Arthur Empy's Legal Troubles: Breaking What Law?

Arthur Guy Empey broke the law by enlisting in the British Army. He was a sergeant in the New Jersey National Guard when World War I began, but he was frustrated by the United States' neutrality in the conflict. He travelled to England and enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers, prior to America's entry into the war.

The Lusitania Sinking

The sinking of the Lusitania was a significant event in the lead up to the United States' entry into World War I. The Lusitania was a British-owned luxury steamship that was torpedoed by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915, killing 1,195 people, including 128 Americans. The disaster set off a chain of events that led to the U.S. entering World War I.

The British Army's refusal to enlist him

Arthur Guy Empey broke the law by enlisting in the British Army. He was an American citizen and the United States was not at war with Germany at the time.

The German Trench Mortars

The Germans had three sizes of mortar available. Aside from the huge 25 cm type (the heavy mortar), they had a light mortar (at 7.6 cm) and a medium mortar (17 cm).

The German mortars at the start of the war were translated into German as 'minenwerfer' (literally 'mine-thrower'). They had been designed in 1908-09 and, at a monster-size 25 cm, were rifled mortars mounted upon field carriages (each mortar of this size weighed approximately 95 kg).

The Battle of the Somme

The opening day of the attack, 1 July 1916, saw the British Army sustain 57,000 casualties, the bloodiest day in its history. The campaign finally ended in mid-November after an agonising five-month struggle that failed to secure a breakthrough.

The battle was the beginning of modern all-arms warfare, during which Kitchener's Army learned to fight the mass-industrial war in which the continental armies had been engaged since 1914.

The British Empire forces were commanded by General Sir Douglas Haig. Under pressure to attack at a time and place not of his choosing, Haig also disagreed with his senior commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Rawlinson. The latter advocated modest ‘bite and hold’ tactics, having little confidence about a breakthrough. Haig was more optimistic.

The German defences on the Somme had two inherent weaknesses that the rebuilding had not remedied. The front trenches were on a forward slope, lined by white chalk from the subsoil and easily seen by ground observers. The defences were crowded towards the front trench with a regiment having two battalions near the front-trench system and the reserve battalion divided between the Stützpunktlinie and the second position, all within 2,000 yards of no man's land and most troops within 1,000 yards of the front line, accommodated in the new deep dugouts.

The battle was a tough lesson in how to fight a large-scale war. A more professional and effective army emerged from the battle. And the tactics developed there, including the use of tanks and creeping barrages, laid some of the foundations of the Allies’ successes in 1918.

The Machine Gun School

Arthur Guy Empey broke the law by enlisting in the British Army, despite being a citizen of the United States.

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