Complex sentence: The onset of mechanised warfare also served to increase the strategic importance of Birmingham as a centre of industrial production, with the British Commander-in-Chief John French describing the war at its outset as "a battle between Krupps and Birmingham".
Split into simpler sentences: The onset of mechanised warfare also served to increase the strategic importance of Birmingham as a centre of industrial production. The British Commander-in-Chief John French described the war at its outset as "a battle between Krupps and Birmingham".