You may think the First World War too distant from the lives of todays children for them to be interested not so, says Lady Lucy French, great-granddaughter of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Sir John French, who was in the Island recently to launch a school poetry contest. Caroline Moody reports
IN the autumn of 1915 one of the major offensives of the First World War was fought at the Battle of Loos.
The two-month offensive ended in October – and in failure.
And the following month, Sir John French, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, was forced to step down after a politically and militarily troubled time in charge.
He was replaced by Sir Douglas Haig – himself one of the most controversial of the war generals.
Sir John French was a national hero of the Boer War but his reputation following the First World War was, and remains, somewhat tarnished although some historians agree that he has been treated harshly.… view