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The
Fifth Army was a field army of the
British Army during World War IThe British Army during World War I fought the largest and most costly war in its long history. Unlike the French and German Armies, its units were made up exclusively of volunteers—as opposed to conscripts—at the beginning of the conflict...
and part of the British Expeditionary Force during the
First World WarWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
History
The Fifth Army was created on 30 October 1916 by renaming the
British Reserve ArmyThe Reserve Army was a field army of the British Army during World War I and part of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War...
of General
Sir Hubert GoughGeneral Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough GCB, GCMG, KCVO was a senior officer in the British Army, who commanded the British Fifth Army from 1916 to 1918 during the First World War.-Family background:...
and as such it fought the
Battle of the AncreThe Battle of the Ancre was the final act of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Launched on 13 November 1916 by the British Fifth Army of Lieutenant General Hubert Gough, the objective of the battle was as much political as military.-Prelude:The Allied commanders were due to meet at Chantilly on 15...
which became the final British effort in the
Battle of the SommeThe Battle of the Somme , also known as the Somme Offensive, took place during the First World War between 1 July and 14 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name...
.
In 1917 the Fifth Army was involved in the
Battle of ArrasThe Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....
and then the Third Battle of Ypres.
In 1918 the Fifth Army took over a stretch of front-line previous occupied by the
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
south of the
River SommeThe Somme is a river in Picardy, northern France. The name Somme comes from a Celtic word meaning tranquility. The department Somme was named after this river....
and on 21 March bore the brunt of the opening phase of the German Spring Offensive, known as
Operation MichaelOperation Michael was a First World War German military operation that began the Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France...
. The failure of the Fifth Army to withstand the German advance led to Gough's dismissal and the disbanding of the broken army. In April and May 1918, the Fifth Army was nominally commanded by
General Sir William PeytonGeneral Sir William Eliot Peyton KCB KCVO DSO was a British soldier, a general of the First World War who fought in several other wars.He was Delhi Herald of Arms Extraordinary at the time of the Delhi Durbar of 1911....
, but when it was reformed as an army some months later, its command was given to General
William BirdwoodField Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, CIE, DSO was a First World War British general who is best known as the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.- Youth and early career :Birdwood was born...
but, it saw little action in the remainder of the war.
Commanders
- Oct 1916–Mar 1918 General Sir Hubert Gough
General Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough GCB, GCMG, KCVO was a senior officer in the British Army, who commanded the British Fifth Army from 1916 to 1918 during the First World War.-Family background:...
- Apr 1918–May 1918 General Sir William Peyton
General Sir William Eliot Peyton KCB KCVO DSO was a British soldier, a general of the First World War who fought in several other wars.He was Delhi Herald of Arms Extraordinary at the time of the Delhi Durbar of 1911....
- May 1918–Nov 1818 General Sir William Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, CIE, DSO was a First World War British general who is best known as the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.- Youth and early career :Birdwood was born...