First World War Lectures/Presentations/Discussions on YouTube

[David Tattersfield]

The intense nature of the battles on the Western Front in 1917 overshadow the political battles that were playing out back in Britain in the same year. The problems that faced David Lloyd George, the new Prime Minister included those of finance (would US Banks continue to finance the war?) and labour unrest.

In this lecture, Spencer Jones looks at both the character of David Lloyd George and also the various crises he faced.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

Today, Major James Cuffe would be described as a senior intelligence analyst. In 1917 his role at GHQ BEF was to examine German defences and predict how they would respond to British attacks. Fortunately for history, and our understanding of the Third Ypres, he kept copies of the key assessments that he wrote. This talk explores what they can tell us about British perceptions and decisions during that now infamous offensive.

 

[David Tattersfield]

After relatively unsuccessful attacks on the Somme and the Lys, General Ludendorff sought a new sector in which to continue the heavy assaults of his 1918 Spring offensive. He chose the thinly held Aisne front between Soissons and Reims.

The German advance here was the furthest ever made, on one day, on the Western Front since the advent of trench warfare in late 1914. On the first day of the battle the German army advanced fifteen miles, opening up a salient twenty-five miles wide and taking almost 25,000 prisoners. The British Army’s IX Corps was virtually wiped out.

The Third Battle of the Aisne was the last successful German offensive of the war; thereafter the British and the French took the initiative on the Western Front.

This talk by @David_Blanchardconsiders how the German’s tactical success proved their strategic failure. Although the initial offensive was a brilliant set piece, it lost momentum in subsequent days due to poor planning and overreaching ambition.

 

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

In the summer of 1914, as Europe teetered on the brink of war, the spectre of immediate Zeppelin raids on London and other major British towns and cities loomed large. When First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill accepted responsibility for the aerial defence of London, he recognised that Zeppelins were most vulnerable when on the ground. Despite limited resources, he believed that attack provided the best method of defence against the Zeppelin menace and, in autumn 1914, authorized the Royal Naval Air Service to carry out raids on Zeppelin bases in Germany.

Whereas much of what we study in the First World War focuses on the actions of great bodies of men - of divisions, corps and armies – this talk highlights the work of individuals, the handful of men who carried out some of history’s earliest examples of strategic bombing, at a time when aviation itself was in its infancy. It is a tale of great courage, intrepidity and much derring-do!

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

The attack in the Ardre Valley - in the 'Champagne' region of France - in July 1918 is not widely known. It was, however, the precursor to the '100 Days' campaign that ended the war. The 2/5th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment - part of the 62nd (West Riding Division) - were Territorials and were instrumental in how this battle was fought and ultimately won.

Using a forensic approach to three days of battle,@fraser.skirrowrecords how the pendulum swung one way then another, with many casualties among the attacking British troops until - at last - the German defenders were overwhelmed.

This is one of the lectures given at the WFA's AGM and Conference 2022

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was conceived in 1915 and today it is a truly multinational operation, working in over 160 countries around the world. In 2012 Mike St Maur Sheil was assigned by the CWGC to photograph their First World War centenary book, For the Fallen and commenced on a 20,000 mile odyssey visiting over 400 cemeteries.

In this illustrated talk Mike talks about his experiences and some of the stories he encountered as well as considering how the work of the CWGC over the past 100 years has become one of the most significant factors in the way in which we remember the history of two World Wars.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

 

One of the truly 'forgotten' aspects of the First World War is the role of fishermen and fishing vessels during the conflict. Not only did they keep the country supplied with fish, but they also undertook dangerous operations including mine-sweeping and anti-submarine patrols. Many crews were lost in these operations.

In this highly illustrated presentation Dr Robb Robinson from the University of Hull tells us about Fishermen's involvement in the Great War.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

From his arrival in the UK alone in 1908 as a fourteen-year-old, to Balliol College, Oxford and into the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, Hardit Singh Malik lived an extraordinary life, often in the face of great adversity, yet always with charm and good humour.

He played cricket for Sussex and was an Oxford blue in golf, playing with the Prince of Wales. Malik rose to become the Indian Ambassador to France after a long and distinguished career in the Indian Civil service, yet always maintained strong bonds with Great Britain. Yet it is as a fighter pilot during 1917-19 that he is best known, coming up against the Red Baron and the British military establishment.

This presentation, by Stephen Barker describes Hardit Singh Malik's fascinating story.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

On the morning of 22 September 1914, just six weeks into the First World War, three Royal Navy armoured cruisers were sunk by a German U-boat in the southern North Sea. The action lasted less than 90 minutes but the lives of 1,459 men and boys were lost – more than the British losses at the Battle of Trafalgar or in the sinking of RMS Lusitania. Yet, curiously, few have ever heard of the incident.

In this presentation Stuart Heaver tells the extraordinary true story of the disaster from the perspectives of the men serving on HMS Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy, and the German submariners who orchestrated the attack. Stuart will also examine how the ignominious loss provoked widespread criticism of the highly ambitious First Lord of the Admiralty, the 39-year-old Winston Churchill.

