Plan 1919 - Background

Background

By 1918, the German, French and British armies had been through years of trench warfare and were getting close to the breaking point. Both sides realized that a new form of warfare was needed for the successful conclusion of the war. Tanks, although used unsuccessfully at the Battles of the Somme and Passchendaele, were used in the Battle of Cambrai and demonstrated their usefulness. Although the main objective was not achieved and the German artillery made short work of them after the initial shock wore off, they inspired military theorists to try to incorporate them properly.

In the spring of 1918, J.F.C. Fuller, a British staff officer with the Tank Corps, submitted a study titled "The tactics of the attack as affected by the speed and circuit of the Medium D tank", a bold new plan involving tanks and air support that aimed to target the German leadership and supply lines, as opposed to the then current tactic of grinding away at the main forces.

Fuller's plan had three elements. The first was a fast attack by medium tanks and aircraft against the German headquarters, removing its ability to control their forces. Then the main assault by heavy tanks, infantry and artillery would make break the German lines. Finally cavalry, light tanks and infantry mounted on trucks would follow the retreating Germans preventing them from reforming or counterattacking.

His plan was to be used as the blueprint for the spring offensive the next year and was titled Plan 1919. The German surrender that November precluded the implementation of the plan, but it was studied extensively by the Germans and used as the model for their Blitzkrieg attacks during the next war (Fuller). Plan 1919, although never carried out, laid the “groundwork” for numerous upgrades in military equipment, technology, and tactics of modern warfare.

Fuller's ideas were largely in line with papers put forward by other members of the Tank Corps such as by Capper and Elles' paper "The future of tank operations and production requirements" which envisaged tank forces of several thousand light, medium and heavy tanks and the means and time it would take to produce them and deploy them to the front.