Changing War: The British Army, the Hundred Days Campaign and The Birth of the Royal Air Force, 1918

Description

In 1918, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) played a critical role in defeating the German army and thus winning the First World War. This 'Hundred Days' campaign (August to November 1918) was the greatest series of land victories in British military history. 1918 also saw the creation of the Royal Air Force, the world's first independent air service, from the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. Until recently, British histories of the First World War have tended to concentrate on the earlier battles of 1916 and 1917 and often underplayed this vitally important period. Changing War fills this significant gap in our knowledge by providing in-depth examinations of key aspects of the operations of the British Army, the Royal Air Force and its antecedents in the climactic year of the First World War. Written by a group of established historians and emerging scholars it sheds light not only on 1918, but on the revolutionary changes in warfare that took place at that time.

Gary Sheffield holds the Chair of War Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. He previously held a personal chair at King's College London, UK, and was Land Warfare Historian on the Higher Command and Staff Course at the Joint Services Command and Staff College. He has published widely on military history. Peter Gray is RAeS Senior Research Fellow in Air Power Studies, University of Birmingham, UK.A retired senior officer of the Royal Air Force, he holds a PhD and is the author of The Leadership, Direction and Legitimacy of the RAF Bomber Offensive from Inception to 1945 (Continuum, 2012).

All of the essays are interesting. Several, however, stand out either for their insights or their subject matter. Among these are those on the logistical preparations for the Battle of Amiens, combined arms operations during the "Hundred Days," and the influence of air-ground cooperation during the campaign on subsequent British military thought. A volume in the series "Birmingham War Studies," Changing War is not only important reading for serious students of World War I but also for anyone seriously interested in the development of combined arms operations. -- A. A. Nofi * The NYMAS Review *