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Tommies: The British Army in the Trenches
The Casemate Short History Series presents readable and entertaining introductions to military history topics.
British soldiers have been known as Tommies for centuries, but the nickname is particularly associated with the British infantryman in the trenches of World War I.
In August 1914, a small professional force of British soldiers crossed the Channel to aid the French and Belgians as the German army advanced. As it became apparent that the war would not, in fact, be over by Christmas, a vast drive for volunteer soldiers began.
As enthusiasm for enlistment tailed off, eventually conscription was introduced in order to replenish the forces weakened by years of bloodshed. By 1918 the British Army was transformed, fielding 5.5 million men on the Western Front alone. These Tommies fought an entirely new type of war, living in vast trench systems, threatened by death from the air and gas attack as well as by bullet, bomb, or bayonet.
This introduction explores the experience of Tommies on the Western Front, explaining how their war evolved and changed from the mobile battles of August 1914 to the final days of the war, and discussing daily life as an infantryman on the front line using firsthand accounts, contemporary poems, and songs
Table of Contents
When the Drums Begin to Roll…
Timeline
Abbreviations
Uniforms and kit
Chapter 1: Deadlock (1914)
Chapter 2: Stalemate (1915)
Chapter 3: Attrition (1916)
Chapter 4: Mud (1917)
Chapter 5: Breakthrough (1918)
Chapter 6: Remembrance
Sources
Acknowledgements
British soldiers have been known as Tommies for centuries, but the nickname is particularly associated with the British infantryman in the trenches of World War I.
In August 1914, a small professional force of British soldiers crossed the Channel to aid the French and Belgians as the German army advanced. As it became apparent that the war would not, in fact, be over by Christmas, a vast drive for volunteer soldiers began.
As enthusiasm for enlistment tailed off, eventually conscription was introduced in order to replenish the forces weakened by years of bloodshed. By 1918 the British Army was transformed, fielding 5.5 million men on the Western Front alone. These Tommies fought an entirely new type of war, living in vast trench systems, threatened by death from the air and gas attack as well as by bullet, bomb, or bayonet.
This introduction explores the experience of Tommies on the Western Front, explaining how their war evolved and changed from the mobile battles of August 1914 to the final days of the war, and discussing daily life as an infantryman on the front line using firsthand accounts, contemporary poems, and songs
Table of Contents
When the Drums Begin to Roll…
Timeline
Abbreviations
Uniforms and kit
Chapter 1: Deadlock (1914)
Chapter 2: Stalemate (1915)
Chapter 3: Attrition (1916)
Chapter 4: Mud (1917)
Chapter 5: Breakthrough (1918)
Chapter 6: Remembrance
Sources
Acknowledgements
160 pages, Paperback
Published November 21, 2017
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About the author
John Sadler
109 books22 followersBorn in 1953, John Sadler has law degrees from Northumbria University and the University of Westminster. A part-time lecturer in military history at Sunderland University Centre for Lifelong Learning, he is currently studying toward a PhD in history and is soon to begin an Imperial War Museum Fellowship in Holocaust Studies. He is the author of over 20 books, including Scottish Battles, published by Birlinn in April 2010. He is married with two children and lives in Newcastle.
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