Intriguing...who?

They'd have to be something to beat Marlborough.

I think it's in a different context before Haig battles were won and lost in a day whereas WW1 battles were of a scale unimaginable previously taking months and costing 100,000+ casulties. So i think the British army of the time managed to adapt to the conditions quite well leading up to the 100 days offensive

Originally Posted by jonwilly

In Andrew Marr's Book The Making of Britain, he states that FM Haig had the largest turn out at his funeral, ever, in UK.
Greater numbers then Diana, the late Queen Mum or Churchill.

john

One of the reasons for this is out of respect for the work Haig did for ex servicemen and women after the war.

Regardless of his conduct as a commander in battle, its his conduct afterwards as the champion of ex servicemen and women that earned praise and respect. He was the first President of the British Legion, uniting several other ex services organisations and set up the Earl Haig fund for ex service welfare - whioch we now call "The Poppy Appeal". We are very proud to have "Haig House" as our head office.

The Douglas Haig Fellowship

Scots at War A - Z Index

Each year a Member of the Fellowship is asked to give a paper at the Annual Lunch held on the anniversary of the death of Lord Haig, the 29th of January. That Member is the Haig Fellow for the year.

I found the papers by John Terraine, Gary Sheffield, Correlli Barnett and Julian Thompson particularly good but they are all worth reading.

I recently learned that it was Haig who led the way on 'modern' offensive tactics for the assault by introducing barrage 'lifts' and an air coordination plan for the Neuve Chapelle offensive in 1915.

Philip Warner's; "Field Marshal Earl Haig", provides a well balanced and fair view of him.

Interestingly as a junior oficer he was viewed as "industrious but undistinguished" by his peers.

Originally Posted by mushroom

Perhaps they wanted to make sure he was dead?

Sorry jon couldn't help it!

I caught a snippet of a programme last week. It suggested that the best way to make sure someone was dead when they buried him was to bury him on his face, then if he started to dig his way out, he could only dig down deeper.

Originally Posted by joey_deacons_lad

I think it's in a different context before Haig battles were won and lost in a day whereas WW1 battles were of a scale unimaginable previously taking months and costing 100,000+ casulties. So i think the British army of the time managed to adapt to the conditions quite well leading up to the 100 days offensive

Saw something interesting a week or two suggesting that the railway was a major advance in warfare because an army could fight in the same place longer than one day without having to forage like locusts, pick the area clean and have to move on to support an army of men and horses.

Originally Posted by AlienFTM

Saw something interesting a week or two suggesting that the railway was a major advance in warfare because an army could fight in the same place longer than one day without having to forage like locusts, pick the area clean and have to move on to support an army of men and horses.

Plus food canning, of course.

Robin Neillands' book "The Great War Generals on the Western front, 1914 - 18" is also worth reading.

I think he gives Haig a good write-up and (very effectively) debunks the myth of Haig as the Chief of the "British Butchers and Bunglers".

The Great War Generals on the Western Front, 1914-18: Amazon.co.uk: Robin Neillands: Books