Alexander Watson, a history professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, dismissed the "myth" that Britain's army - supposedly staffed by "uniformed innocents" - was doomed to fail.

Rather, Professor Watson said British and French forces outnumbered German troops by three to one and should have emerged victorious.

Instead, the net gain was a strip of land 20 miles wide and six miles deep.

He argued that the failure of the British Army to secure victory over the Germans after 141 days of fighting was the result of poor military decision making.

Professor Watson told Express.co.uk: "This was a seriously mismanaged battle and the tale of heroic sacrifice obscures that."

The leading First World War historian, whose research focuses on the battle from a German perspective, said it was "patronising" to denigrate Britain's forces as a rag-tag bunch of "inexperienced, uniformed innocents" with no experience of war. ...