STALEMATE, the Grinding Machine & Imperialism continued

The Grinding machine of War is best captured in the opening salvo of the Chapter. The Irish Guards regiment (of which battle honours they can add Loos, the Somme, Cambrai & Arras) were 1000 strong when they departed with the BEF in 1914. However, the final death-toll rose to almost 2500 dead over the course of the war (2.5 x original battle strength). Over one week in the early skirmishes of 1914 (31^st October – 8^th November) they substituted 613 of their ranks for 100 yards of front line.

Despite the deadlock that fast set in on the Western Front, the politicians and soldiers on both sides failed to appreciate the changing face of warfare. The Germans, for one, were not immune to this. At Langemarck in October 1914, the Germans threw 90k men at the strong British & French defensive frontline. This led to the loss of almost 70% of the mainly inexperienced soldiers for no gains & became a German bloody nose, known colloquially as the “Kindermord” (Massacre of the Innocents). My father & I actually visited the graveyard in Belgium (near Ypres) last year (2014).

The second year of war also saw Allied expeditions in the Mediterranean & the Middle East fail to achieve any 19^th C style decisive victory that could alter the stalemate. Imperial Jingoism tethered to British arrogance led to a disastrous loss of manpower in Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq) & the beaches of Turkey that could have been perhaps better served on the Western Front.

An aside: Both sides failed to “change with the times” swiftly enough to achieve victory in WW I. On the other hand, the Germans learned lessons during the First World War by matching latest technology & Blitzkrieg tactics effectively in the Second World War to dominate much of Europe in the early-goings. This despite Tanks being first developed & used by Britain in WW I (Cambrai, 1917!).

One thing which stands out to me about the decision to fight in the Med & Middle East is that history repeats itself – i.e. Churchill was almost convinced in both World Wars that decisive victory could be achieved in secondary theatres. This proved to be a false pretence in both, i.e. stalemate was also achieved in Italy in WW II (memories of Monte Cassino). It is amazing how much Churchill’s strong personality allowed him to go down in history as one of the most beloved Britons. His “we will fight them on the beaches…” speech, standing up alone to the Nazis in Europe in 1940-41 was ridiculously brave & perhaps saved Europe from Total domination. However, this bravery could also transmuted into stupid decisions which eventually resulted in the deaths of countless British soldiers in both wars (Gallipoli 1915, Italian campaign 1943-45) without any real strategic victory in either campaign!

Something which adds a lot of credibility to the argument of “Stalemate” made by the author throughout the early chapters of the book is that the style of attritional warfare that was inevitable followed the war wherever it went.

I particularly enjoyed reading the succinct biography of General Foch, who outside of France is a secondary character in most Anglo-American history texts but is given a fair portrayal in this one. It is refreshing to hear about French commanders that were not cowardly or subordinate to their British Allies (not like a proud Frenchman ever would approve of that anyway!). The image of the moustachioed, cigar-smoking General, with quirky gestures & an eccentric nature is almost anathema to today’s measure of manliness, which is sad in a way. Foch was a calming influence & taught in his military schools the benefit of patience & agility when faced with changing conditions (to think!).

Lord Kitchener, the man behind the famous face on the famous poster imploring British men to join the ranks of their brethren is introduced in this chapter as well. Not many Americans may know that “Uncle Sam” was a reproduction of this Imperial call-to-arms. British Imperial hegemony around the world was of vital & first importance to Kitchener, as well as most of the British government. The build-up of British manpower & resources was to be of strategic significance, as in when the Belligerents finished beating themselves to a pulp, the British could consolidate their global interests with the most powerful & ready Army left. It is perhaps unsurprising that the French also held similar post-war Imperial visions. It is however surprising how historical enemies separated by a mere 33 km of water maintained a working relationship against the German juggernaut.

Reflecting on the war diplomacy of the period, particularly the Balkans; where possible gains could be had against the weak Austro-Hungarians, demonstrated that Western Europeans (particularly the British & French) had no clue of the complex interactions of ethnicities & history of this region. This led to incorrect policies & inadequate support of these people during the war years. I find it fascinating that the West still hasn’t fully grasped the nature of the region – manifested in NATO’s response to the horrible massacres perpetrated in the 1990s in Serbia, Croatia & Bosnia & the failure of the UN to conclude any meaningful peace during the worst years of conflict there. 

