Introduction

At the beginning of 1918, the prospects for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and its allies did not look promising. Russia had given up the war, the French army had suffered a serious mutiny and a considerable decline in morale in 1917, the Italian front had experienced a major setback at Caporetto in October 1917, while BEF morale was at a dangerously low level following the losses of the Passchendaele offensive. This was reinforced by the shock of the German counter-attack after the Cambrai tank and artillery offensive in late 1917, when the German army was supposed to be in dire straits. Soon to come, in March 1918, was the German spring offensive and the precipitous retreat of the British Army’s Fifth and Third Armies, with the loss of 40 square miles of territory. Yet in three or four short months, the tide turned and the BEF and allies went on to victory in 1918.