THE RAJ IN WWI INDIAN CORPS
In the first three months of the Great War the dramatic impact of massed European armies smashing into each other across the rolling grainfields of Picardy, Artois and Flanders forced the combatant nations to face the harsh new realities of modern, machine-driven warfare. It quickly became apparent the devastating affect artillery, machine guns and rifle fire had on massed and unprotected infantry and cavalry.
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), sent to the continent to support the much larger French Army in its attempt to prevent the Germans breaking through to Paris, was well-trained and professional — but it was small. The first battles of the Great War were shocking in their intensity and scale, and Britain soon realised that if fighting continued on this trajectory it would quickly run out of men, ammunition, artillery and the equipment. These were all badly needed in order to fight beyond a few months, especially as it appeared that the war end by Christmas.
The initial German attack into France was halted by the ‘Miracle on the Marne’ (7 August – 13 September) following the desperate retreat of the BEF from Mons on 23 August. The German armies then attempted to swing right, advancing behind the French block, to break out into open, undefended ground to the north. The French and the BEF (comprising a mere five divisions at the time) countered these moves at the First Battle of the Aisne (13-28 September), but German outflanking attacks through to 19 October, progressively moving north towards the English Channel, seriously stretched and exhausted the Anglo-French defenders. By now,
