Offensive Spirit ?

[Rugbyrelic]

On 2 July 1916, Lt Gen Sir Thomas D’Oyly Snow, GOC VII Corps wrote to Gen Sir Edmund Allenby, GOC 3rd Army following the 'failed' diversionary attack on Gommecourt on 1st July 1916 by 46th (North Mids) Div.  In it he accused the Division of a 'lack of offensive spirit' and the Div Comd, Maj Gen the Hon EM Stuart-Wortley was subsequently degummed and returned to England.  

But what exactly is Offensive Spirit?  How was it engendered into men?  And what was the 1916 BEF's understanding of the term?  Is good moral necessary for effective offensive spirit?  For clarity, in my opinion and from my own reading and studies I don't believe Snow's accusatory remark was justified given the various conditions faced by 46 Div and I believe Alan MacDonalds excellent reserach in 'A Lack of Offensive Spirit' has done much to support this.

'Mood’ I would suggest is ephemeral, reflective of an individual’s affective state (emotion) and subject to change and fluctuation, fighting spirit or ‘offensive spirit’ embodies a state of mind which nurtures a determination to gain and hold the initiative and establish an ascendancy over the adversary.  Gary Sheffield's description that fighting spirit is ‘morale sufficiently high that a soldier is willing to engage in combat’ is concise.  However, Jon Fennell has argued that  a combatant may ‘fight with great determination while being personally quite miserable’.  Both however demonstrate agreement with Clausewitz’s differentiation between ‘spirit’ and ‘mood’. 

I would be interested to understand a wider opinion on Offensive Spirit, and how it is created and stimulated in combat troops during the first world war - training? discipline? leadership (moral)? the learning curve?

 

---

[1] G Sheffield, Command and Morale:  The British Army on the Western Front 1914-1918 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2014), p. 154

[2] J. Fennell, ‘In Search of the ‘X’ Factor: Morale and the Study of Strategy’,  The Journal of Strategic Studies, 37 (6), (2014), p. 804

 

[sadbrewer]

Am I right in thinking that D'Oyly Snow is an ancestor of Peter and Dan Snow the historians?. If it is the same person I seem to think that they did a programme that exposed him as an incompetent.

[Rugbyrelic]

1 minute ago, sadbrewer said:

Am I right in thinking that D'Oyly Snow is an ancestor of Peter and Dan Snow the historians?. If it is the same person I seem to think that they did a programme that exposed him as an incompetent.

The very same.  Much to Dan Snow's regret as a 'historian' !

[KizmeRD]

‘Lack of offensive spirit’ often equates to poor leadership and inadequate training- but if you accept that, then you’d have to blame the senior officers for the men’s ‘failings’.

MB