The British Campaign in France and Flanders

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
The British Campaign in France and Flanders (1914-1918) (Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., 1916-1920)
The British Campaigns in Europe (1914-1918) (Geoffrey Bles, november 1928)

The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914-1918 is a series of articles written by Arthur Conan Doyle collected in 6 volumes published by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. from 1916 to 1920.

Each volume is dedicated to a year of the First World War, except volume 5 & 6 which are both dedicated to 1918 (january-july and july-november).

All chapters were originally published in The Strand Magazine from april 1916 to february 1919 with illustrations not included in the 6 volumes.



Editions

Most of the articles were first published in The Strand Magazine between february 1916 and february 1919, and then collected in volumes :

  • The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914-1918 (1916-1920, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. [UK])
    • Vol. 1 : 23 november 1916 (14 maps)
    • Vol. 2 : 5 july 1917 (8 maps)
    • Vol. 3 : 9 april 1918 (14 maps)
    • Vol. 4 : 31 march 1919 (13 maps)
    • Vol. 5 : 5 september 1919 (6 maps)
    • Vol. 6 : 23 january 1920 (8 maps)
  • The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914-1918 (1916-1920, George H. Doran Co. [US])
    • Vol. 1 : 1916 (14 maps)
    • Vol. 2 : 1917 (8 maps)
    • Vol. 3 : 1918 (14 maps)
    • Vol. 4 : 1919 (13 maps)
    • Vol. 5 : 1920 (8 maps)
    • Vol. 6 : 1920 (7 maps)
  • The British Campaign in Europe (1914-1918) (november 1928, Geoffrey Bles [UK]) 44 maps


See each volumes to see the original publication dates of each articles.


Contents

Volume 1 : The British Campaign in France and Flanders (1914)

Volume 2 : The British Campaign in France and Flanders (1915)

Volume 3 : The British Campaign in France and Flanders (1916)

Volume 4 : The British Campaign in France and Flanders (1917)

Volume 5 : The British Campaign in France and Flanders (january-july 1918)

Volume 6 : The British Campaign in France and Flanders (july-november 1918)


Prefaces

Preface Volume I

The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914 (Vol. 1, p. vii)
The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914 (Vol. 1, p. viii)
The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1914 (Vol. 1, p. ix)

PREFACE

It is continually stated that it is impossible to bring out at the present time any accurate history of the war. No doubt this is true so far as some points of the larger strategy are concerned, for the motives at the back of them have not yet been cleared up. It is true also as regards many incidents which have exercised the minds of statesmen and of many possibilities which have worried the soldiers. But so far as the actual early events of our own campaign upon the Continent are concerned there is no reason why the approximate truth should not now be collected and set forth. I believe that the narrative in this volume will in the main stand the test of time, and that the changes of the future will consist of additions rather than of alterations or subtractions.

The present volume deals only with the events of 1914 in the British fighting-line in France and Belgium. A second volume dealing with 1915 will be published within a few months. It is intended that a third volume, covering the current year, shall carry on this contemporary narrative of a tremendous episode.

From the first days of the war I have devoted much of my time to the accumulation of evidence from first-hand sources as to the various happenings of these great days. I have built up my narrative from letters, diaries, and interviews from the hand or lips of men who have been soldiers in our armies, the deeds of which it was my ambition to understand and to chronicle. In many cases I have been privileged to submit my descriptions of the principal incidents to prominent actors in them, and to receive their corrections or endorsement. I can say with certainty, therefore, that a great deal of this work is not only accurate, but that it is very precisely correct in its detail. The necessary restrictions which forbade the mention of numbered units have now been removed, a change made possible by the very general rearrangements which have recently taken place. I am able, therefore, to deal freely with my material. As that material is not always equally full, it may have occasionally led to a want of proportion, where the brigade occupies a line and the battalion a paragraph. In extenuation of such faults, and of the omissions which are unavoidable, I can only plead the difficulty of the task and throw myself upon the reader’s good nature. Some compensation for such shortcoming may be found in the fact that a narrative written at the time reflects the warm emotions which these events aroused amongst us more clearly than the more measured story of the future historian can do.