While the families of the victims grieved, Churchill succeeded in playing down the significance of the disaster and shifted the blame to those serving at sea to save his faltering career.

Using a range of official and archival records, Stuart Heaver exposes this false narrative and corrects over a century of misinformation to honour those who lost their lives in the worst naval catastrophe of the First World War.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

The victorious capture of the village of Pozieres on 23 July 1916 won the 1st Anzac Corps a reputation as a competent and polished formation, but a closer examination of ongoing activity along the Pozieres Ridge indicates that this is anything but the case. The lessons learned were deeply flawed, and indicative of the desperate nature of fighting on the Somme.

In this presentation, Meleah Hampton (who was until recently a historian in the Military History Section, Australian War Memorial) details the battles in 1916 at Pozières and Mouquet Farm.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

By the end of the First World War, the whereabouts of more than half a million British soldiers were unknown. Most were presumed dead, lost forever under the battlefields of northern France and Flanders.

In this presentation, Robert Sackville-West brings together the extraordinary, moving accounts of those who dedicated their lives to the search for the missing. These stories reveal the remarkable lengths to which people will go to give meaning to their loss and the exhumation and reburial in military cemeteries of hundreds of thousands of bodies.

It was a search that would span a century: from the department set up to investigate the fate of missing comrades in the war's aftermath, to the present day, when DNA profiling continues to aid efforts to recover, identify and honour these men. As the rest of the country found ways to repair and move on, countless families were consumed by this mission, undertaking arduous, often hopeless, journeys to discover what happened to their husbands, brothers and sons.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

The size and story of London’s contribution in the Great War fades into the pages of history somewhat. This presentation charts the story of its regiments, the people of London and the city’s sacrifices.

Shortly after the end of the First World War, the most popular London newspaper of the time, The Evening News, asked readers to send in their stories. Of the countless tales received, the newspaper selected 500 and compiled them into a book that is at once both amusing and poignant. Using this publication to weave the narrative of the Great War, in this presentation Clive Harris argues that the capital's contribution equates to that of a country as opposed to a city in both size, achievement and loss.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

 

Régina Diana was the nom-de-guerre of Marie Antoinette Avvico, the rebellious daughter of working-class French-Italian parents from a run-down part of Geneva. In December 1914, she appeared in the bustling port of Marseille to launch a triple career as a high profile French café-concert singer, a discreet and much in-demand prostitute, and a devastatingly successful German spy.

As part of a spy network spanning four countries, Régina Diana used her performing abilities and physical charms to entice soldiers at all levels - from privates to generals - into revealing their armies' secrets. Yet discovering the truth about Régina Diana herself involved a difficult and tantalising journey: getting past her disavowal by both France and Switzerland, overcoming the obfuscation of French military archivists, and digging into a three-line report about the death of a pretty Swiss chanteuse.

Even her execution was fittingly exceptional. To ensure she died as intended, the French high command doubled the size of her firing squad from the usual twelve rifles to twenty-five, and then consigned her to an unmarked grave.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

Corporal Vince Schürhoff came from a Birmingham business family that was German on his father’s side. He joined the British army in 1914 and served with 16th Warwicks until 1916. He was then seconded to signals intelligence work and later transferred to the Royal Engineers (Signal Service). Employed in a variety of intelligence roles, he was awarded the Military Medal in 1918. His diary provides an excellent window into the physical and mental worlds of a middle-class junior NCO on the Western Front, recording the nuances of life in the trenches and behind the lines.

Jim’s talk explains how Vince and his comrades spent their off-duty time, concentrating upon aspects of cooking and the forms of entertainment that they accessed.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

The 46th Division was the first Territorial formation to deploy to France. It was sorely used in 1915 and 1916 and restricted thereafter to line-holding duties until its spectacular crossing of the St Quentin Canal on 29 September 1918. In recent years the division has attracted a lot of attention as part of the BEF’s ‘learning curve’.

This presentation by Prof John Bourne focuses on the regimental officers who were at the heart of the learning process and how they changed over time.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

Harry Sanderson, from the University of Leeds, discusses his research into the training of British infantry soldiers during the Great War.

 

 

[James A Pratt III]

There is a new youtube channel WW1TV it hasn't put out much yet bet people might want to keep an eye on it or if you want to do a presentation this might be the place to go. It is an offshoot of WW@TV were the presentations are usually fairly good.

[David Tattersfield]

In terms of sheer scale, no matter how you measure it, the first four weeks were the most appalling of the war. Although there is some dispute over the exact figures, between 20 August and 27 August 1914, the French army lost 40,000 men with 27,000 killed on 22 August alone. The Battle of Charleroi cost the French around 80,000 casualties in three days. There was an almost ‘July 1st 1916’ level of attrition, but over four weeks.

