The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post - July-Dec 1917

bristol scout · 15 June 2009, 10:41 AM

Well, yes---obviously to some degree----even a fair bit, it was down to blockade induced shortages---but Germany had a very powerful fleet which had declined to fight after Jutland---and finally disobeyed orders to fight and mutinied instead. A bit more 'fight' might have eased the burden at home and could'nt have hurt the war effort! Let's face it---that's what they were paid to do!

Also the reason for the slow down and halt might be found in the following facts----which figure quite heavily i think.

The magnificent instrument of war that was the 'old' German army was gone---by 1918 a more even playing field had been reached between the main combatants--British and commonwealth--and Germans .

When, from 1916 Britain started to shoulder more and more of the burden her Armies, which had started out (in 1916) as little more than an enthusiastic militia, had learnt in the hard classroom of battle to be very accomplished battle practitioners------The GERMANS on the other hand had, by the end of 1917 (to use Ludendorff's own words ' our infantry approximated more nearly in character to a militia, and discipline declined') had their skills base destroyed to a large extent.

The best of the German army lay dead on the battlefields of Verdun and the Somme. As the old core of superbly trained N.C.O.'s vanished---so discipline declined. This 'militia' like 1918 army (stormtroops were in themselves an admission of this) had come about not so much from difficulties with rations because of the blockade--but by death, because of the tremendous battles of attrition (first started during the American Civil War) and those casualties could not be replaced simply by numbers---the expertise was gone.
That stopped the advance---that and the levelled rifles of an opponent who had learned all there was to learn by then about fighting.

Dave.

15 June 2009, 10:41 AM	#70 (permalink)
bristol scout Shot Down Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 3,612	Why the attack failed Well, yes---obviously to some degree----even a fair bit, it was down to blockade induced shortages---but Germany had a very powerful fleet which had declined to fight after Jutland---and finally disobeyed orders to fight and mutinied instead. A bit more 'fight' might have eased the burden at home and could'nt have hurt the war effort! Let's face it---that's what they were paid to do! Also the reason for the slow down and halt might be found in the following facts----which figure quite heavily i think. The magnificent instrument of war that was the 'old' German army was gone---by 1918 a more even playing field had been reached between the main combatants--British and commonwealth--and Germans . When, from 1916 Britain started to shoulder more and more of the burden her Armies, which had started out (in 1916) as little more than an enthusiastic militia, had learnt in the hard classroom of battle to be very accomplished battle practitioners------The GERMANS on the other hand had, by the end of 1917 (to use Ludendorff's own words ' our infantry approximated more nearly in character to a militia, and discipline declined') had their skills base destroyed to a large extent. The best of the German army lay dead on the battlefields of Verdun and the Somme. As the old core of superbly trained N.C.O.'s vanished---so discipline declined. This 'militia' like 1918 army (stormtroops were in themselves an admission of this) had come about not so much from difficulties with rations because of the blockade--but by death, because of the tremendous battles of attrition (first started during the American Civil War) and those casualties could not be replaced simply by numbers---the expertise was gone. That stopped the advance---that and the levelled rifles of an opponent who had learned all there was to learn by then about fighting. Dave.