"in March 1918. It was reformed again in May 1918 under the command of General William Birdwood. The British Army first engaged the German Army in the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914, which was part of the greater Battle of the Frontiers. The massed rifle fire of the professional British soldiers inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans who attacked ""en masse"" over terrain devoid of cover. The British held up the German advance until the evening when they began retiring to a second defensive line in the retreat from Mons during which they were engaged in the Battle"
"British commanders had been unable to keep in touch with each other and the attack became disorganised which disrupted the delivery of supplies. On 12 March, German forces commanded by Crown Prince Rupprecht, launched a counter-attack which failed but forced the British to use most of their artillery ammunition; the British offensive was postponed on 13 March and abandoned two days later. Winter operations 1914–1915 Winter operations 1914–1915 is the name given to military operations during the First World War from 1915, on the part of the Western Front held by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), in French and Belgian"
"mid-1915, when the Second Battle of Garua resulted in British victory. First Battle of Garua The First Battle of Garua took place from 29 to 31 August 1914 during the Kamerun Campaign of the First World War between German and invading British forces in northern Kamerun at Garua. It was the first significant action to take place in the campaign and resulted in the German repulsion of the British force. On 25 August 1914 (three weeks after war had broken out in Europe), British cavalry from the West African Frontier Force crossed the border from Nigeria and seized Tepe, a"
"British Expeditionary Force order of battle (1914) The British Expeditionary Force order of battle 1914, as originally despatched to France in August and September 1914, at the beginning of World War I. The British Army prior to World War I traced its origins to the increasing demands of imperial expansion together with inefficiencies highlighted during the Crimean War, which led to the Cardwell and Childers Reforms of the late 19th century. These gave the British Army its modern shape, and defined its regimental system. The Haldane Reforms of 1907, formally created an ""Expeditionary force"" and the Territorial Force. The British"
"Battle of Liège The Battle of Liège () was the opening engagement of the German invasion of Belgium and the first battle of the First World War. The attack on Liège, a town protected by the Fortified position of Liège, a ring fortress built from the late 1880s to the early 1890s, began on 5 August 1914 and lasted until 16 August, when the last fort surrendered. The siege of Liège may have delayed the German invasion of France by Railways in the Meuse river valley needed by the German armies in eastern Belgium were closed for the duration of"
"Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914) The First Battle of Heligoland Bight was the first naval battle of the First World War, fought on 28 August 1914, between ships of the United Kingdom and Germany. The battle took place in the south-eastern North Sea, when the British attacked German patrols off the north-west German coast. The German High Seas Fleet was in harbour on the north German coast while the British Grand Fleet was out in the northern North Sea. Both sides engaged in long-distance sorties with cruisers and battlecruisers, with close reconnaissance of the area of sea near the German"
"Winter operations 1914–1915 Winter operations 1914–1915 is the name given to military operations during the First World War from 1915, on the part of the Western Front held by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), in French and Belgian Flanders. Both sides had tried to advance in Flanders after the northern flank had disappeared during the Race to the Sea in late 1914. Franco-British attacks towards Lille in October were followed by attacks by the BEF, Belgians and a new French Eighth Army (Général Victor d'Urbal). A German offensive began on 21 October but the 4th Army (""Generaloberst"" Albrecht, Duke of"
"First Battle of Garua The First Battle of Garua took place from 29 to 31 August 1914 during the Kamerun Campaign of the First World War between German and invading British forces in northern Kamerun at Garua. It was the first significant action to take place in the campaign and resulted in the German repulsion of the British force. On 25 August 1914 (three weeks after war had broken out in Europe), British cavalry from the West African Frontier Force crossed the border from Nigeria and seized Tepe, a German border post to the north of Garua. The post's occupation"
"as little more than a diversion. Byron Farwell recounts that ""the main effort was [the] ambitious amphibian assault on the port of Tanga"" that commenced on 2 November 1914. With the northern prong accounted for, the askari companies were shuttled by rail to Tanga to assist in opposing the southern prong. Battle of Kilimanjaro The Battle of Kilimanjaro at Longido took place in German East Africa in November 1914 and was an early skirmish during the East African Campaign of the First World War. The British conquest of German East Africa was planned as a two-pronged invasion of the German"
"in the First and Second battles in 1914. Since 1915 specialist Royal Engineer tunnelling companies had been digging tunnels under the ridge, and about of explosives had been planted in 21 mines under the German defences. Following several weeks of bombardment, the explosives in 19 of these mines were detonated, killing up to 7,000 German troops. The infantry advance that followed relied on three creeping barrages which the British infantry followed to capture the plateau and the east side of the ridge in one day. German counter-attacks were defeated and the southern flank of the Gheluvelt plateau was protected from"
"Battle of Kilimanjaro The Battle of Kilimanjaro at Longido took place in German East Africa in November 1914 and was an early skirmish during the East African Campaign of the First World War. The British conquest of German East Africa was planned as a two-pronged invasion of the German colony, at the port town of Tanga and the settlement Longido on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. The plan was designed at a Mombasa staff conference with Major General Arthur Aitken in overall command. The first and largest prong was an advance towards Tanga by the British Indian Expeditionary Force ""B"","
