History

• Battle of the Somme


  One of the most controversial battles of the Western Front
• Public opinion believed the huge death toll was caused by the poor leadership of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig
• Military commanders believed this battle was necessary in order to break the stalemate
• The battle was originally planned as an attack by the French army with British support
• The German attack at Verdun altered these plans
• By the summer of 1916 it was agreed that Haig would lead a mainly British offensive in the area around the River Somme
• Objectives of the Battle of the Somme

  • Gain territory
  • Draw German troops away from Verdun
  • Kill as many German soldiers as possible as part of the 'war of attrition'
• War of attrition


  A conflict in which each side tried to wear the other down by killing as many of its men as possible
• Tactics planned for the Battle of the Somme

  1. Huge artillery bombardment

  2. Mines to devastate German positions

  3. Cut German barbed wire

  4. Smash German trenches and dug-outs

  5. Allow British troops to walk across no man's land rather than run

  6. Carry heavy packs and trench repair equipment

  7. Keep cavalry forces in reserve to charge into gaps in the German line
• Haig overestimated the ability of the artillery to destroy the German defences
• The German defences had been in place since 1914 and were fortified with concrete
• The German barbed wire was almost impossible to penetrate
• Many of the shells supplied to the Allied gunners were of poor quality
• In the last week of June, the British pounded the German lines with 1.7 million shells
• Events of 1 July 1916

  1. Two huge mines detonated under the German lines

  2. 27 British divisions (750,000 men) attacked the 16 German divisions

  3. The French made quick gains but had to withdraw

  4. The slow British advance gave the Germans time to emerge from their dug-outs and set up machine guns

  5. The undamaged wire funnelled British troops into areas where they were sitting targets

  6. There were around 57,000 casualties on the first day, about a third of them killed
• The ranks of the junior officers were devastated, leaving soldiers confused about what to do
• Rawlinson was devastated by the events of the first day and expressed doubts about continuing, but Haig insisted the attacks should continue through July and August
• Some lessons were learnt after the initial disaster and some gains were made, such as the capture of Pozieres on 23 July
• Haig was bitterly criticised for simply throwing men at massed defences or being obsessed with out-of-date tactics like cavalry charges
• On 15 September Haig varied his tactics when British forces attacked in a different part of the Somme area and used tanks for the first time in the war
• Haig called off the attack with winter setting in and the battle ended on 18 November
• A strip of land about 25 km long and 6 km wide had been taken, at a cost of around 420,000 British casualties, 200,000 French casualties and 500,000 German casualties
• Haig was bitterly criticised after the battle by his own soldiers, by politicians and in the papers
• Haig had warned the politicians in 1916 that the country needed to be prepared for heavy losses if the war was to be won
• Haig believed the key objectives of the Battle of the Somme were achieved, including saving Verdun and killing many of Germany's best troops
• The Somme changed British attitudes to the war, bringing home that this would be a long, grim war of attrition
• The battle also damaged confidence in the leaders due to misleading and over-optimistic reports