Benoît Chenu - 1916 - The Battle of the Five Empires: 15 May - 28 September 1916

Translated from French

by Laurie Duboucheix-Saunders and Benot Chenu

ISBN 978-2-9585377-8-4 , Benot Chenu, Guche Publishing, Paris, 2022.

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licencing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the writtin permission of Benot Chenu.

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To Louis-Nol Chenu, my brother.

Light is sown for the righteous,

and joy for the upright in heart.

(Psalm 97:11)

The fault lies in the application at the onset of a flawed doctrine, an inaccurate assessment of the comparative state of the forces involved, an excessive timidity of the local command, and deficiencies within the higher command.

(General de Castelnau, chief of the general staff of the French Armies: Report on the wrong decisions made by the French high command on 3 July 1916 leading to the squandering of the opportunity for a great victory on the Somme)

I also owe many personal and professional debts to those who have provided support during the preparation and the writing of this book. I have already thanked some of them in the French edition. In this one, I would like to thank those without whom this English edition could not have come to be. Among them, I would in particular like to thank Bernard Giovanangeli and Damien Serieyx who never hesitated to embark on this adventure despite the risks involved. Without the contribution of Laurie Duboucheix-Saunders, this text would never have reached the high standards required for any quality publication. With her dual French-English culture and undeniable literary qualities, she has entirely revised this translation to make it suitable for the most demanding readers before copy-editing it. She was passionate about this work and brought much more to it than I expected. By doing me the honour of co-opting me into their prestigious association, the members of the British Military History Commission have also reinforced my motivation to be published in English. Last, I would like to remember the late Elisabeth Greenhalgh, who was the initiator of my previous book and who prefaced it. She has been by the same token at the origin of my career in military history.

DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONFLICT

ASPIRATIONS OF THE INDIVIDUAL BALKAN STATES

BULGARIAS GEOSTRATEGIC POSITION IN 1916

GERMAN WAR AIMS

LINKS BETWEEN THE CENTRAL POWERS IN 1916

LINKS BETWEEN THE ALLIED COUNTRIES OF THE ENTENTE IN 1916

THE SALONIKA CUL-DE-SAC

THE BATTLE OF VERDUN

SUBMARINE WARFARE

BATTLE OF VERDUN LEFT BANK

THE STRAFEXPEDITION THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION 15 MAY 1916

THE EASTERN FRONT IN JUNE 1916

PLAN FOR THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE

TRANSFER OF THE GERMAN DIVISIONS

BATTLE OF VERDUN RIGHT BANK

GERMAN POSITIONS IN FRONT OF THE BRITISH FORCES

BATTLE OF THE SOMME - POSITION OF THE TROOPS

FRENCH POSITIONS SOUTH OF THE SOMME

BATTLE OF THE SOMME: FIRST ASSAULT 13 JULY 1916

BREAKTRHOUGH OF FRENCH SIX ARMY ON 3 JULY 1916

GERMAN REINFORCEMENTS AFTER THE 1 JULY ASSAULT

TWO OPTIONS IN CASE OF A BREAKTHROUGH INTO THE GERMAN DEFENSIVE SYSTEM

BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE 47 JULY 1916

STRATEGIC LOCATION OF ROMANIA

CONTEXT OF THE BRUSILOV OFFENSIVE

MANOEUVRE PROPOSED BY HAIG AND CASTELNAU

FRANCO-BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN JUNE 1916

TRANSFER OF THE GERMAN DIVISIONS AND CHANGES HEADCOUNTS JUNEAUGUST 1916

Les Armes Franaises dans la Grande Guerre (French Armies in the Great War) or AFGG: Published between 1922 and 1939, this collection of 107 books collected into eleven volumes was produced by the Service historique de larme, which was created in 1919 specifically for this editorial task. It includes accounts, documents and maps of the operations carried out by the French armies in 191418. In particular, it contains orders, reports, telegrams and summaries of telephone conversations between the high command, armies and army corps. This collection has been entirely digitised using OCR (optical character recognition) technology. The search by keyword function makes the AFGG an exceptional tool that has no equivalent in the world. Access to the website and the AFGG is free and no registration is required.

https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr

In this book, references to the AFGG are given in abbreviated form. For example, AFGG 3/2/A3, annexe 542 refers to Book 3, Volume 2, Appendix 3 and annexe 542.

Allies: Other name for the Entente and the countries that had joined this coalition.

Armeeoberkommando or AOK: High command of the Austrian Army and Navy. It was set up at the beginning of the war and had authority over the Army and the Navy. It was led by the commander-in-chief (Armeeoberkommandanten), Archduke Friedrich. In reality, all decisions were made by the chief of staff (chief of the Generalstabes), Franz Conrad von Htzendorf. Initially based in Neu-Sandez, south of Krakow, it moved to Teschen, 50 kilometres from the Castle of Pless where the Oberste Heeresleitung was established in 1915.

Army: Largest of the military units. It generally comprised between two and five army corps depending on the missions assigned to it. In particular, it had an important command body: a large general staff and sometimes additional resources that it made available to its corps; heavy artillery, aviation, etc.

Army Council (UK): In 1904, the post of British commander-in-chief was abolished. An Army Council was created on the model of the Admiralty Council, chaired by the Secretary of State for War. An Imperial General Staff was then subordinated to it.

Austria-Hungarys Last War, 19141918 (sterreich-Ungarns Letzter Krieg, 19141918): A complete collection of the history of the 191418 war in seven volumes, each about 900 pages long. Published in the 1930s by the Austrian War Archives, this source is certainly the most complete and rigorous source on the operations in the Eastern theatre of operations.

Austria or Austrians: These terms are often used to refer to the Austro-Hungarian empire and the states that make up this dual monarchy. They are reductive in that they dont acknowledge the Hungarian participation to the empire.

Battalions: Infantry unit comprising approximately one thousand two hundred men (nine hundred for the British Army). There were generally twelve battalions in British, French and German infantry divisions. However, as the composition of large units (divisions, corps or armies) often varied during the war, reference was sometimes made to the number of battalions that made up a unit to reflect its size.

British Expeditionary Force or BEF: Created after the Boer War to enable Britain to rapidly deploy a force capable of taking part in overseas wars. This designation was reserved for British forces fighting in France and Belgium in 1914 and 1915. Afterwards, as the number of troops had been greatly increased, they would be called Kitchener Army and then the British Army.

Conseil Suprieur de la Dfense: Created in 1906 in Paris. Chaired by the president of the Republic, it brought together the president of the Council, the ministers of Foreign Affairs, War, the Navy, Finance and the Colonies. The chief of the general staff of the Army (Land), the chief of the general staff of the Navy and the general chairman of the Consultative Committee for the Defence of the Colonies also took part in the meetings in an advisory capacity.