fleet sank a Hull trawler having mistaken the fishing fleet for Japanese torpedo boats.4 There followed three years as naval attaché in Rome, covering Vienna, Athens, and Constantinople, as well as the Italian capital. Keyes returned to England in 1908 and after two years commanding HMS Venus in the Atlantic Fleet was appointed Inspecting Captain of Submarines, and was promoted Commodore in charge of submarines in 1912. During his tenure he broke Vickers’s monopoly on submarine construction and instigated detailed research into foreign submarine design and construction, including visiting overseas manufacturers and witnessing trials of foreign submarines. All of these aspects, as well as papers on submarine defences, their limitations, exercises, co-operation between submarines and seaplanes, and the role of submarines in World War One are covered in the papers.5 Keyes saw active service in World War One, firstly in the submarine service and then, from February 1915, as Chief of Staff to the Vice-Admiral commanding the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron during the Dardanelles Campaign. He played a major role in planning the naval operations including support for troops landed on the beaches. As the campaign bogged down, he opposed evacuation preferring instead a renewed naval attack forcing the fleet through the Straits, but he was over-ruled. It was another glimpse of the pro-active stance Keyes had displayed in China. The papers cover all aspects of the campaign and include intelligence reports, operational orders and memoranda, landing orders, signals, the situation on the beaches after the troop landings, supplies and logistics, evacuation of the troops and Keyes’s alternative plan for forcing the Straits, the Malta Conference to discuss the division of the Mediterranean into Allied zones of operation, and maps and plans. There is also a large amount of material relating to the Royal Commission into the Dardanelles campaign at which Keyes gave evidence.6 Keyes’s wish to carry out an offensive action in the Dardanelles had been stymied but he was soon to get his wish to strike a direct blow against the enemy. Keyes, now a Rear-Admiral, was given a desk job as Director of Plans in the Admiralty in 1917.7 He hated it. He hated anything that kept him from the sea. He did not want to miss a chance to get at the German fleet should it venture out again (Keyes had missed the Battle of Jutland, the war’s only full-scale engagement involving battleships, as he was in the eastern Mediterranean at the time). Ironically it was this desk job that led to the action that made his name. A fundamental difference of opinion between the Admiralty and Vice-Admiral Bacon of the Dover Patrol over how best to prevent German U-boats from passing through the Dover Straits resulted in Keyes replacing Bacon.8 It was this appointment that led to Keyes’s finest hour. He devised a plan to use blockships to block the mouths of the canals at Zeebrugge and Ostend which German U-boats used to access the North Sea from their Bruges bases. Carried out on St George’s Day 1918 and opening with Keyes’s iconic signal ‘St George for England’, to which Capt. Carpenter on HMS Vindictive replied ‘May we give the dragon’s tail a damn good twist’, Operation ZO was a bold move. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded and Keyes was created a KCB.9 The operation was a partial success at Zeebrugge, but it failed at Ostend. 4 Add. MS. 82452. 5 Add. MSS. 82455-82465. 6 Add. MSS. 82466-82488. 7 Add. MS. 82494. 8 Paul G. Halpern (ed.), The Keyes Papers (London, 1979), vol. i, pp. 410-11. 9 Knight Commander, Order of the Bath. The Order of the Bath is England’s second highest order of chivalry. 2 eBLJ 2007, Article 5 The Keyes Papers at the British Library Not only did Germany have both bases operational again in a short space of time, but casualties were high.10 Even so, news of the raid ‘electrified’ Britain, as Paul Halpern puts it, and it did succeed in raising morale and the profile of the Navy which was used to working out of the public eye. At Zeebrugge and Ostend the Royal Navy had taken the initiative and carried out an offensive action against heavily defended enemy territory.11 Contained in the Keyes Papers is material covering all aspects of Operation ZO, including papers on planning, preparation and personnel; operational orders, progress reports from the course of the operation, and details of casualties; congratulatory telegrams, maps and plans, and papers on honours awarded. It also contains a large amount of printed material inspired by the operation, including commemorative postage stamps, poetry, publicity brochures for films based on the raid, and guides to the Zeebrugge Museum.12 With the glory of Zeebrugge and Ostend attached to his name Keyes continued his rise up the naval ladder. He was awarded a baronetcy in 1919, and appointed to command the Battle Cruiser Squadron, including a spell guarding the German fleet at Scapa Flow.13 In 1921 he was promoted Vice-Admiral and that same year became Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS) where he became embroiled in a struggle with the newly-created Royal Air Force over control of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). Who should run the FAA was a subject which had exercised him since the earliest days of naval aviation, and would continue to occupy his thoughts for the rest of his life.14 His tenure as DCNS coincided with the realization that the world economic situation would mean military retrenchment and a consequent accommodation with Britain’s naval rivals.