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Haig's Intelligence: GHQ and the German Army 1916 -1918


Crunchy

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Haig’s Intelligence: GHQ and the German Army 1916 - 1918.


By Jim Beach.


Cambridge University Press, 2013, 369pp



War is an uncertain business. Unlike a board game, where an opponent’s pieces are laid out for all to see, war is waged with imprecise information, some contradictory, some incorrect, and muddied by the enemy’s deception measures. Haig’s Intelligence: GHQ and the German Army 1916 -1918 is a seminal piece of work that sheds considerable light on the British Army’s efforts on the Western Front to clear the fog, and provide commanders with an estimation of the German forces opposing them on which to base their operational decisions. The depth and breadth of Dr Beach’s research is breathtaking, as evidenced by the copious footnotes on each page. From it he draws a balanced and objective view of this little studied, but important, contribution to winning the Great War. Indeed, it offers a greater scope to the subject than the title suggests.



Presented in two parts, the first addresses the development of the British intelligence organisation from its embryonic, pre-war beginnings, through its growth during the war to the armistice. Admirably presented, it provides a fascinating insight into this neglected area of the Great War, including the leading personalties, their disagreements and influence, the development and evolution of the principal collection means, and their relative value in providing information on the German Army, and broader strategic issues. The analysis of the raw material into the finished intelligence product, a process which steadily improved as the war progressed, rounds out a thoroughly informative portrayal of a system in which many innovations taken for granted today saw the light of day, including signals intelligence and air photography. While the former developed slowly, the latter mushroomed into an astonishing 900,000 prints a month in May 1918. In the shadowy world of espionage many of us are familiar with agents parachuted into occupied France during the Second World War - Dr Beach highlights this first occurred behind the Western Front, together with the less predictable means of inserting them using balloons! The work of these networks provided valuable information on German troop movements.



The second part discusses how the intelligence product influenced operational decisions, and particularly Haig, during 1916 to 1918. Pitched primarily at strategic intelligence, what emerges is the focus on German morale, both on the home front and in the German Army, the losses they sustained, and the means by which they were calculated, including captured paybooks. Together this information fed assessments on the size and locations of German reserves behind the Western Front - indicators of their capacity to defend a specific sector, or as shown in 1918 the size and location of their offensives, - but more importantly in Haig’s mind, their ability to sustain an effective army. Dr Beach demonstrates how these assessments influenced decisions, providing a much more rounded picture on the complexities of operational planning. While not always correct, the British intelligence system, both collection and analysis, steadily improved, and by 1918 was producing reasonably accurate assessments of German capabilities and intentions.



Central to this is the controversial Brigadier General John Charteris, Haig’s Head of Intelligence, generally accepted as providing his chief with overly optimistic reports on the German Army’s morale and imminent collapse. Beach delivers an objective view, suggesting that while Charteris was overly optimistic at times this was not always the case, and part of the problem was Haig’s own optimistic views.



Objective, fair and balanced in its analysis, meticulously researched, and clear in its presentation Haig’s Intelligence is a welcome addition to the historiography of the Great War. It will appeal to those wishing to gain a more informed insight into the complexities of the Great War, than the shallow and fallacious works that have shaped the popular perception over the past 60 years.


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This sounds really interesting.

The allusion to captured pay books catches my eye : suggestions regarding the exhaustion of German manpower were predicated on these.

I would be keen to find out what Jim Beach has to say about Haig's assessments of German casualty statistics.

Phil (PJA)

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Can I just, if it were needed, endorse the review. I heard Jim deliver a lecture recently at Aldershot, and have now just finished the book. It added a great deal to my understanding, well that is hardly surprising, but the review of the entire intelligence operation was fascinating. I need to work through it again in a few weeks to make sure I took it all in. It's relatively expensive, but covers so much that is not easy to find elsewhere, and will be on my shelves for a long time to come. Now I feel driven back to some of the other relevant volumes to read them again in the context provided by this excellent book.

Keith

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£55.25 on Amazon, or just under £40 for the e-version.

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Thanks Chris. There are some excellent works being published. Along with the book Chris Baker I posted; could be an expensive year? :whistle:

I still have to buy your book Chris, but trust me I will.

Mike

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Yes

It's a great frustration that Crunch's book is not available in the UK. Now if any pals are heading down under this year....

Keith

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  • 2 years later...

Chris. Thanks for this review. I see you also posted on the Amazon website which was useful too. 

 

It has inspired me to buy the book....currently £21 on Kindle, so a substantial discount to the original hard back price. MG

 

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I heard Jim Beach at yesterday's WFA "Reflections on the Somme" conference in York. His presentation was based on his book and on the strength of what he said I would recommend it. It provides context for a lot of the decisions that Haig took, for example: prolonging the war into November, when ground conditions were so poor, is seen in a new light when you realise that intelligence reports at the end of October had started to indicate that German morale had finally started to weaken.

 

Steve

 

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  • 2 years later...

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