Florent wrote:It was game over in 1918, the major reason is the total defeat of the Central Powers in the Balkan often forgotten.
General Franchet D'Esperey did a Masterplan and brought the Allied forces from Salonique in Greece (starting of opérations on 15 september 1918) to Belgrad and the Danube(taken 1 november 1918) brillantly.
The Allied forces were on their way to Budapest, Vienna and Berlin.
The Germano-Bulgarian armies had been defeated (German XI Army surrendered with 80000 men and Bulgaria put out of the war (September 1918).
These events played a major part in the Armistice of 1918.
TommH wrote:
As to Britain coming in due to the invasion of Belgium, this is incorrect. In point of fact the British had committed in secret to land the BEF in support of the French regardless a fact of which the Germans were well aware (since the required logistical operations could hardly be hidden).
Le Ricain wrote:The concept of the British army during WWI being an 'Army of Lions led by Donkeys' and Haig having the nickname of 'Butcher' Haig date from the 1930's when the disillusionment of the Great Depression succeeded the optimism that emerged after the war. Richard Holmes in his book 'Tommy' covers this apect very well. Reading letters dated 1918 from veterans shows no negative references to Haig or other British generals. In fact, Haig was held in high regard by his troops. Reading the same veterans' letters from the 1930's shows a change in attitude towards Haig in particular and British leadership in general. The bitterness of not seeing any of the benefits for their wartime sacrifices caused men's attitudes towards the war to change.
Return to “WW1 History club / Discussions historiques sur la Grande Guerre”
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests