Battlefield Success: Achieving Tactical Excellence in an Infantry Battalion 1916 - 1918

This talk explores the remarkable transformation of British infantry tactics on the Western Front during World War I. By focusing on a single West Yorkshire Regiment battalion, it reveals how ordinary soldiers adapted to modern industrial warfare between 1916 and 1918.

At the heart of this story is the birth of combined arms warfare. You will discover how the infantry stopped fighting in isolation and learned to tightly coordinate their assaults with tanks, aircraft, and advanced artillery support to break the bloody stalemate of the trenches. It also highlights how new, portable weapons like Lewis light machine guns and rifle grenades completely changed the firepower available to the average soldier.

To make these grand strategies easy to understand, the talk guides you through four distinct battles analyzed at the company and platoon level. By looking closely at these specific moments on the battlefield, you will see exactly how real-world combat evolved from rigid, massed formations into the flexible, lethal small-unit tactics that ultimately secured victory.

Our speaker, Fraser Skirrow, is a former Territorial Army officer, an entertaining and popular presenter, and the author of Massacre on the Marne: The Battalion History of the 2/5th West Yorkshire Regiment; he has delivered talks on Great War infantry tactics and organisation to around twenty Western Front Association branches.

All are welcome to attend this event, and everyone is guaranteed a warm welcome with the doors opening at 6.30pm ready for a 7pm start.