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The Old Contemptibles

Page 37

by Robin Neillands


  10. www.1914.net/logistics/loc.htm.

  11. Ian Malcolm Brown, British Logistics on the Western Front, 1914-1919 (Praeger, CT, I998), p. 56.

  12. 'The Logistics of the BEF, August to September 1914' by Roger G. Miller, Military Affairs Journal, University of Indiana, October 1979, p. 134.

  13. 'The Supply of Ammunition and Motor Transport' by Major H. de Pree, RFA, RUSI Journal, August 1912, p. 1,154.

  14. ibid., p. 1, 154.

  15. PRO Files, WO 339/1440I, p. 5.

  16. ibid., p. 7.

  17. ibid., p. 7.

  18. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 149.

  19. Miller, 'the Logistics of the BEF'.

  20. PRO Files, WO 339/1440I, p. 6.

  21. ibid., p. 8.

  22. From Private to Field Marshal by Sir William Robertson (London, 1921), p. 205.

  23. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, pp. 30-31.

  Chapter 5: The BEF Advances, 9-22 August 1914

  1. .British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 39.

  2. Tuchman, August 1914, pp. 308-309.

  3. ibid., p. 173.

  4. Old Soldiers Never Die by Frank Richards (London, 1933), p. 11.

  5. The Life of Field Marshal Sir John French by Major The Hon. Gerald French (London, 1931), p. 204.

  6. John Hussey, letter to the author, 1997.

  7. Verdun: The Price of Glory by Alistair Horne (London, 1964), p. 29

  8. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 442.

  9. 1914 by Field Marshal Sir John French (London, 1919), p. 36.

  10. ibid., p. 37.

  11. Liaison 1914, by E. L. Spears (London, 1930), p. 75.

  12. Tuchman, August 1914, p. 238.

  13. ibid., p. 239.

  14. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 48.

  Chapter 6: the Battle of Mons, 23 August 1914

  1. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 63.

  2. Spears, Liaison 1914, p. 73.

  3. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 59.

  4. ibid., p. 60.

  5. ibid., p. 60.

  6. French and German accounts habitually refer to the BEF as 'the English Army' and its soldiers as 'the English’.

  7. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 166.

  8. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 68.

  9. ibid., p. 70.

  10. Feldienstordnung, 1906, paras 265-327, supplied to the author by John Hussey.

  11. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 82.

  12. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 167.

  13. ibid., p. 167.

  Chapter 7: The Battle of Le Cateau, 26 August 1914

  1. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 86.

  2. French, 1914, p. 70.

  3. Quoted in the British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 92.

  4. ibid., p. 93.

  5. Richards, Old Soldiers Never Die, p. 19.

  6. French, 1914, p. 71.

  7. Smith-Dorrien, Memories of 45 Years' Service, p. 392.

  8. See Tuchman, August 1914, p. 272.

  9. Smith-Dorrien, Memories of 45 Years' Service, p. 396.

  10. ibid., p. 398.

  11.Quoted in Terraine, Mons, p. 139.

  12. Charteris, At GHQ (London, 1931), p. 78.

  13. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 135.

  14. Smith-Dorrien, Memories of 45 Years' Service, p. 401.

  15. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 169.

  16. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 141.

  17. Terraine, Mons, p. 50.

  18. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, pp. 162-3.

  19. ibid., p. 182.

  20. ibid., p. 182.

  21. French, 1914, pp. 79--80.

  22. FSRs Para 13, Section 12, Part I.

  23. French, 1914, p. 82.

  Chapter 8: The Retreat to the Marne, 27 August-5 September 1914

  1. Smith-Dorrien, Memories of 45 Years' Service, p. 414.

  2. British Official History, 1916, Vol. I, p. 83.

  3. ibid, notes, p. 244

  4. ibid., p. 224.

  5. ibid., p. 209.

  6. ibid., pp. 208-12.

  7. Spears, Liaison, 1914, p. 267.

  8. ibid., p. 267.

  9. ibid., p. 266.

  10. Tuchman, August 1914, p. 366.

  11. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I. p. 232.

  12. ibid., p. 241.

  13. ibid., p. 261.

  14. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 173.

