What went wrong

• At 7:30 the attack stopped at as ordered five minutes before they started walking across no man's land this allowed the Germans to set up their machine guns
• Within minutes it was clear the Germans had not abandoned their positions like the British had hoped.
• The slaughter was horrendous it was the worst casualties rate by any single attack by a British army ever.
• German dugouts were ten meters deep so British artillery did not destroy them liked they hoped
• The German army was experienced unlike much of the British army. This was because for many of the regimes it was there first time in a proper battle.
• 1.6 million shells were fired and 1/3 of those were faulty. There also was not enough heavy guns and many of the men handling the guns were inexperienced
• Prisoners listened to plans so they knew exactly when and where the British were coming.
• Germans ran out at 7:28 to set up machine guns
• The British are easy targets for the Germans and their guns especially where they bunch up to get over the barbed wire.
• After the attack it takes ages for to get information to find out who was successful so so they cannot act with speed (days)
• 57000 casualties (19000 deaths) for the British side. 12000 casualties for the Germans only.
• The British wanted to break the barbed wire fences of the Germans but they used the wrong artillery so it barely did any damage