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Operation Michael began on 21st March in the North-east France between Lens and Le Fere. The
allies made significant early gains, but eventually over 72,000 British troops were taken prisoner.
(William Martin).

Although the British Army was the most mechanised of all the armies in the Great War, it still relied
largely on horse power for the transportation of supplies, guns, ammunition and men, particularly in
the extremely muddy conditions. A driver in WW1 rode on team horses which pulled wagons, guns,
ambulances and equipment. Each driver was responsible for his horses and he teamed up with two
other drivers in order to pull the wagons. (Edward Brigden)

The First World War was extremely labour intensive - hundreds of miles of new trenches were
continually being built, old ones repaired or maintained. As the horrendous conflict continued, there
was an acute shortage of manpower to do this hard and exhausting work. Sir Douglas Haig requested
an increase in the force of an additional 21,000 men and this demand was filled by importing men from
China (where the British followed a French lead and signed an agreement with the Chinese for a supply
of men). India, South Africa, Egypt and other places within the British Empire were also called upon to
supply manpower. By the war’s end a total of about 300,000 such workers had been engaged. It was
thought that as many as 50,000 Chinese workers were working in France, rising to 96,000 by August
1918. (Frederick Corke).

By late September 1918, Marshal Foch had finalised his plans to deliver a succession of hammer blows
on the Western Front and on 26th September he launched an attack in the Argonne region of eastern
France involving some 600,000 allied troops, 5,000 guns and around 500 tanks and 500 aircraft.
(Captain North).

War in the Air. The Royal Flying Corps was the air-arm of the British Army during the First
World War until it officially merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1st April 1918 to form the
Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC supported the British Army by artillery
co-operation and photographic reconnaissance. The men were known as observers. This work
gradually led RFC pilots into aerial battles with German pilots, and later in the war, including the
strafing of enemy infantry and emplacements, the bombing of German military airfields and later the
strategic bombing of German industrial and transportation facilities. (Thomas Humphrey)

The Russian Revolution. Following the dramatic Bolshevist Revolution in 1917, Winston
Churchill (Minister for Munitions in Lloyd George’s Government) decided to send several British
battalions to Russia to support the “white” Russians (who were opposing the “red” Communist
Russians) in the bitter battle for the soul of the huge Russian Continent.

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On the 18 July 1918, the 25 Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, left the relative security and comfort of
their Hong Kong barracks to embark on the ship “Ping Suie” and immediately set sail for Russia.
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Some 16 days later, on 3 August, after a largely trouble free voyage, they landed at the port of
Vladivostok. They were to remain in Russia for almost a year and travelled thousands of miles on the
notorious Trans-Siberian Railway. (Henry Wells).

Although the war officially ended on 11th November 1918, thousands of soldiers died after this date.
Men were scattered across the Globe and it would take many, many months for the authorities to
stand-down and repatriate the vast numbers into civilian life. By a cruel twist of fate, a pandemic flu
outbreak occurred in 1918, when vast numbers of civilians and servicemen, whose resistance had been
substantially lowered over the four long and hard years of warfare, succumbed to the deadly virus.
(George Mepham and William Crombie).