Having complained about the maps in Volume 1, I was pleased to find a much more helpful map, well into Volume 2, illustrated left. Which brought home to me how vulnerable the British position, occupying the northern portion of the line, was. With our backs to the channel ports which Admiral Bacon was hard put to keep open for business - but without which we would probably have been finished. See references 2 and 3.
Furthermore, the Germans were massed against us and against the northern part of the line held by the French. Clearly visible in the density of the little black blocks in the illustration. Both they and Haig thought that they would have won the war had they been able to drive a wedge between the British and the French armies, something they came close to doing at the beginning of 1918. There was also the consideration of munition factory feeding coal mines just behind the British lines.
Otherwise the maps were as bad as those in Volume 1, although rather late in the day I found that I had Michelin maps for most of the area in question in their 1/200,000 series. With the key area being the top right hand portion of sheet 52, north and east of Amiens. The Somme. See reference 4.
1917 saw the wearing down work of the Somme carrying on. Also the swift rise and fall of Nivelle on the French side, a general who had had the backing of Lloyd George, our new Prime Minister. Also something of a panic on the naval front, partly as a result of the damage done by German submarines, before our navy got their measure. But the submarines also brought the US into the war, with their large and largely untapped supplies of men, munitions and food.
Haig, unlike most of the politicians at home, thought that 1918 would see the end of the war. Starting with what he thought would be the last ditch offensive of the Germans, followed by the winning offensive of the allies. And so it turned out. Something of a gamble, because if he had been wrong, we would have been in a bad position to have carried on into 1919 and beyond. And as it was there were some anxious moments while the German offensive ground to a halt in May.
The allies went over to the attack in August, an attack which ended by breaching the formidable Hindenburg line - still well inside France but a decisive victory. At which point the Germans ask for an armistice and the allies start to argue amongst themselves about the terms to be offered.
On page 396 we have Haig's summary of the position. Germans beat, but would continue to fight well if it came to defending their homeland. French, worn out by four years of war. Americans, keen and coming on well, but not yet a serious force. British, in fairly good shape but stretched very thin. Not in a good state to carry on into 1919. Time to come to terms. And so it turned out, even if the eventual peace terms, agreed six months later in Versailles, were overly and unrealistically harsh.
On a lighter note, there is much talk of lunch boxes, with occasional fine dining. Which Haig did not care for at lunch time, not caring for the loss of efficiency in the afternoon. A fine present of chocolate from (I think) Foch at a time when chocolate was getting scarce. Some talk of church services, some according to the Scottish rite, and some in the church at Pont Street in London, a handsome church which we have visited ourselves (noticed at reference 5).
The biography has been blamed for being too soft on Haig. But I am left, as I was at the end of Volume 1, thinking that he had done pretty well, all things considered. He was a fine soldier, but one whose lack of a ready tongue told against him in his dealings with politicians and journalists. Plus, he was obliged to work with a Prime Minister, Lloyd George, who neither liked nor trusted him - without feeling able to get rid of him. While Haig took the view that it was his duty to serve until sacked - which, in the event, he was not. He was also, we are told, rather shy.
Whereas I was left thinking the less of Lloyd George. He might have held the Home Front together at a difficult time, but he was far too keen on wheezes which might win the war without pain. Far too keen as far as Haig was concerned on adventures away from the Western Front. Far too given to interference in operational matters which he did not (according to the soldiers) understand. A fault which he shared with Churchill.
There was also the problem with General Wilson. Despite an indifferent record as a corps commander, he spent much of the war in senior advisory positions, ending up as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Something of a thorn in Haig's side, although relations remained civilised. According to Duff Cooper, rather too fond of intrigue. Wilson was also an Irish protestant from the middle of that island, a good talker and somewhat mixed up with Unionist politics. High Tory. He ended up by being assassinated by the IRA, on his front door step in Belgravia in 1922.
In defence of both Haig and Wilson, I was left very impressed by the problems involved in getting the field commanders of the three armies - the British, the French and the American, their nominal military superiors back home and the politicians back home to agree on what was to be done and to work together. Complicated by the fact that the French were fighting at home with the front only a drive away from Paris - so it had to be their show - even when others thought that they were wrong about something. By the fact that it was the politicians who had to deliver the Home Front - and to deliver all the men and munitions that the soldiers wanted. All things considered, all those involved did not do so badly. By the facts that there was a Belgium army and a king who wanted to command it and a Portuguese contingent. A not insignificant contingent with losses of 8,000 dead, 14,000 wounded and 12,000 prisoners or missing.
Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/haig-one.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/bacon-and-out.html.
Reference 3: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-dover-patrol.html.
Reference 4: https://www.viamichelin.com/. A serious challenge to gmaps, certainly in France. Proper maps, a sort of cut price version of our Ordnance Survey maps, a lot better than the one size fits all maps from Google.
Reference 5: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Presbyterian+Church+of+Scotland. We were on one visit, quite possibly this one, pleased to find someone in the church who remembered a lady we once knew quite well, who had been one of the elders there. Presumably their regular congregation is now rather small for a rather large church.
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