With Our Backs to the Wall David Stevenson With Our Backs to the Wall Victory and Defeat in 1918 The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts 2011 Copyright © 2011 by David Stevenson All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First published in 2011 in the United Kingdom by the Penguin Group. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stevenson, D. (David), 1954– With our backs to the wall : victory and defeat in 1918 / David Stevenson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-06226-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. World War, 1914–1918—Campaigns—Western Front. I. Title. D531.S73 2011 940.4´34—dc22 2011011916 Contents List of Illustrations vi List of Maps viii List of Tables ix Abbreviations x Note on Military and Naval Terminology xiv Preface xvi Prologue: Deadlock, 1914–1917 1 1. On the Defensive, March–July 1918 30 2. On the Attack, July–November 1918 112 3. The New Warfare: Intelligence, Technology, and Logistics 170 4. The Human Factor: Manpower and Morale 244 5. Securing the Seas: Submarines and Shipping 311 6. The War Economies: Money, Guns, and Butter 350 7. The Home Fronts: Gender, Class, and Nation 439 8. Armistice and After 509 Notes 547 Bibliography 629 Index 659 List of Illustrations 1. Kaiser Wilhelm II reviewing Army Group Rupprecht, June 1918 (Imperial War Museum) 2. Haig reviewing Canadians (Imperial War Museum) 3. Senior commanders at German headquarters, Spa (Bettmann/Corbis) 4. Foch and Pershing (Corbis) 5. Boroevic´ (Imperial War Museum) 6. French and British infantry near Nesle, 25 March 1918 (Imperial War Museum) 7. British troops by the St Quentin Canal, 2 October 1918 (Imperial War Museum) 8. Italian infantryman, late 1917 (Imperial War Museum) 9. Australian Light Horse near Jericho, 17 August 1918 (Imperial War Museum) 10. French interrogation of a German prisoner, by Edouard Vuillard (Musée d’Histoire Contemporaine – BDIC, Paris) 11. Austrian fighter squadron over the Brenta, 1917, by Max Edler von Poosch (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna) 12. Gotha IV bomber (Imperial War Museum) 13. American heavy artillery pounds the Meuse-Argonne (Bettmann/ Corbis) 14. Royal Field Artillery at the Battle of the Canal du Nord, 27 September 1918 (Imperial War Museum) 15. Machine-gun crew (Imperial War Museum) 16. American troops with German prisoners at the Battle of the St Quentin Canal, 29 September 1918 (Imperial War Museum) 17. A German transport column on the Albert–Bapaume road during Operation ‘Michael’ (Imperial War Museum) List of Illustrations 18. French supply trains (Susan Yates) 19. Overturned British locomotive (Imperial War Museum) 20. American troop train in Lorraine (Susan Yates) 21. Senegalese by a field kitchen on the Aisne (Susan Yates) 22. British and German wounded at an advanced dressing station during the Battle of Epéhy, 18 September 1918 (Imperial War Museum) 23. Austro-Hungarian infantry sergeant captured by the British in Italy (Imperial War Museum) 24. A Convoy, North Sea, 1918, by Sir John Lavery (Imperial War Museum) 15. In the Gun Factory at Woolwich Arsenal, 1918, by Sir George Clausen (Imperial War Museum) 26. Shop for Machining 15-inch Shells, by Anna Airy (Imperial War Museum) 27. Train carrying heavy artillery shells to the Front near Bourg-et- Comin (Aisne) (Susan Yates) 28. Moroccans quarrying under supervision (Susan Yates) 29. Women peat diggers in Alsace (Susan Yates) 30. Two WAACS lay wreaths at the British cemetery, Abbeville, February 1918 (Susan Yates) 31. British troops at Valenciennes station (Susan Yates) 32. French troops and civilians in the textile town of Fourmies (Nord), 9 November 1918 (Susan Yates) Pictures 18, 20, 21 and 27–32 courtesy of Susan Yates, from 1914–1918 Us and Them: A Pictorial History of the War on the Western Front (ISBN 978–0–956–01930–1), copyright © Susan Yates vii List of Maps 1. Europe, 1918 xxii–xxiii 2. The Western Front: German offensives, March–July 1918 xxiv–xxv a. ‘Michael’ xxvi–xxvii b. ‘Georgette’ xxviii–xxix c. ‘Blücher–Yorck’ to ‘Marneschütz-Reims’ xxx–xxxi 3. The Western Front: Allied offensives, July–November 1918 xxxii–xxxiii 4. Railway network on the Western Front, 1917–18 xxxiv–xxxv 5. The Italian Front xxxvi–xxxvii 6. The Balkans xxxviii 7. The Middle East xxxix 8. Austria-Hungary xl–xli 9. The War at Sea xlii List of Tables 1.1. German and British casualties, 21 March 1918 55 3.1. Gas production, 1914–18 204 5.1. Gross merchant shipping tonnage lost to enemy action, 1 July 1917–11 November 1918 312 5.2. U-boats lost/entering commission, 1914–18 322 5.3. U-boats lost/entering commission, 1918 323 5.4. American troops embarked per month, 1918 345 6.1. War expenditure, 1914–18 351 6.2. American gross domestic product, 1913–18 364 6.3. United Kingdom gross domestic product, 1913–18 370 6.4. British coal exports to France, 1913–18 392 