This is an original approach to the factors leading to victory during WWI. It will cause some temperatures to rise but it is well researched and convincingly argued. A major addition to the pool of knowledge about the War-to-End-All-Wars – Most Highly Recommended
NAME: How the Navy Won the War, The Real Instrument of Victory 1914-1918 FILE: R2752 AUTHOR: Jim Ring PUBLISHER: Seaforth Publishing, Pen & Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 232 PRICE: £19.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWI, World War I, World War 1, First World War, World War One, the Great War, naval warfare, blockade, siege, convoys, minefields, sea mines, naval aviation, strategic bombing, warships, tactics, technology
ISBN: 978-1-4738-9718-2
IMAGE: B2752.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/yd7y37eu LINKS: DESCRIPTION: This is an original approach to the factors leading to victory during WWI. It will cause some temperatures to rise but it is well researched and convincingly argued. A major addition to the pool of knowledge about the War-to-End-All-Wars - Most Highly Recommended The steps to victory have been warmly argued by historians and military professionals. Much has been written about how Britain, or France, or the US won WWI. The arguments have revolved around the critical role of the Army or the Air Force. In the latter case, the RAF supporters have claimed victory for the RAF, ignoring the reality that it was formed in the final stage of WWI and actually blocked some war winning plans, particularly from the RNAS and the Royal Navy, and has failed to pay tribute to the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. The RFC and the RNAS fought the air war from 1914 to the beginning of 1918 and introduced a host of i nnovations to match the Germans. The crucial role of the Royal Navy has not been recognized at all as the Instrument of Victory. The balanced view should be that victory was achieved by a combination of contributions from each of the Allies and from each of their military services. However, sea power first prevented defeat and then weakened the enemy until final victory was achieved. The author has produced a fine work that stands up for the Royal Navy and its significant role as the Instrument of Victory. France on its own would have been defeated by the German attack through neutral countries. Fortunately the Germans met in the BEF an unexpected determination and brilliant rearguard action that killed the German hopes to swing rapidly round on Paris and a French surrender, duplicating on a convincing scale the Prussian attack on France that saw Paris besieged, forcing the French to agree terms. This British action was then built on brilliantly by an amazing level of co-ordination of French and British Generals to start throwing the Germans back to their frontier. Only the exhaustion of the tiny BEF gave the Germans time to dig in and begin a long war of attrition through trench warfare. When Russia collapsed the Germans were able to move their armies from that front to the Western Front. The arrival of US troops went a long way to redressing the balance on land. However, there could still have been a long period of stalemate and even German victory, had not the Royal Navy contributed the critical extra force to tip the balance to victory. The Royal Navy made three vital contributions. Firstly, it protected Allied shipping on the long trade routes and in the narrow seas between the British Isles and mainland Europe. That prevented the Germans from being able to invade the British Isles and ensured that men and munitions could be poured across the Channel to keep the BEF and the French Armies fighting. Those critical supplies were only available because the Royal Navy was keeping the long sea routes open to bring in men and materials from the Empire and the US. Secondly, the Royal Navy started WWI with real offensive aircraft. Weeks before the start of WWI the RN had won its political battle to regain total control of naval aviation and celebrated by dropping the first torpedo from an aircraft. As early as 1911, the first British naval aviators had considered how aircraft could be used to support traditional RN duties of protecting the British Isles and the trade routes to Empire. From that planning, the specifications were prepared to enable RNAS aircraft to drop bombs on enemy ships at sea and in port, launch torpedoes, drop depth bombs on submarines, attack Zeppelins and other German aircraft, carry out reconnaissance of enemy ships in port and at sea, assist RN warships in enforcing naval blockades, spot for naval guns, and provide communications facilities between naval air stations and ships at sea. That led naturally to the construction of aircraft carriers and the planning for carrier task force attacks on an enemy fleet in port. The RNAS comprehensive plans for aircraft weapons and tactics, used trusted commercial contractors, the Army only saw aircraft as a new cavalry scout service with aircraft being designed and built by a Government Aircraft Factory that built what it though appropriate. In fairness to the Army this did not reflect on the creativity and courage of its own pilots, but on the dead hand of bureaucrats, turning out frail aircraft of very limited capability and far behind the technology being developed by the Admiralty through its successful operation with commercial contractors. Thirdly, the Royal Navy maintained close blockade of enemy ports, that the German Navy failed to break, and took the war to German territory. The blockade was maintained in the traditional manner with a screen of warships standing off the enemy coast, but it also included the sowing of vast minefields across possible escape and attack routes from German ports and the use of naval aviation not only to provide reconnaissance, but also to bomb German ports and strategically bomb the German Homeland. The author has done a great job in advancing knowledge of the Royal Navy's critical part in WWI and his text is supported by an interesting photo-plate section.