The distances covered were enormous too. The German Second Army marched over 300 kilometres and fought four battles along the way. The First Army outside it marched even further. The final battle front on the river Marne stretched 280 kilometres. Yet this huge campaign was conducted by wholly inexperienced commanders using 19th century tactics of open country fighting but with twentieth century technology, notably quick firing cannon.

Even with so much new technology, and over a million men on either side, in the final analysis it was the key decisions taken by the senior commanders that decided the issue. Not just Joffre and Moltke, but Bulow, Kluck, Sir John French and a little known lieutenant colonel, the German Head of Intelligence Richard Hentsch.

The talk by Ross Beadle identifies the ten key decisions taken by the respective commanders. Understanding what drove these decisions is the best way to get to grips with the crazy swirl of events up until Moltke opted to break of the action and ordered a German retreat to the river Aisne.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

Elsie Knocker and Mairi Gooden-Chisholm were the only women to nurse on the front line during the Great War. They first met at a motorcycle club in 1912. Once war broke out, they zoomed off to London by motorbike to "do their bit". Within a month, they were on the Front Line near Ypres in Belgium, evacuating wounded soldiers from their First Aid Post a hundred yards from the trenches to hospital by ambulance.

Under constant threat from sniper fire and heavy artillery bombardments, their reputations spread and they were soon visited by journalists, photographers and royalty in the form of King Albert of the Belgians and Prince Alexander of Teck. The recipients of seventeen medals for bravery and self-sacrifice, they became known as the 'Madonnas of Pervyse'.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

In this presentation, Clive Harris tells the story how Britain’s two military arms went from independent thinkers to close co-operating partners in the Great War.

Britain’s position as a maritime power during the Great War is well documented. But as her land forces grew significantly and the Western Front became the key battleground against the main enemy, how did the relationship between the Royal Navy and BEF develop under Sir Douglas Haig’s command? Specifically through 1917-1918, when the continental blockade was having a significant effect on German operational capabilities and the Flanders coast offered potential and in fact necessity for maritime-land integration.

The planning for war by both the Royal Navy and British Army in the years leading up to 1914 were taking very different paths, and yet, by 1918, mutual cooperation, trust and assistance was being displayed in ways unthinkable four years earlier. Sir Douglas Haig, alongside Admiral ‘Rosy’ Wemyss played key roles in the relationship that developed throughout the war. It’s a subject that is afforded little more than a footnote in the Official History yet using private sources.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

This talk looks at Scout operations through the eyes of Naval 8 / 208 Squadron RAF. It examines their experience through the aircraft and airfields that they served with in France. This was a period of rapid change and the talk looks at details of challenges experienced by flying in scouts and their living environment. Also included are many personal recollections from the characters who flew on the Squadron.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

Professor Margaret Cox was Scientific Advisor to the Fromelles Project from 2008 to 2021 responsible for archaeology, anthropology and identification. This is the extraordinary story of the excavation of 250 young Australians, who enlisted in 1915 only to fall in the Battle of Fromelles of 1916, and the efforts necessary to determine the identification of as many as possible.

Margaret describes the processes undertaken to ensure the respectful and scientific recovery and analysis of the soldiers bodies, and the confident assignment of names to 166 of these brave young men providing some belated solace for their families. Margaret ends her presentation with consideration of the legacy of the Fromelles Project with particular focus on the families and communities most affected.

 

 

[Bardess]

Thank you, David; that was amazing

[David Tattersfield]

This presentation explores the work of the key photographers on the Western Front, the different attitudes of the imperial governments and the effects on the viewing public. It also shows that the old cliché that the home front did not understand the actual conditions in the trenches is a myth. The war could be seen even if it was in a highly controlled manner.

Understanding the realities of the fighting fronts remained a major preoccupation of the British people throughout the First World War.

Journalists and writers attempted to create pen pictures describing the conditions at the front and the nature of battle. The thousands of column inches and pages dedicated to these issues were only partially effective in meeting the public desire to understand. The public wanted to see the war for themselves.

As many began to realise, photography and film were the new methods of dealing with this need. During the course of the conflict the governments of the British Empire working in conjunction with the major newspapers developed major photographic operations. The public responded to the publication and exhibition of photographs with huge enthusiasm. Here, they believed, was the real war in front of their eyes. However, many of the images were far from pure documents being highly manipulated and staged to achieve the desire effect.

 

 

[David Tattersfield]

From the Battle of Hamel in July 1918 to the breaking of the Hindenburg Line nearly four months later, the Australian Corps was an integral part of the great British offensive that ended the Great War. Their achievements were quickly broadcast by their commanding officer General Sir John Monash in his memoir The Australian Victories in France in 1918. There can be no doubt that the Australians were involved in some of the most significant victories of the Hundred Days, and are one of the best examples we have of how successful the British could be at limited, set-piece attacks by 1918. But that is only part of this story.

This presentation looks at the approach the Australian Corps took to battle and why it could be stunningly successful, but it also looks at where it all could have so easily gone wrong - when commanding officers (including Monash himself) made terrible decisions that cost lives, and jeopardised the advance itself.