"Battle of Tepe The Battle of Tepe (or Tebe) on 25 August 1914 was the first skirmish between German and British forces during the Kamerun Campaign in of the First World War. The conflict took place on the border between British Nigeria and German Kamerun, ending in British victory and German withdrawal from the station. On 4 August 1914, Britain declared war on the German Empire at the beginning of the First World War. On 8 August, a mounted detachment from the West African Frontier Force embarked from Kano in northern British Nigeria towards the German colony of Kamerun. These"
"Battle of Banjo During the Battle of Banjo or Battle of Banyo, British forces besieged German forces entrenched on the Banjo mountain from 4 to 6 November 1915 during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War. By 6 November much of the German force had deserted, while the rest surrendered. The battle resulted in victory for the Allies and breakdown of German resistance in northern Kamerun. Following the outbreak of war between Britain and Germany in the summer of 1914, British forces in neighboring Nigeria mounted an attack on the German forts at Garua in northern Kamerun. After failing"
"First Battle of Edea The First Battle of Edea involved the British and French assault on German forces stationed in the village of Edea during the Kamerun Campaign of the First World War. Allied forces from Duala launched their advance on 20 October. Following stiff resistance along the southern railway line between Duala and Edea, German forces withdrew from the town to Jaunde, allowing Allied troops to finally occupy Edea on 26 October 1914. After British and French forces had landed in and occupied the major port city of Duala in September 1914, the German garrison that had once protected"
"of war in the summer of 1914, Amiens, which geographical determinism placed to protect the capital, suffered the brunt of the horrors of war. At the start of the war, in August 1914, Amiens had been the Advance Base for the British Expeditionary Force. It was captured by the German Army on 31 August 1914, but recaptured by the French on 28 September. The proximity of Amiens to the Western Front and its importance as a rail hub, made it a vital British logistic centre, especially during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The city was to the immediate"
"Battle of Cambrai (1917) The Battle of Cambrai (Battle of Cambrai, 1917, First Battle of Cambrai and Schlacht von Cambrai) was a British attack followed by the biggest German counter-attack against the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) since 1914, in the First World War. The town of Cambrai, in the département of Nord, was an important supply point for the German (known to the British as the Hindenburg Line) and capture of the town and the nearby Bourlon Ridge would threaten the rear of the German line to the north. Major General Henry Tudor, Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) of the 9th"
"British Expeditionary Force. At this time it was designated as 4th (Guards) Brigade as it commanded four battalions of Foot Guards. It served on the Western Front in 1914 and 1915 before being transferred to the Guards Division and redesignated as 1st Guards Brigade on 20 August 1915. While with the 2nd Division, it took part in the Battle of Mons (23 and 24 August 1914), the First Battle of the Marne (6 – 9 September), the First Battle of the Aisne (13 – 20 September), the First Battle of Ypres (19 October – 30 November), and the Battle of"
"reserve behind the 6th Army and reduced the German counter-offensive strategy north of the Somme to one of passive and unyielding defence. The original British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of six divisions and the Cavalry Division, had lost most of the army's pre-war regular soldiers in the battles of 1914 and 1915. The bulk of the British casualties were replaced by volunteers of the Territorial Force and Lord Kitchener's New Army, which had begun forming in August 1914. Rapid expansion created many vacancies for senior commands and specialist appointments, which led to many retired officers (""dug-outs"") and inexperienced newcomers. In 1914,"
"although only 150,000 men were immediately available to be formed into the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that was sent to the continent. This consisted of six infantry divisions and one of cavalry. By contrast, the French Army in 1914 mobilised 1,650,000 troops and 62 infantry divisions, while the German Army mobilised 1,850,000 troops and 87 infantry divisions. Britain, therefore, began the war with six regular and fourteen territorial infantry divisions. During the war, a further six regular, 14 Territorial, 36 Kitchener's Army and six other divisions, including the Naval Division from the Royal Navy were formed. In 1914, each British"
"by British ships while taking on coal at sea in a location identified by NID codebreakers). Battle of the Falkland Islands The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a naval action between the British Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914, during the First World War in the South Atlantic. The British, after the defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, sent a large force to track down and destroy the victorious German cruiser squadron. The battle is commemorated every year on 8 December in the Falkland Islands as a public holiday. Admiral Graf Maximilian"
"Battle of Armentières The Battle of Armentières (also Battle of Lille) was fought by German and Franco-British forces in northern France in October 1914, during reciprocal attempts by the armies to envelop the northern flank of their opponent, which has been called the Race to the Sea. Troops of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) moved north from the Aisne front in early October and then joined in a general advance with French troops further south, pushing German cavalry and Jäger back towards Lille until 19 October. German infantry reinforcements of the 6th Army arrived in the area during October. The"
"half hours, against a full battery of German artillery. British reinforcements arrived at around counter-attacked the Germans and forcing them to retreat; the German division was routed and did not return to combat for several days. Three men of L Battery were awarded the Victoria Cross for their part in the battle' the battery was later awarded the honour title of ""Néry"", the only British Army unit to have this as a battle honour. After the British and German armies first encountered each other at the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914, the outnumbered British Expeditionary Force had begun"
