sábado, 9 de junho de 2012

BRITISH TROOPS RETREAT, LEAVE PORTUGUESES TROOPS IN THE DARK

 
Carne para canhão
"Lambs for the Slaughter"

Problems started almost immediately. The soldiers hated the British rations and suffered badly during the extremely harsh winter of 1917-1918 (temperatures falling to -22º Centigrade - or -7.6 Fahrenheit), pacifist pamphlets saw widespread circulation in Portugal (not among the soldiers, who were in their overwhelming majority illiterate), the wits taking to calling the CEP "Carneiros de Exportação Portuguesa" - "Portuguese Exported Lambs for the Slaughter"), and morale was rock bottom, since the soldiers didn't feel they were fighting for their homeland far away on the cratered fields of Flanders. This in itself was not unusual in all Armies and home fronts, both increasingly war-weary by 1917. The real problem was that the CEP was denied any sort of replacements to reduce the effects of the attrition (the terrible "wastage" of trench warfare) caused by artillery bombardments, German trench raids (more than once in battalion strength), Portuguese counter-raids, sickness and british desertion.
The exact reason why the CEP didn't receive the replacements sorely needed to hold all of these lines is somewhat contentious.

The British 55th Division was already in the frontline (as shown by a map dated 31 March 1918 -Arquivo Histórico Militar, 1st division, 35th section, box 110, no number). The situation was possibly considered so serious that there wasn't even time to bring forward reserves to fill the gap left by the CEP's First Division.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/timeline/ww1-events-1918.htm#april






  • Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig issues Order of the Day to the British Army in France on the serious situation ("Backs to the Wall" order).







    • Publicada por à(s)

    Sem comentários:

    Enviar um comentário

    Subscrever: Enviar feedback (Atom)