Yeah well we unfortunately had too many inbred aristocrats running the show, pretty much the reason Britain never really won a war, unless it was a native people in some undeveloped corner of the world, who's primary weapon consisted of a sharpened stick.
Mind you, even then it was touch and go.
Our 'war leaders' looked upon the population as little more than cannon fodder, and that attitude pretty much led to the BEF needing to leave rapid style.
Funnily enough Germany at the start of WW2 wasn't as mechanized as most think. Much of their transportation was conducted with horses and they like us still had cavalry units, with sabres and lances
The equipment left behind by the BEF went a long way to helping them modernize.