  15. French, 1914, pp. 94-5.

  Chapter 9: From the Marne to the Aisne, 5-12 September 1914

  1. French, 1914, p. 91.

  2. ibid., p. 92.

  3. ibid., p. 92.

  4. ibid., p. 93.

  5. ibid., p. 94.

  6. ibid., p. 98.

  7. Steel helmets were not issued to the British Army until 1916.

  8. Richards, Old Soldiers Never Die, p. 31.

  9. French, 1914, p. 95.

  10. ibid., p. 95.

  11. ibid., p. 100.

  12. British Official History, 19I4, Vol. I. p. 245.

  13. ibid., p. 245.

  14. Robertson, From Private to Field Marshal, p. 244.

  15. Liddell Hart, The First World War, p. 78.

  16. A German report of 2 September 19`4, quoted in Liddell Hart, The First World War, pp. 33-4.

  17. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 174.

  18. Tuchman, August 1914, p. 416.

  19. ibid., p. 421.

  20. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 318.

  21. ibid., p. 258.

  22. ibid., p. 263.

  23. ibid., p. 263.

  24. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 173.

  25. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I. p. 279.

  26. Richards, Old Soldiers Never Die, p. 23.

  27. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I. p. 278.

  28. ibid., p. 286.

  29. ibid., p. 290.

  30. ibid., p. 294.

  31. ibid., p. 295.

  32. Spears, Liaison, 1914, pp. 337-8.

  33. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 176.

  Chapter 10: On the Aisne, 13 September-2 October 1914

  1. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I. p. 296.

  2. ibid., p. 322.

  3. Richards, Old Soldiers Never Die, p. 27.

  4. French, 1914, p. 144.

  5. ibid., p. 145.

  6. Robertson, From Private to Field Marshal, p. 214.

  7. Bloem, Notes in British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 330.

  8. ibid., p. 340.

  9. ibid., p. 341.

  10. ibid., p. 360.

  11. French, 1914, pp. 122-3.

  I2. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. I77.

  13. ibid., p. I77.

  14. British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, p. 465.

  15. ibid., p. 367.

  16. ibid., p. 373.

  17. French, 1914, pp. 154-5.

  18. ibid., p. 155.

  19. ibid., p. 156-7.

  20. ibid., p. 168.

  21. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 180.

  Chapter 11: The War in the North, 2-18 October 1914

  1. The First World War, 1914-1918 (London, 1920).

  2. ibid., p. 25.

  3. ibid., p. 29.

  4. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 42.

  5. French, 1914, p. 177.

  6. Instructions to Sir John French from Lord Kitchener, British Official History, 1914, Vol. I, Appendix 8, p. 443.

  7. French, 1914, p. I77.

  8. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 65.

  9. ibid., p. 403.

  10. This is thedate of the BEF's first engagement at La Bassée; the Official History records the La Bassée battle as lasting officially from 10 October to 2 November.


  11. French, 1914, p. 210.

  12. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 83.

  13. Quoted in Liddell Hart, The First World War, p. 119.

  14. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 85.

  15. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 183.

  16. ibid., p. 184.

  17. ibid., p. 185.

  18. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 97.

  19. Richards, Old Soldiers Never Die, p. 34.

  20. ibid., pp. 34-5.

  21. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 103.

  22. ibid., p. 113.

  23. ibid., p. 115.

  24. ibid., p. 121.

  Chapter 12: Ypres, 19-31 October 1914

  1. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 125.

  2. ibid., p. 125.

  3. Letter to General Maxwell, War Office.

  4. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 121.

  5 French, 1914, p. 216.

  6. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 183.

  7. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 108.

  8. ibid., p. I37.

  9. French, 1914, p. 226.

  10. ibid., p. 226.

  11. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 157.

  12. Richards, Old Soldiers Never Die, p. 46.

  13. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 140.

  14. ibid., p. 148.

  15. Telegram to Lord Kitchener, 22 October 1914, 12.12 p.m.

  16. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 165.

  17. ibid., p. 173.

  18. ibid., p. 175.

  19. ibid., p. 178.

  20. ibid., p. 253.

  21. ibid., p. 259.

  Chapter 13: Gheluvelt, 29-31 October 1914

  1. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 270.

  2. ibid., notes, p. 270.

  3. General Dubois, quoted in British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 275

  4. French, 1914, p. 242.

  5. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 276.

