Introduction

This was a year when the British Army learned many things, mostly from disasters in the various offensives that it launched. On the Western Front most offensives ended up as failures, and the British Army was not alone in this – the French and Germans suffered in just the same way. The main reason was that defensive technology (trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, high calibre shells and quick fire breach loading artillery) all favoured the defensive and an army well dug-in and equipped could usually withstand any attack. In addition, communications, or rather the lack of reliable communications, always hampered the offensive forces. Because the telephone was unreliable (lines were usually cut by shell fire) and the field radio not yet in use, commanders in the front line had to rely on runners or pigeons to relay reports of the situation on the ground. Similarly, the commanders well behind the lines relied on the same methods to issue orders in response. By the time the message arrived the situation had probably changed sufficiently to render the orders difficult or even impossible to follow. The major actions on the Western Front involving British troops in this year are outlined below.

Neuve-Chapelle, 10 to 12 March 1915

This attack by the British IV Corps and the Indian Corps was an outstanding success on the first day, largely due to the weight of the artillery barrage. The second day saw a series of largely fruitless and extremely costly attacks against newly consolidated German positions. The Germans counterattacked on 12 March but gained little ground. Any further British plans for attacks were then shelved. Official British casualties were 11,652 killed, wounded and missing. The Germans probably lost a broadly similar figure. The 2nd Bedfords were in brigade reserve and did not take a prominent part in the first two days. They were more heavily engaged in counter-attacks on the 12th and Captain C.C. Foss won a Victoria Cross in retaking a trench with 49 prisoners. The battalion lost 86 men killed, wounded and missing on this day.

Second Battle of Ypres, 22 April to 25 May 1915

This battle saw the first successful use of poison gas in warfare when the Germans overran positions north of Langemark held by French Algerian troops but were fought off by the 1st Canadian Division on their flank.