A world undone: the story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 (115 page)

Thirty-two training camps:Coffman, 30.

“It is evident that a force”:Ibid, 127.

“in Flanders the weather broke early”:Wolff, 81.

“You can fight in mountains”:Ibid, 79.

General Sir Herbert Plumer:Ypres as the scene of one-fourth of BEF casualties 1914-16 is in ibid, 83.

One of the mines was discovered: Paschall, 62, says five hundred tons of explosives were placed under the ridge. Herwig, 330, and Liddell Hart,
Real War
, 331, both put the total at six hundred tons. Johnson, 126, gives a total of “nearly four hundred tons,” and Wolff, 90, gives a most improbable figure of one million tons.

“When I heard the first deep rumble”: Lewis, 292.

“We got out of the tank”: Arthur, 217.

Plumer’s infantry took possession: The number of Germans killed is estimated at ten thousand to twenty thousand in various sources. Mosier, 281, offers evidence that the total is not likely to have been as high as ten thousand.

“I shall name it to no one”: Bonham-Carter, 5.

“overrule the military and naval authorities”: Wolff, 118.

“Yesterday we saw heavy fighting”: Palmer and Wallis, 292.

Though not nearly as large as what: The numbers are in Rutherford, 250.

Russian casualties had been almost trivial: Ibid., 254.

“The Reichstag strives”: Feldman, 42.

“The danger of speaking out”: Bruun, 121.

“So long as victory is possible”: Jackson, Clemenceau, 120.

“One would have to be deliberately blind”: Bruun, 116.

“Home policy?”: Jackson, Clemenceau, 126.

Along fifteen miles of front: Evans,
Battles
, 40, and Wolff, 124, give 3,091 as the number of British guns. The comparison with the Somme is in Johnson, 139.

During the two weeks ending: The number of shells fired is in Evans,
Battles
, 40.

These shells had a total weight: The weight of the shells fired is in Paschall, 66, and the German casualties are in Paschall, 69.

“futile, fantastic and dangerous”: These words are actually General Sir Henry Wilson’s, in a diary entry presumably paraphrasing what Foch had said to him, in Wolff, 79.

Fourteen German divisions: Paschall, 69.

“My mind is quite at rest”: Wolff, 135.

“ask me for
anything
but time”: Ibid., 122.

“wholehearted support”: Ibid., 124.

The offensive went off: Division numbers are in Groom, 185.

They penetrated nearly two miles: Paschall, 67.

Of the fifty-two tanks: Ibid., 67.

Haig, not aware that twenty-three: Haig’s words are in ibid., 69.

But after two more days, with the rain: casualty figures are in ibid., 71.

“Inside it was only about five foot”: Arthur, 229.

There were twenty-three such divisions: Paschall, 71.

“Blood and mud”: Wolff, 165.

At the end of his preparations: One gun for five years of front is in Paschall, 73.

Plumer’s artillery would fire three and a half million: Wolff, 171.

Though it did not come cheaply: Casualty numbers are in Paschall, 73.

In the process they killed: Casualty figures are in ibid., 75.

“The fighting on the Western Front”: Parkinson, 137.

“The slope,” said an Australian: Wolff, 239.

The Italian commander in chief: Casualty figures for Tenth and Eleventh Isonzo are in Banks, 201.

The Germans and Austrians, whose thirty-three divisions: The numbers of divisions are in Mosier, 292.

Italian casualties totaled three hundred and twenty thousand: The numbers are in Evans,
Battles
, 43.

The price had been almost exactly: Paschall, 77.

The British, Canadians, Anzacs, and French: Casualty figures for Third Ypres are in Evans,
Battles
, 41, and Paschall, 79.

On November 20, near Cambrai: The numbers are in Mosier, 290.

Of the 216 new Mark IV tanks: The numbers are in Paschall, 126.

The British found themselves: The number of divisions is in Mosier, 298.

On the Western Front, the year had taken: Numbers of soldiers killed on the Western Front in 1917 are in ibid., 284 and 299.

PART SIX

1918:
Last Throw of the Dice

S
everal books previously credited for their usefulness in earlier parts of this book were also particularly helpful in connection with 1918. Among them are L. L. Farrar’s
Arrogance and Anxiety
(illuminating in connection with diplomacy), Holger H. Herwig’s
The First World War
, and the fourth volume of Gerhard Ritter’s
The Sword and the Sceptre
. The author is also indebted to Corelli Barnett for the final section of
The Swordbearers
, to Roger Parkinson’s
Tormented Warrior: Ludendorff and the Supreme Command
, to Alan Palmer’s
The Gardeners of Salonika
, and to the following works dealing with 1918 exclusively:
The Battle for Europe 1918
by H. Essame;
Crisis 1918
by Joseph Gies;
1918: The Last Act
by Barrie Pitt; and
To Win a War
by John Terraine.

The latter’s casualties totaled: King,
Generals and Politicians
, 194.

General Pétain, the commander in chief: Clayton, 161.

It had fought off more than: Details of the French operations are in Terraine,
To Win a War
, 11.

With its larger population: British casualty figures are in King,
Generals and Politicians
, 194.

Some four hundred and fifty thousand fit and ready: Essame, 32.

British production of ammunition: Tonnage of shells and total British shipments to the continent are in ibid., 23.

Lloyd George had regarded Haig: Haig’s pledge to the Conservatives not to replace Haig and Robertson is in Pitt, 33.