  6. ibid., p. 278.

  7. ibid., p. 279.

  8. French, 1914, p. 245.

  9. Allen by claims that the London Scottish mustered twenty-six officers and 786 men when they entered the line and sustained 278 casualties, some 34 per cent on 31 October, adding in his report, 'rarely, if ever, have second line troops sustained unshaken so high a percentage of casualties'.

  10. French, 1914, p. 238.

  11. ibid., pp. 248-9.

  12. ibid., p. 249.

  13. Liddell Hart, The First World War, p. 127.

  14. Notes, British Official History, 1914 ,Vol. II, p. 347.

  15. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 185.

  16. ibid., p. 186.

  Chapter 14: Nonne Boschen, 1-22 November 1914

  1. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 186.

  2. ibid., p. 187.

  3. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 349.

  4. John Hussey, British Army Review, No. 109.

  5. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 375.

  6. Callwell, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, p. 187.

  7. ibid., p. 186.

  8. French, 1914, p. 270.

  9. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 421.

  10. ibid., p. 427.

  11. ibid., p. 434.

  12. ibid., p. 481.

  13. ibid., p. 441.

  14. ibid., p. 442.

  15. ibid., p. 468.

  Epilogue

  1. British Official History, 1914, Vol. II, p. 467.

  2. ibid., p. 468.

  3. ibid., p. 465.

  Bibliography

  What follows is only a small selection of the books and papers consulted for this book. Many are now long out of print but can still be obtained from libraries or in second-hand bookshops.

  Arthur, Max, Forgotten Voices of the Great War,Ebury, London, 2002

  Asquith, H. H., Prime Minister, The Genesis of War,Cassell, London, 1923

  Barnett, Carelli, The Swordbearers, Studies in Supreme Command during the

  First World War, Cassell, London, 1963

  --,Britain and Her Army, 1509-1970, Cassell, London, 1970

  Bethmann-Hollweg, Theobald von, Reflections on the World War,Thornton Butterworth, London, 1922.

  Blake, Lord, The Private Papers of Douglas Haig, 1914-1919, Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1952

  British Commission for Military History (ed.), Look to your Front: Studies in the First World War,Staplehurst, Spellmount, 1999

  Brown, Ian Malcolm, British Logistics on the Western Front, 1914-1918, Praeger, Westport, CT, 1998

  Brown, Malcolm, The Imperial War Museum Book of the First World War, Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1991

  Callwell, Major-General Sir C. E., Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, His Life and Diaries (2 vols), Cassell, London, 1927

  Carew, Tim, The Vanished Army, William Kimber, London, 1964

  Carr, William, A History of Germany, 1815-1990 (4th edn), Edward Arnold, London, 1991

  Carver, Field Marshal Lord, The War Lords, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1976

  Charteris, Brigadier-General John, At GHQ, Cassell, London, 1931

  Churchill, Winston S, The World Crisis, 1911-1914, Thornton Butterworth, London, 1923

  Collier, Basil, Brasshat, A biography of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, Seeker & Warburg, London, 1961

  Corbett-Smith, Major, A. The Retreat from Mons, Cassell, London, 1916

  Corrigan, Gordon, Mud, Blood and Poppycock, Weidenfield & Nicolson, London, 2003

  Crozier, Brigadier General F. P., A Brass Hat in No Man's Land, Jonathan Cape, London, 1930

  De Watteville, Colonel H., The British Soldier, J. M. Dent, London, 1954

  Edmonds, Brigadier General J. E., History of the Great War: Military Operations, France and Belgium, 1914 (2 vols), Macmillan, London, 1922

  Falls, Cyril, Marshal Foch, Blackie, Glasgow, 1939

  Farrar, Martin J., News from the Front: War Correspondents on the Western Front, 1914-1918, Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1998

  Farrar-Hockley, Anthony, Death of an Army, Arthur Barker, London, 1967

  Farwell, Byron, Mr Kipling's Army: All the Queen's Men; Britain's pre-World War One Army, Norton, New York, 1981

  Fischer, Fritz, Germany's Aims in the First World War, Chatto & Windus, London, 1967

  --, War of Illusions, Chatto & Wind us, London, 1975

  Foch, Marshal Ferdinand, The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, trans., William Heinemann, London, 1931