Stalemate

What a great word!

Stalemate:  (a) The situation in chess when the game ends because neither player can make a legal move or win the game and/or (b) The situation in which progress is impossible because the people or groups cannot agree.

Both definitions apply but when did the master planners - the great and not so great generals, politicians, civil servant, journalists arrive at the conclusion that the war had reached a condition of  stalemate. With chess the stalemate is reached when movement from one position on the board to an adjacent position cannot bring the game to an end and the players call a stalemate.

The pawns of war once it becomes a stalemate are then involved in attrition because nothing else will work. The daily grind is bombardment, keeping your head down below the parapet of the trench, waiting and waiting for orders to get up over the top of the trench and then running like madmen across no-mans land towards the enemy trench with the fear of god in you but never showing it because the fear of your fellow man's unkindness towards such weakness is worse. Better to die a hero with nobody to know just how afraid you really felt before being cut down by machine gun fire or worse being blown apart, to little smithereens of tissue, bone, blood, gore. The bits of men interlinked, intertwined forever on the bloody fields of France. The honour of being buried beside your fallen  comrades and former enemies as even these become your friends in death - one important aspect of friendship being the sharing of experiences even one such as death. Imagine consummation of  friendship being the killing of an enemy and then forever lying together in hallowed ground where your story is told endlessly in books, films, memoirs, regimental diaries  as if this is an achievement that was wanted by those men.

The whole concept of stalemate to me generates feelings of dismay something which I am sure that many of the participants felt when standing in the cold wet trenches of France. Where action was mostly inaction, where action was a sudden adrenaline fueled rush towards death of the young men of the world leaving so many behind to mourn the loss and then having the problem of keeping their memory alive within ourselves. Clearly when the stalemate set in there was an opportunity for the politicians and diplomats on all sides to confer and resolve the problem without the massive loss of life that invariably was to accompany continued military action.  A state of siege  on both sides existed. This was different from the typical siege pattern where one party is enclosed, trapped, cut off from supplies, cut off from reinforcements. In fact both parties had excellent supply lines, great number of skilled and unskilled workers, access to production machinery, rail transport and of course a vast number of pawns to ensure that stalemate could continue.  Heavy artillery pumping large explosive shells with range accurately calculated to land in the killing zone only to ensure that the stalemate continued at great loss to the stability of minds, the creation of new disorders such as post-traumatic stress considered to be a reason to being shot at dawn for display of cowardice (illness or what). More and more attrition as even your own officers considered you a coward for being mentally affected. Better to execute a few to keep the rest "sane". Ensure the men continued to fight the horrible war of attrition where the enemy was largely out of sight. Hey what are we shooting at but we do not dare  show our face as we will surely die from the bullets of the unseen enemy.  

What must the war of attrition have felt like? The days must have been unending in the cold and wet trenches with nothing but men and rats to keep you company. Letter writing to loved ones, getting letters from loved ones, smoking cigarettes and eating rations such as bully beef, suffering from trench foot etc.

Stalemate a simple word to understand but shame on those planners, political and military, who on both sides failed to recognize that stalemate means the end of the game as in chess and that where real pawns are involved with death on a large scale being the foreseeable outcome while the futile attempts to force a breakthrough were continued. It must have been obvious to all intelligent strategists that stalemate brought about by the clashing of equal forces can only be ended by negotiation but as nobody wanted to lose or be seen to give way to any degree such a path would be a lonely furrow to travel. Better to clash heads for four years with massive loss of our young life so filled with promise, the complete change in the worlds balance of power, become indebted to the new world the effects of which are still felt today 100 years on  and finally becoming close friends with the German who despite the many atrocities committed by this nation in the Second World War have now become the staunch supporter and implementer of a safe world order. Good luck to them although I still feel the loss of life was not worth it when strategic negotiation at stalemate stage should have been the order of the day. Aggression denigrating to Stalemate and onto Attrition with no end in sight!!!

Men in each grave lying stilled

Would have given so much

to have had their lives fulfilled 

to live the natural order

the mothers, wives and children

all lost beyond reason

 because of stalemate and attrition

during the great war of 1914

Each say a prayer of benediction

and rightly so at the close of worship 

to these lost men who died for so many

never forgotten soldiers known onto our god.  

 Stephen Mooney 2015