Once more we have a commemoration of a First World War
Battle. We have reached 1917 and the so called “Battle of Passchendaele”. What we
haven’t reached is any sort of understanding of what the battle was about, what
happened and why. This is reflected even in the name of the battle. The First
Battle of Passchendaele didn’t begin until October. The Second Battle of Passchendaele
began in late October and continued into November. What we are commemorating on
the 31st of July is the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres. This campaign
began with the Battle of Pilckem Ridge. Of course, no-one will mention anything
about this. All we will get is cliché about mud and futility.
The Third Battle of Ypres was not futile, nor was it
defeat for the allied powers. It was part of a series of battles that
ultimately defeated Germany. Each of these battles involved enormous loss of
life. But this was not because the Germans, the French or the British were
stupid. It was simply because we had reached a stage in the history of warfare
where defence was massively stronger than attack.
One hundred years earlier during Napoleon’s campaign
soldiers were mainly armed with muskets and a large mass of men could charge a
defensive position and expect to succeed. This meant that a Generals task was
to manoeuvre his troops so that he it would be able to successfully attack his
opponent. The General who did this best won. But during the nineteenth century
this changed because of the invention of breech loading rifles and latterly
machine guns. Even by the end of the American Civil War, defence had become so
strong that armies were reduced to trench warfare. Fifty years later with the
development of the machine gun it became simply impossible for a large mass of
men to charge a defensive position and expect to meet success.
Why didn’t we have a repeat of trench warfare in the
years between 1939 and 1945? The answer is that in the period in between
technology developed again so that we had effective aircraft capable of
supporting attacking troops and we had effective tanks capable of breaking
through a defensive line. This brought manoeuvre back into warfare.
The Generals of the First World War had neither
effective aircraft nor effective tanks that could operate in all conditions.
These things were developed during the course of the First World War, but they
had not yet reached the stage of being able to break through a defensive line
on their own. The only effective ways of breaking a defensive line that these
generals had were artillery and troops.
During the course of the First World War the various
armies developed and changed artillery and attack tactics. These became
progressively more effective. Unfortunately they had to learn by experience.
This experience, otherwise known as battles, was not futile. Only by fighting
the Battle of the Somme and later battles such as Third Ypres did the British
Army learn how to win. By November of 1917 when the Second Battle of Passchendaele
ended with Allied Victory the British had developed “bite and hold” tactics for
which the Germans had no answer. In
desperation the Germans attacked in March 1918. Their attack met with initial
success and they too developed innovative tactics. But their offensive
ultimately failed, because they could not finally break the allied line.
By 1918 the Allied Armies had more or less perfected
the method by which they could break the German line and they proceeded to do
so from July 1918 until November. In this way the Allies decisively defeated
the German Army in the field. But they didn’t do out of the blue. They did so
because of the battles that had gone before. Without these, there would have
been no victory in 1918.
I tire of commemorations that show zero understanding
of the First World War. They are not commemorating anything as they don’t even
know what happened. How can you remember if you don’t know what you are remembering?
I’m sorry this is not remembrance it is “profanation of the dead.”
These men did not die in vain. Instead they won the
greatest victory in British history. The British Army of 1918 was the best Army
we have ever had. It had the most up to date tactics, the most brilliant and
brave soldiers and it succeeded.
We have become so used to defeatism and pacifism
that we forget what we were fighting for between 1914 and 1918. We were
fighting for exactly the same thing between 1939 and 1945. The First World War
was about preventing an undemocratic tyranny (Germany) from ruling Europe. The
Second World War in essence was about exactly the same thing.
We went to war in 1914 because we wanted Belgium to
free. We went to war in 1939 so that Poland should be free. We did not want
either of these places to be ruled by Germany. We wanted them remain free,
sovereign nation states who had the right to say to Germany No.
Preventing undemocratic powers from ruling in Europe
was our war aim in 1917 and in 1944. That is why we fought. Unfortunately we
lost the peace. Poland and Belgium are part of an undemocratic Empire that is
in effect ruled by Germany. The German war aims of 1914 and 1939 have more or
less been achieved. Germany dominates and what Germany wants more or less
happens. The Governments of small countries are overruled. Their Prime
Ministers are appointed and in the end they have to do what they are told. We
have the illusion of democracy in Brussels but it is no more than the illusion of
democracy that could be found in Berlin in 1914.
We must remember what our soldiers fought for at
Ypres and why it mattered that they succeeded. They fought so that Britain
would not be ruled by any tyranny and would not be dominated by foreign powers.
That is why these wars mattered.
Europe is once again dominated and democracy threatened.
Poland is once more part of an Empire only now that Empire is from the West
rather than the East. But once more the British have escaped. We got into are
small boats and we crowded onto the piers that stretched into the channel and
pointed to our island home that would allow us to fight on for all those who
had seen their freedom crushed.
We do so again. So let us remember this. Brexit was
a great victory. It was a continuation
of the same fight that we have been engaged in for over a century.
Unfortunately there are still those who wish to side with our opponents and
would prevent our example from freeing Europe once more. Some of these people pretend
to remember our dead today. They do not remember them, they do not know them or
understand them. They only profane them.