  French, Major The Hon. Gerald, The Life of Field Marshal Sir john French, Cassell, London, 1931

  French, Field Marshal Viscount French of Ypres, 1914, Constable, London, 1919

  Fussell, Paul, The Great War and Modern Memory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1975

  Gilbert, Martin, The First World War,Weiden field & Nicolson, London, 1994

  Haldane, Lt. Gen. Sir Aylmer, A Brigade of the Old Army, 1914, Edward

  Arnold, London, 1920

  Hamilton, Ernest, The First Seven Divisions, Hurst & Blackett, London, 1916

  Hankey, Sir Maurice, The Supreme Command, 1914-1918 (vol. 1), Allen & Unwin, London, 1961

  Henig, Ruth, The Origins of the First World War, Routledge, London, 1989

  Hobley, L. F., The First World War, Blackie, Glasgow, 1971

  Horne, Alistair, Verdun: The Price of Glory, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1964

  Hunt, Barry, and Adrian Preston, War Aims and Strategic Policy in the Great War, Croom Helm, London, 1977

  Jackson, General Sir William, and Field Marshal Lord Bramall, The Chiefs: The Story of the United Kingdom Chiefs of Staff, Brassey's, London, 1992

  Joll, James, Europe since 1870 (4th edn), Penguin, London, 1990

  --,The Origins of the First World War, Longman, London, 1984

  Keegan, John, The Face of Battle, Jonathan Cape, London, 1976

  Keiger, J
ohn, France and the Origins of the First World War, Macmillan, London, 1983

  Kennedy, Paul, The War Plans of the Great Powers, Allen & Unwin, London, 1979

  --, The Rise of Anglo-German Antagonism, 186o--1914, Allen & Unwin, London, 1980

  McDonough, Frank, The Origins of the First and Second World Wars,

  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997

  Macksey, Kenneth, and John Batchelor, Technology in War,Arms & Armour, London,1986

  Maurice, Major-General Sir Francis, Forty Days in 1914, Constable, London, 1920

  Miller, Stephen, Sean Lynn-Jones and Stephen van Evera (eds), Military Strategy and the Origins of the First World War, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1991

  Owen, Edward, 1914: Glory Departing, Buchan & Enright, London, 1986

  Pakenham, Thomas, The Scramble for Africa, 1876-1912, Weidenfield & Nicolson, London, 1991

  Prior, Robin, and Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front, Blackwell, Oxford, 1992

  Repington, Lt. Col. Charles a Court, The First World War, 1914-1918, Constable, London, 1920

  Richards, Frank, Old Soldiers Never Die, Faber & Faber, London 1933

  Robbins, Keith, The First World War, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984

  Robertson, Field Marshal Sir William, From Private to Field Marshal, Constable, London, 1921

  Sheffield, Gary, Forgotten Victory: The First World War, Myths and Realities, Headline, London, 2001

  Snyder, Louis L., Historic Documents of World War I, Van Nostrand, Princeton, N.J., 1958

  Sommer, Dudley, Haldane of Cloan: His Life and Times, 1856-1928, Allen & Unwin, London, 1960

  Spears, E. L., Liaison 1914, William Heinemann, London, 1930

  Steiner, Zara S., Britain and the Origins of the First World War, Macmillan, London, 1977

  Taylor, A.J.P., The First World War, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1963

  Terraine, John, Mons: Retreat to Victory, B. T. Batsford, London, 1960

  --,The Western Front, 1914-1918, Hutchinson, London, 1964

  --,The First World War, 1914-1918, Hutchinson, London, 1965

  --,White Heat: The New Warfare, 1914-1918, Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1982

  Travers, Tim, The Killing Ground: The British Army, the Western Front and the Emergence of Modern Warfare, Unwin Hyman, London, 1990

  Tuchman, Barbara, August I9I4, Constable, London, 1962

  --,The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World before the War, 1890-1914, Hamish Hamilton, London 1966

  Turner, L. C. F., Origins of the First World War, Edward Arnold, London, 1970

  Van Creveld, Martin, Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1997

  --,Command in War,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1985 Wavell, General Sir Archibald, Generals and Generalship, Penguin, Harmondsworth, London, 1941

 

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