"fortress of Heligoland, the Germans controlled the German Bight, while the rest of the North Sea and the English Channel were controlled by the Royal Navy for the duration of the war. 6 August 1914 saw the start of the German U-boat Campaign - two days after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats left their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea. The first sea battle, the Battle of Heligoland Bight took place on 28 August 1914 and ended in a clear British victory. Because"
"Battle of St. Quentin (1914) The Battle of St. Quentin (also called the First Battle of Guise () was fought from 29 to 30 August 1914, during the First World War. On the night of 26 August 1914, the Allies withdrew from Le Cateau to St. Quentin. With retreat all along the line, the commander-in-chief of the French forces, Joseph Joffre, needed the Fifth Army (General Charles Lanrezac) to hold off the German advance with a counter-attack, despite a separation from the French Fourth Army on the right flank and the continual retreat of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on"
"infantry divisions, and changed the old militia into the special reserve to reinforce the expeditionary force. The British Army was different from the French and German Armies at the beginning of the conflict in that it was made up from volunteers not conscripts. It was also considerably smaller than its French and German counterparts. The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 saw the bulk of the changes in the Haldane reforms put to the test. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of six divisions was quickly sent to the Continent, while the Territorial Forces fourteen divisions and Reserves"
"Battle of the Falkland Islands The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a naval action between the British Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914, during the First World War in the South Atlantic. The British, after the defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, sent a large force to track down and destroy the victorious German cruiser squadron. The battle is commemorated every year on 8 December in the Falkland Islands as a public holiday. Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee—commanding the German squadron of two armoured cruisers, and , the light cruisers , and"
"Battle of Flirey The Battle of Flirey () was a First World War battle fought from 19 September – 11 October 1914. It resulted in a German victory against the French army. The battle cut most of the roads and railways to the strategically important Fortified Region of Verdun ( [RFV]) and was to have a large effect on the course of the war. The Woëvre Plain stretches from the city of Luxemburg, south to the French city of Toul and has been a common route of attack between Germany and France. The plain is flanked on the western side"
"in further training behind the lines before undergoing a period of trench acclimatisation. When the battalion was considered proficient, or when the pressure to relieve a regular unit became too severe, the territorials were allocated their own sector of the front. The time between arriving at brigade and taking over the trenches varied from between six days to one month. The territorials were thrown into the defensive battles of the initial German offensive during the Race to the Sea. Among the first to see action was the London Scottish, which suffered 640 casualties on 31 October 1914 during the Battle"
"began between the German, French and Belgian armies on the German-French frontier and in southern Belgium on 4 August 1914. Liège was occupied by the Germans on 7 August. The first units of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed in France and French troops crossed the German frontier. The Battle of Mulhouse (Battle of Alsace ) was the first French offensive of World War I. The French captured Mulhouse, until forced out by a German counter-attack on 11 August, and fell back toward Belfort. On 12 August, the Battle of Haelen was fought by German and Belgian cavalry and infantry,"
"First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres ( , was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium, during October and November 1914. The battle was part of the First Battle of Flanders, in which German, French and Belgian armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought from Arras in France to Nieuport on the Belgian coast, from 10 October to mid-November. The battles at Ypres began at the end of the Race to the Sea, reciprocal attempts by the German and Franco-British armies to advance past the"
"Battle of Jabassi The Battle of Jabassi or Battle of Yabassi was a pair of assaults on German positions at Jabassi on the Wuri river during the Kamerun Campaign of World War I between German and British forces on 7 and 14 October 1914. The action resulted in British victory and their occupation of the station. Allied landings at Douala and Victoria on 27 September, under the command of Major General C. M. Dobell, met little resistance. German forces who had been occupying the coast had withdrawn along the northern railway to Dschang, along the Wuri River to Jabassi, and"
"German counter-attack. Battle of Jabassi The Battle of Jabassi or Battle of Yabassi was a pair of assaults on German positions at Jabassi on the Wuri river during the Kamerun Campaign of World War I between German and British forces on 7 and 14 October 1914. The action resulted in British victory and their occupation of the station. Allied landings at Douala and Victoria on 27 September, under the command of Major General C. M. Dobell, met little resistance. German forces who had been occupying the coast had withdrawn along the northern railway to Dschang, along the Wuri River to"
"the British from being outflanked. The first major Allied attack against German forces since the incarnation of trench warfare on the Western Front, the First Battle of Champagne, lasting from December 20, 1914, until March 17, 1915; it was a German victory, due in part to their machine gun battalions and the well-entrenched German forces. The indecisive Second Battle of Ypres, from April 22 – May 25, was the site of the first German chlorine gas attack and the only major German offensive on the Western Front in 1915. Ypres was devastated after the battle. The Second Battle of Artois,"