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "Weapon of Starvation": the Politics, Propaganda, and Morality of Britain's Hunger Blockade of Germany, 1914-1919
    Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) 2015 A "Weapon of Starvation": The Politics, Propaganda, and Morality of Britain's Hunger Blockade of Germany, 1914-1919 Alyssa Cundy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd Part of the Diplomatic History Commons, European History Commons, and the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Cundy, Alyssa, "A "Weapon of Starvation": The Politics, Propaganda, and Morality of Britain's Hunger Blockade of Germany, 1914-1919" (2015). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 1763. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1763 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A “WEAPON OF STARVATION”: THE POLITICS, PROPAGANDA, AND MORALITY OF BRITAIN’S HUNGER BLOCKADE OF GERMANY, 1914-1919 By Alyssa Nicole Cundy Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Western Ontario, 2007 Master of Arts, University of Western Ontario, 2008 DISSERTATION Submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy in History Wilfrid Laurier University 2015 Alyssa N. Cundy © 2015 Abstract This dissertation examines the British naval blockade imposed on Imperial Germany between the outbreak of war in August 1914 and the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles in July 1919. The blockade has received modest attention in the historiography of the First World War, despite the assertion in the British official history that extreme privation and hunger resulted in more than 750,000 German civilian deaths.
    [Show full text]
  • 'The Admiralty War Staff and Its Influence on the Conduct of The
    ‘The Admiralty War Staff and its influence on the conduct of the naval between 1914 and 1918.’ Nicholas Duncan Black University College University of London. Ph.D. Thesis. 2005. UMI Number: U592637 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592637 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 CONTENTS Page Abstract 4 Acknowledgements 5 Abbreviations 6 Introduction 9 Chapter 1. 23 The Admiralty War Staff, 1912-1918. An analysis of the personnel. Chapter 2. 55 The establishment of the War Staff, and its work before the outbreak of war in August 1914. Chapter 3. 78 The Churchill-Battenberg Regime, August-October 1914. Chapter 4. 103 The Churchill-Fisher Regime, October 1914 - May 1915. Chapter 5. 130 The Balfour-Jackson Regime, May 1915 - November 1916. Figure 5.1: Range of battle outcomes based on differing uses of the 5BS and 3BCS 156 Chapter 6: 167 The Jellicoe Era, November 1916 - December 1917. Chapter 7. 206 The Geddes-Wemyss Regime, December 1917 - November 1918 Conclusion 226 Appendices 236 Appendix A.
    [Show full text]
  • Defeating the U-Boat Inventing Antisubmarine Warfare NEWPORT PAPERS
    NAVAL WAR COLLEGE NEWPORT PAPERS 36 NAVAL WAR COLLEGE WAR NAVAL Defeating the U-boat Inventing Antisubmarine Warfare NEWPORT PAPERS NEWPORT S NA N E V ES AV T AT A A A L L T T W W S S A A D D R R E E C C T T I I O O L N L N L L U U E E E E G G H H E E T T I I VIRIBU VOIRRIABU OR A S CT S CT MARI VI MARI VI 36 Jan S. Breemer Color profile: Disabled Composite Default screen U.S. GOVERNMENT Cover OFFICIAL EDITION NOTICE This perspective aerial view of Newport, Rhode Island, drawn and published by Galt & Hoy of New York, circa 1878, is found in the American Memory Online Map Collections: 1500–2003, of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Washington, D.C. The map may be viewed at http://hdl.loc.gov/ loc.gmd/g3774n.pm008790. Use of ISBN Prefix This is the Official U.S. Government edition of this publication and is herein identified to certify its authenticity. ISBN 978-1-884733-77-2 is for this U.S. Government Printing Office Official Edition only. The Superintendent of Documents of the U.S. Govern- ment Printing Office requests that any reprinted edi- tion clearly be labeled as a copy of the authentic work with a new ISBN. Legal Status and Use of Seals and Logos The logo of the U.S. Naval War College (NWC), Newport, Rhode Island, authenticates Defeating the U- boat: Inventing Antisubmarine Warfare, by Jan S.