In 1917 Vienna conscripted: Herwig, 353.

That left it with no remaining: Ibid., 366.

Monthly rifle production was plummeting: Weapons production figures are in Herwig, 357.

It still had forty-four divisions: Numbers of divisions are in Herwig, 366.

“The Attack in Trench Warfare”: Pitt, 44.

The goal was to create: Herwig, 395.

“pined for the offensive”: Barnett, 280.

He declared that no offensive: Ludendorff’s conditions are in Pitt, 42.

“reconciliation chancellor”: Gies, 17.

Kühlmann, who pursued negotiations: Kühlmann’s diplomatic objectives, and the divide-and-conquer objectives of German diplomacy generally, are the subject of Farrar,
Divide and Conquer
.

Seven hundred and fifty thousand: Herwig, 362.

The intensity of the discontent: Pitt, 39.

“the speedy conclusion of peace”: Parkinson, 159.

Forty thousand strikers: Pitt, 39.

Between thirty-five hundred and six thousand: Herwig, 381.

“including an unequivocal declaration”: Gies, 66.

“We make a hole”: Asprey,
German High Command
, 367.

“fractured”: Kohut, 47.

“one of those strange figures”: Steinberg, 26.

“He would really be so pretty”: Kohut, 47.

“a one-armed man should”: Ibid., 43.

“The emperor is like a balloon”: Ponsonby, 363.

“Nothing will change”: Kohut, 214.

Fifty-seven British, Indian: Essame, 26.

While withholding infantry: The numbers of laborers sent, and the numbers put to work, are in ibid., 15.

He had ninety-nine divisions: Pitt, 62.

This was less than half: The number of corps to be shifted is in Gies, 75.

Haig, who had been obliged: King,
Generals and Politicians
, 47.

“I am sick of this d--d life”: Terraine,
To Win a War
, 37.

Gough, whose Fifth Army: Miles and division totals are in Gies, 76.

Ludendorff was aggressive as always: The positions of Ludendorff and Kaiser Wilhelm at this meeting are in Herwig, 383.

“no war, no peace”: Terraine,
To Win a War
, 21.

The Russians were now so helpless: German gains are in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 321.

Russia relinquished: Details of what Russia signed over at Brest-Litovsk are in Pitt, 45; Terraine,
To Win a War, 22
; and Asprey,
German High Command
, 360.

The delegation’s chief refused: Goodspeed, 239.

At a time when they needed: The number of occupation troops that Germany required is in Ritter, 4:116.

Ukraine alone soaked up: Herwig, 386.

In the west he was assembling: The number of German troops is in Stevenson,
Cataclysm
, 325; the number of divisions in
Cataclysm
, 326.

“no one was anxious to detain him”: Bruce, 60.

In spite of the immensity: The numbers are in Pitt, 45.

Between February 15 and March 20: Herwig, 392.

Ludendorff had had 150 divisions: Terraine,
To Win a War
, 22.

The results were at the front: The number of divisions is in Herwig, 395.

“The objective of the first day”: Barnett, 291.

Among them the three had almost: Division numbers are in Gies, 76.

Byng and Gough had fully a third: The deployment of troops is described in Barnett, 291.

“I was only afraid”: Pitt, 57.

“There are strong indications”: Barnett, 300.

The German attack force: Division and gun numbers are in Palmer,
Victory 1918
, 167.

By March 20 the fourteen divisions: Barnett, 293.

It included twenty-one divisions: Ibid., 293.

Along a line of more than: Pitt, 71.

“It was flamethrowers forward”: Gies, 82.

To the extent that Gough’s army could maintain the semblance: The extension of Gough’s line is in Barnett, 307.

He sent six of his best divisions: Ibid., 311.

By the time this message arrived: Ibid., 312.

Eight of the divisions with which Gough: Ibid.

Haig asked Pétain for an additional: Haig’s request, and the number of divisions sent by Pétain, are in Pitt, 95.

An enormous new cannon: Asprey,
German High Command
, 383.

“If an English delegation came”: Herwig, 406.

Early on the morning of Sunday, March 24: Pitt, 93.

They ended Sunday’s march: Parkinson, 157.

Haig understood the importance: Terraine,
To Win a War
, 46.

“save Amiens or everything’s lost”: Gies, 99.

“In my opinion…it was essential”: Barnett, 326.

By March 26 the offensive was essentially: Pitt, 100.

“Today the advance of our infantry”: Terraine,
To Win a War
, 48.

The Germans had captured twelve: Pitt, 109.

They had inflicted more than: Casualty and prisoner numbers are in Asprey,
German High Command
, 391.

“The Allies are very weak”: Freidel, 85.

“there were reports of occasional”: Parkinson, 174.

“I talked earnestly, urgently”: Hocheimer’s treatment of Ludendorff is described in ibid., 176.

“the war has spared me”: Ibid., 157.

He was promoted to colonel: In their biographies Goodspeed, Parkinson, and Tschuppik all explore the meaning of Ludendorff’s transfer away from the high command headquarters.

Ninety German divisions had been thrown: Herwig, 408.

The scale of the losses: Essame, 48.

Britain was not notably better off: Pitt, 111.

“that it could not take Amiens”: Ritter, 4:233.

“all political questions were”: Barnett, 278.

“all powers necessary”: Pitt, 111.

Georgette…opened modestly: Details are in ibid., 120.