It may seem that the political chapters are somewhat long for a military work, but the reader will find that in subsequent volumes there are no further politics, so that this survey of the European conditions of 1914 is a lead up to the whole long narrative of the actual contest.

I would thank my innumerable correspondents (whom I may not name) for their very great help. I would also admit the profit which I have derived from reading Coleman's Mons to Ypres, and especially Lord Ernest Hamilton's The First Seven Divisions. These books added some new facts, and enabled me to check many old ones. Finally, I desire to thank my friend Mr. P. L. Forbes for his kind and intelligent assistance in arranging my material.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
WINDLESHAM, CROWBOROUGH,
October 1916.


Preface Volume II

The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1915 (Vol. 2, p. v)
The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1915 (Vol. 2, p. vi)

PREFACE

In the previous volume of this work, which dealt with the doings of the British Army in France and Flanders during the year 1914, I ventured to claim that a great deal of it was not only accurate but that it was very precisely correct in its detail. This claim has been made good, for although many military critics and many distinguished soldiers have read it there has been no instance up to date of any serious correction. Emboldened by this I am now putting forward an account of the doings of 1915, which will be equally detailed and, as I hope, equally accurate. In the late autumn a third volume will carry the story up to the end of 1916, covering the series of battles upon the Somme.

The three years of war may be roughly divided into the year of defence, the year of equilibrium, and the year of attack. This volume concerns itself with the second, which in its very nature must be less dramatic than the first or third. None the less it contains some of the most moving scenes of the great world tragedy, and especially the second Battle of Ypres and the great Battle of Loos, two desperate conflicts the details of which have not, so far as I know, been given up to now to the public.

Now, as before, I must plead guilty to many faults of omission, which often involve some injustice, since an author is naturally tempted to enlarge upon what he knows at the expense of that about which he is less well informed. These faults may be remedied with time, but in the meantime I can only claim indulgence for the obvious difficulty of my task. With the fullest possible information at his disposal, I do not envy the task of the chronicler who has to strike a just balance amid the claims of some fifty divisions.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
WINDLESHAM, CROWBOROUGH,
April 1917.




Preface Volume III

The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1916 (Vol. 3, p. v)
The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1916 (Vol. 3, p. vi)

PREFACE

In two previous volumes of this work a narrative has been given of those events which occurred upon the British Western Front during 1914, the year of recoil, and 1915, the year of equilibrium. In this volume will be found the detailed story of 1916, the first of the years of attack and advance.

Time is a great toner down of superlatives, and the episodes which seem world-shaking in our day may, when looked upon by the placid eyes of historical philosophers in days to come, fit more easily into the general scheme of human experience. None the less it can be said without fear of ultimate contradiction that nothing approaching to the Battle of the Somme, with which this volume is mainly concerned, has ever been known in military history, and that it is exceedingly improbable that it will ever be equalled in its length and in its severity. It may be said to have raged with short intermissions, caused by the breaking of the weather, from July 1 to November 14, and during this prolonged period the picked forces of three great nations were locked in close battle. The number of combatants from first to last was between two and three millions, and their united casualties came to the appalling total of at least three-quarters of a million. These are minimum figures, but they will give some idea of the unparalleled scale of the operations.

With the increasing number and size of the units employed the scale of the narrative becomes larger. It is more difficult to focus the battalion, while the individual has almost dropped out of sight. Sins of omission are many, and the chronicler can but plead the great difficulty of his task and regret that his limited knowledge may occasionally cause disappointment.

The author should explain that this volume has had to pass through three lines of censors, suffering heavily in the process. It has come out with the loss of all personal names save those of casualties or of high Generals. Some passages also have been excised. On the other hand it is the first which has been permitted to reveal the exact identity of the units engaged. The missing passages and names will be restored when the days of peace return.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

February 3, 1918.