    [Show full text]
  • A Royal Navy Monitor at Stavros. My Grandfather, Charlie Burgoyne, Was
    A Royal Navy Monitor at Stavros. My grandfather, Charlie Burgoyne, was a stoker on the monitor, HMS M18. When I asked him the classic “what did you do in the war Grandad?” he told me that he had been at Gallipoli, and that it was horrible, so I never pursued the matter. After he died, I was given his naval service record, and I have recently discovered that he was based around Salonika and Stavros for almost three years after Gallipoli. I have been consulting the Ship’s Log at the National Archives to find out what his vessel was doing, and I also contacted Alan Wakefield at the Society. He suggested I prepared this note since there is very little written about the naval aspects of the Salonika campaign. Charlie was one of 6 children of George Burgoyne and his wife Lavinia; they lived in the South Devon village of Aveton Gifford. Two of the children had died in infancy, an elder brother was serving with the 2nd Devons, and the two sisters were “in service”. Charlie joined the Navy in January 1909, claiming to be 18 although we suspect he was still only 17. He served as a stoker but on the outbreak of hostilities he was posted to the oil-fired torpedo boat HMS TB5. She had originally been classed as a Torpedo Boat Destroyer but with the development of the larger Destroyer classes, which could sail with the fleet, they were downgraded to roles as Coastal Destroyers. Charlie spent about 6 months based at Immingham, patrolling each day off the mouth of the Humber, but saw no action.
    [Show full text]
  • Dover Blue Trail
    Park Street- air raid Park Avenue- Lighting Linton, Park Avenue towards the top of Frith Road site of the Dover Patrol Zeebrugge Bell siren behind the current 99 Barton Rd Igglesden family 67 Barton Rd- Matron Edith Johncock restrictions the Avenue county school for boys 1 2 houses 3 Dover Blue Trail 4 5 6 7 The Dover Patrol was The air raid siren was In 1917 it was reported Agnes Baynham; whose son Cuthbert served with the The County School for Boys Robert and Mary’s Elizabeth vital to keeping the placed on the roof of the that the trunks of the Royal Field Artillery; was a supporter of the Dover moved here in 1916 from the three eldest sons Johncock’s Distance: 3.96 km daughter Edith shipping lanes of the electricity works. It would trees in Park Avenue had Relief Fund for Belgian Refugees. The fund assisted centre of town. Of the past had attended the County School for returned home Channel open during sound 4 short blasts all been whitewashed refugees in this country and also those in France and pupils of the School over 45% followed by one long Boys before serving in 1919 having the First World War. for a height of five feet. (2.46 miles) Belgium with practical help. Refugees could not settle served in the War. The boys dug blast to warn people to However there was no in the War. Henry been held prisoner They also conducted in Dover because of security around the port. up their playing field in 1917 take cover.
    [Show full text]
  • L\ ZEEBRUGGE AFFAIR
    l\ ZEEBRUGGE AFFAIR L- Twenty-five cents net. THE ZEEBRUGGE AFFAIR THE ZEEBRUGGE AFFAIR BY KEBLE HOWARD (J. KEBLE BELL, 2ND LIEUT. RA.F.) WITH THE BRITISH OFFICIAL NARRATIVES OF THE OPERATIONS AT ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND Exclusive and Official Photographs NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY \ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. WHAT ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND MEAN . 7 II. CAPTAIN CARPENTER IN HIS ATTIC ... 11 III. How THE PLANS WERE LAID 14 IV. THE GREAT FIGHT . 19 V. A MUSEUM IN A TRUNK 26 VI. ON BOARD H.M.S. Vindictive 30 VII. THE MAN WHO PELT FRIGHTENED . .33 VIII. WHAT THE MARINES TOLD THE HUNS . 37 IX. I HEAR THEY WANT MORE 40 BRITISH ADMIRALTY OFFICIAL NARRATIVES: ZEEBRUGGE AND OSTEND—FIRST ATTACK . 43 OSTEND—SECOND ATTACK ..... 55 v CHAPTER I What Zeebrugge and Ostend Mean ET me, first of all, try to tell you the story of L Zeebrugge as I extracted it, not without diffi­ culty, from several of the leading spirits of that enter­ prise. This is no technical story. Elsewhere in this little volume you will find the official narrative issued by the Admiralty to the Press, and that contains, as all good official documents do, names, ranks, dates, times, and movements. I lay claim to no such precision. It is my proud yet humble task to bring you face to face, if I can, with the men who went out to greet what they re­ garded as certain death—bear that in mind—in order to stop, in some measure, the German submarine men­ ace, and to prove yet once again to all the world that 7 8 The Zeebrugge Affair the British Navy is the same in spirit as it was in the days of Nelson and far down the ages.
