The `Step-by-Step' Approach: British Military Thought and Operational Method on the Western Front, 1915—1917

Abstract

The British Expeditionary Force of the First World War did not fight a deliberately attritional war, despite the heavy casualties and slow gains it experienced. Before the BEF launched a single trench-warfare attack, senior officers argued for a methodical and clearly attritional operational approach, accepting limited gains and slow overall progress to get a favourable casualty exchange rate. The idea quickly had senior adherents, especially Sir William Robertson. Sir Douglas Haig, however, was consistently optimistic, thinking breakthroughs were possible; this prejudiced him against lesser, attritional, attacks. Not until mid-1917 did the BEF substantially adopt methodical step-by-step attacks.