Preface Volume IV

The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1917 (Vol. 4, p. v)
The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1917 (Vol. 4, p. vi)

PREFACE

Tus, the fourth volume of The British Campaign in France and Flanders, carries the story through the long and arduous fighting of 1917, which culminated in the dramatic twofold battle of Cambrai. These events are cut deep into the permanent history of the world, and we are still too near it to read the whole of that massive and tremendous inscription. It is certain, however, that this year marked the period in which the Allies gained a definite military ascendancy over the German forces, in spite of the one great subsequent rally which had its source in events which were beyond the control of the Western powers. So long as ink darkens and paper holds, our descendants, whose freedom has been won by these exertions, will dwell earnestly and with reverence upon the stories of Arras, Messines, Ypres, Cambrai, and other phases of this epic period.

I may be permitted to record with some thankfulness and relief, that in the course of three thick volumes, in which for the first time the detailed battleline of these great encounters has been set out, it has not yet been shown that a brigade has ever been out of its place, and even a battalion has seldom gone amiss. Such good fortune cannot last for ever. Absit omen! But the fact is worth recording, as it may reassure the reader who has natural doubts whether history which is so recent can also lay claim to be of any permanent value.

The Censorship has left me untrammelled in the matter of units, for which I am sufficiently grateful. The ruling, however, upon the question of names must be explained, lest it should seem that their appearance or suppression is due to lack of knowledge or to individual favour or caprice. I would explain, then, that I am permitted to use the names of Army and Corps Commanders, but only of such divisional Generals as are mentioned in the Headquarters narrative. All other ranks below divisional Generals are still suppressed, save only casualties, in connection with the action where they received the injury, and those who won honours, with the same limitation. This regulation has little effect upon the accuracy of the narrative, but it appears in many cases to involve some personal injustice. To record the heroic deeds of a division and yet be compelled to leave out the name of the man who made it so efficient, is painful to the feelings of the writer, for if any one fact is clearer than another in this war it 1s that the good leader makes the good unit.

The tremendous epic of 1918 will call for two volumes in its treatment. One of these, bringing the story up to June 30, 1918, is already completed, and should appear by the summer. The other may be ready at the end of the year.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
Crowborough,
January 20, 1919.



Preface Volume V

The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1918 (Vol. 5, p. v)
The British Campaign in France and Flanders 1918 (Vol. 5, p. vi)

PREFACE

Tars fifth volume deals with one of the most tremendous episodes in history, when the vigour of the German attack and the desperate resistance of the British both on the Somme and in Flanders, held an awestruck world in suspense. A million men released from the Russian front, rolled across Europe and, swelling that great tide which was already banked up before the British breakwater, it washed over all the front line barriers and threatened at one time to sweep down to the sea. The account of how the British Army, upon which incomparably the greater pressure fell, rose to the occasion and first slowed and then held the terrific flood is one of the most wonderful of military epics. At the same time every credit must be given to the loyalty of the French commanders who, while guarding their own extended lines, endeavoured to spare all possible help to their hard-pressed Allies. ‘This volume carries the story of the German attack to its close. The next and final one will describe the enormous counter-attack of the Allies leading up to their final victory.

The Chronicler has been faced by many obstacles in endeavouring to preserve both accuracy and historical proportion while writing contemporary history. He would gratefully acknowledge that his critics in the press have shown a kindly indulgence, which arises, no doubt, from an appreciation of these difficulties. There has, however, been one conspicuous exception to which he would desire to call attention, since a large question of literary etiquette is involved. From the beginning a series of unflattering and anonymous articles have appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, commenting adversely upon each volume in turn, and picking out the pettiest details for animadversion. Upon enquiry, these articles — in whole or part — are admitted to have been written by the Hon. J. W. Fortescue, who is himself the official historian of the War. On being remonstrated with, this gentleman could not be brought to see that it is not fitting that he should make anonymous attacks, however bond fide, upon a brother author who is working upon the same subject and is therefore in the involuntary position of being a humble rival.

Having stated the facts they may be left to the judgment of the public.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
CROWBOROUGH,
May 1, 1919.




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