    [Show full text]
  • Submarine Wrecks Around the UK
    The Historical Archaeology of World War I U-boats and the Compilation of Admiralty History: The Case of (UC-79) Dr. Innes McCartney Bournemouth University, Dept. of Applied Sciences Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, UK [email protected] Over the course of the last 17 years the author has researched, dived, surveyed and identified some 100 submarine wrecks around the UK. His 2014 book examines the 63 known U-boat wrecks in the English Channel, of which 32 were sunk during World War I. Detailed analysis of each case revealed that the list of U-boat losses published by the Antisubmarine Division (ASD) of the Admiralty in 1919 (the 1919 List) was only 48 per cent accurate. Of the wrecks not mentioned in the 1919 List, (UC-79) is the most startling case, primarily because ASD knew where it was during wartime but hid its true fate when it compiled the 1919 List in order to preserve its own reputation. This paper examines why this happened and what its broader implications are for archaeologists, historians and heritage managers. The 1917-18 Dover Barrage with U-Boat wrecks and incedents Matching U-boat Wrecks WWI Dived U-boat wrecks Mystery U-boat Wrecks 1919 List of U-boat losses Dover Patrol Incedents Dover Barrage ASD Incedents (Submarine) (UC79) Oil patch reported 12 June 1918 7 August 1918 dive site U109 UC61 N W E S Gris Nez 0 2 4 Nautical Miles Figure 1. Map showing the location of the wreck of (UC79) in the Dover Barrage and the related oil patch and 1918 diving site.
    [Show full text]
  • Admiral Roger Keyes and Naval Operations in the Littoral Zone A
    Admiral Roger Keyes and Naval Operations in the Littoral Zone A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Harrison G. Fender May 2019 ©2019 Harrison G. Fender. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Admiral Roger Keyes and Naval Operations in the Littoral Zone by HARRISON G. FENDER has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by Peter John Brobst Associate Professor of History Joseph Shields Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT Fender, Harrison G., M.A., May 2019, History Admiral Roger Keyes and Naval Operations in the Littoral Zone Director of Thesis: Peter John Brobst Since the second decade of the twenty-first century the littoral has been a zone of international tension. With the littoral the likely center of future naval engagements, it is important to remember that the issues of today are not new. Admiral Roger Keyes of the Royal Navy also had to contend with operating in contested littoral zones protected by anti-access weapons. Keyes’ solution to this was the integration of the latest weapons and techniques to overcome enemy defenses. By doing so, Keyes was able to project power upon a region or protect sea lines of communication. This thesis will examine the naval career of Roger Keyes during and between the First and Second World Wars. It will discuss that, through wartime experience, Keyes was aware of the trends in naval operations which led him to modernize the Royal Navy.
    [Show full text]
  • Fra Krig Og Fred Journal of the Danish Commission for Military History Volume 2014/2
    Fra Krig og Fred Journal of the Danish Commission for Military History Volume 2014/2 Article: The Royal Navy North Sea War Plan 1907-1914 Author: Michael Hesselholt Clemmesen © Centre for Military History, Royal Danish Defence College Keywords: Royal Navy; North Sea; John Fisher; Arthur Wilson; Winston Churchill; George Ballard; WW1 Abstract: On retiring in spring 1907, Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson assisted his respected First Sea Lord, John Fisher, by consolidating their common ideas into a memorandum about how to defeat Germany quickly via the destruction of the High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, thereby creating an alternative to sending the army to the Continent. His memo mirrored the observational blockade concepts of Captain George Ballard and the work of Captain Henry Jackson on how to employ wireless telegraphy in fleet command and control. This article follows how these ideas in interplay with experience from the annual manoeuvres influenced the developing war planning up to the start of the war in summer 1914. Michael Hesselholt Clemmesen The Royal Navy North Sea War Plan 1907-1914 The article originated with a research project started a decade ago to provide an account of Denmark’s strategic position from 1911 to 1920. In order to achieve this, it was necessary to gain a clear picture of the thinking and planning of the German Army and the Imperial German Navy. However, as the Germans only planned to react to British actions in the north, it was even more important to understand how the Royal Navy planned to conduct a naval war against Ger- many in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