6.5. Coal stocks of French railway networks, 1916–18 398 6.6. Gross domestic products, 1914 420 6.7. German crude steel output, 1914–18 427 6.8. German coal and lignite production, 1913–18 428 6.9. German agricultural production, 1913–18 432 7.1. Workers on strike in Germany, 1916–18 472 Abbreviations AC Austen Chamberlain papers, Birmingham University Library ACS Archivio centrale di stato, Rome ADM Admiralty papers, TNA AEF American Expeditionary Force AFGG Les Armées françaises dans la Grande Guerre (French official history) AFL American Federation of Labor AIF Australian Imperial Force AIR Air Ministry papers, TNA AMAE Archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères, Paris AMTC Allied Maritime Transport Council AMTE Allied Maritime Transport Executive AN Archives nationales, Paris ANC Allied Naval Council AOK Armee Oberkommando (Austro-Hungarian high command) ASE Amalgamated Society of Engineers ASL Auxiliary Service Law BA-MA Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, Freiburg im Breisgau BDF Bund der Frauen BDFA British Documents on Foreign Affairs BEF British Expeditionary Force BEV Beveridge papers, British Library of Political and Economic Science BHStA Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv, Munich BL Manuscripts Department, British Library BTY Beatty papers, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich CAB Cabinet papers, TNA CAS Chief of the Admiralty Staff (Germany) CCAC Churchill College Archive Centre, Cambridge Abbreviations CGS Chief of the General Staff CGT Confédération générale du travail (French trade union centre) CID Committee of Imperial Defence CIGS Chief of the Imperial General Staff CND Council of National Defense (US) CNS Chief of the Naval Staff CPI Committee on Public Information CRB Commission for the Relief of Belgium CS Comando supremo (Italian high command) CUP Committee of Union and Progress (Young Turk party) DCG Deputy Commanding General (Germany) DDP Deutsche Demokratische Partei DORA Defence of the Realm Act EEF Egyptian Expeditionary Force EFC Emergency Fleet Corporation EMA Etat-major de l’armée (French general staff) FO Foreign Office papers, TNA FOCP Foreign Office Confidential Print GAR Groupe d’Armées de Réserve GDP gross domestic product GGS Great General Staff (Grosser Generalstab – Germany) GHQ General Headquarters GK Generalkommission (German trade union centre) GNP gross national product GQG Grand Quartier-général (French high command) HHStA Haus-, Hof-, und Staatsarchiv, Vienna HMM History of the Ministry of Munitions HO Home Office papers, TNA HNKY Hankey papers, Churchill College Archive Centre, Cambridge HSF High Seas Fleet IACWPF Inter-Allied Council on War Purchases and Finance IF Independent Force ISB International Socialist Bureau IWC Imperial War Cabinet IWM Imperial War Museum IWW International Workers of the World xi With Our Backs to the Wall JO Journal officiel de la République française. Débats parlementaires: Chambre des députés KAM Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv, Munich, Abteilung IV, Kriegsarchiv KAW Kriegsarchiv, Vienna KRA Kriegsrohstoffabteilung KÜA Kriegsüberwachungsamt LAB Ministry of Labour papers, TNA LC Liddle Collection, Leeds University Library LDB ‘La Dame Blanche’ papers, IWM LG Lloyd George papers, Parliamentary Archives LHCMA Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College London LOC Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress MAF Records of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Depart- ments, TNA MFGB Miners’ Federation of Great Britain MLN Milner papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford MOFB Military Operations: France and Belgium (British official history) MT Transport ministries papers, TNA MUN Ministry of Munitions papers, TNA NAA Northern Arab Army NAC National Archives of Canada NARA National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland NLS National Library of Scotland NNP net national product NOT Netherlands Overseas Trust NWAC National War Aims Committee OHL Oberste Heeresleitung (German army high command) OPDA Ottoman Public Debt Administration ÖULK E. Glaise von Horstenau and R. Kiszling, eds., Österreich-Ungarns Letzter Krieg (Austro-Hungarian official history) PSI Partito Socialista Italiano PMR Permanent Military Representatives (of SWC) PWW A. S. Link et al., eds., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson xii Abbreviations RFC Royal Flying Corps RMA Reichsmarineamt (German Imperial Navy Office) RNAS Royal Naval Air Service SBR Small Box Respirator SFIO Section française de l’Internationale ouvrière (French socialist party) SHA Service historique de l’armée de terre, Vincennes SKL Seekriegsleitung SPA Socialist Party of America SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (German Social Democratic Party) SWC Supreme War Council T Treasury papers, TNA TF Territorial