    [Show full text]
  • Dover Patrol
    DOVER PATROL (Trawlers & Minesweepers) Civic War Memorial This important local civic war memorial was placed inside the Holy Trinity Church, Dover in November 1918 by the families of the fallen men of the Dover Patrol (Trawlers & Minesweeping Patrol). In 1945 the church was sadly demolished after enemy bomb damage. The memorial needed a new home. The Dover Sea Cadets (Training Ship Lynx) at Archcliffe Fort agreed to look after it at their headquarters. The Sea Cadets moved from Archcliffe Fort in the 1970’s and the memorial was given to Dover District Council for safekeeping. The memorial is presently held in safekeeping by the Dover Museum. In 2006 it was being stored in an obscure shed at Deal. It is hoped that the memorial will be placed on public display at some stage in the future… The Great War 1914 – 1919 LEGEND + DIED IN SERVICE Roll of Honour LEFT HAND LEAF Sub Lieutenant J.H RIDDING + Petty Officer A FIELDER + Sub Lieutenant D BROWN + Petty Officer F ALLEN + Wireless Telegraph Operator E.A SUTTON Seaman F RANDALL + + Lieutenant W.H MERTON Deck Hand J.N LAMBIE + Sub-Lieutenant F.R WINPENNY + 2nd Engineer W SHELLEY + Lieutenant Commander H CALDER + Steward G SMITH + Assistant Engineer F.W PENDER + Cook W MOORE + Sub Lieutenant J.A MACINTOSH + Assistant Steward G MAJOR + Skipper J SANDFORD + Signal Boy A.W MANNING + Skipper R SAUNDERS + Trimmer W.H MOSS + Skipper G WEST + Fireman Trimmer A.S MOTT Skipper G.A ROSE + Fireman Trimmer K AYLES + Skipper I PEARCE + Greaser E PRITCHARD + Skipper T KAY + Able Seaman H CARLING + Lieutenant
    [Show full text]
  • Division on the Western Front, 1916-1918 By
    An Inter-Disciplinary Study of Learning in the 32nd Division on the Western Front, 1916-1918 by Stuart Bruce Taylor Mitchell Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Birmingham, 2013 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract The idea of a learning process has become broadly accepted among military historians of the First World War, but explanations for how and why this occurred remain limited. This thesis uses a number of different disciplines alongside more orthodox historical analysis of what the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) did at the divisional level to learn the lessons from combat in an uncompromising operational environment. At the beginning of 1916 the BEF was predominantly a citizen army lacking experience. This marked a low-point in the BEF's fighting capabilities. This thesis charts the development from 1916 to the Armistice in 1918 using the British 32nd Division as a case study. The division participated in a number of major operations including the Battle of the Somme, the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, the Battles of Nieuport, Passchendaele, Amiens and the Hundred Days.
    [Show full text]
  • Helping St George: the Royal Naval Medical Service at Zeebrugge, 22-23 April 1918 JVS Wickenden, D Walsh
    History 131 Helping St George: the Royal Naval Medical Service at Zeebrugge, 22-23 April 1918 JVS Wickenden, D Walsh May we give the dragon’s tail a damn good twist – Capt. AF success lay in combining a land-based with an amphibious at- Carpenter, RN, VINDICTIVE tack. By May 1917 a project called the “Great Landing” was under discussion, with the intent of linking an amphibious at- Abstract tack with British advances around Ypres. These land advanc- es culminated in the Battle of Passchendaele, Third Ypres, in On the night of 22-23 April 1918, the Zeebrugge Raid, part of which the Royal Naval Division (RND) and its medical staff Operation Z.O., took place. This historical article gives some were heavily involved:2 it was failure in this battle that led to context to the raid and its purpose, studies the medical provi- the withdrawal of the plan for the “Great Landing”. sion for and experience during the raid, and tells the stories of the medical staff involved. On 12 May 1917, the RN bombarded Zeebrugge from behind smokescreens, to little effect;1 it was decided that isolated long- Introduction: the background range bombardment was not the best method of attack. Then, By 1918, German U-boats were sinking up to 30% of the ship- on 1 Jan 1918, Vice Admiral Roger Keyes was appointed to ping lost in British waters; they berthed in shelters at Bruges, command the Dover Patrol. He was a man who believed in of- which were safe from attack because bombing was still in its in- fensive action “to the point of recklessness”1 and realised that fancy, and bombs were small and inaccurate.
    [Show full text]