Battle of the Somme-Going over the top
The Battle of the Somme started in July 1st 1916. It lasted until November 1916. For many people, the Battle of the
Somme was the battle that symbolised the horrors of warfare in World War One; this one battle had a marked effect on overall casualty figures and seemed to sum up the reality of trench warfare. So many soldiers died because of the tactic that Doulas Haig used. First of all, let's look at why the Somme was fought in the first place.
For a number of months the French had been taking severe losses at Verdun – to the east of Paris. To relieve the French, the Allied High Command decided to attack the Germans to the north of Verdun therefore requiring the Germans to move some of
their men away from the Verdun battlefield thus relieving the French.
Doulas Haig-Was he to blame?
Field Marshall Douglas Haig is most associated with the Battle of the Somme in World War One. Douglas Haig was Britain’s commander-in-chief during the Somme battle and took much criticism for the sheer loss of life in this battle. The Somme led to the
loss of 600,000 men on the Allies side; 400,000 were British or Commonwealth troops. When the battle had ended, they had gained ten miles of land. Haig has been criticised by some for his belief in the simple advance of infantry troops on enemy lines. With 20,000 Allied soldiers killed on Day One and 40,000 injured, some historians have claimed that Haig should have learned from these
statistics and adjusted his tactics. Unfortunatley he did not.
The tank was first used weapon at the Somme but it did not receive the enthusiastic backing of Haig – though many senior cavalry
officers were against the tank and Haig was not alone in his suspicion of it as a weapon. If another more reliable weapon had been used like machine guns maybe less men would have died. This was only at the beginning of the Somme. Machine guns were probably one of the most common tactical weapons used in the height of World War I. This could also be the reason why the battle was such a disaster.
Leadership and planning
Actually leadership and planning was less to blame than in other disasters in the Somme campaign. The soldiers bombed relentlessly for 3 days over several miles and then charged over open fields fully exposed, as we thought they were all dead. However they survived, because the Germans built exceptionally deep trenches. Far deeper than allied ones. They were narrow also. This meant that damage from artillery shells was far less than in regular size trenches. The Germans did not fire back much, but stayed low down in the trenches. So leadership and planning may not be as important the weaponry.
Somme was the battle that symbolised the horrors of warfare in World War One; this one battle had a marked effect on overall casualty figures and seemed to sum up the reality of trench warfare. So many soldiers died because of the tactic that Doulas Haig used. First of all, let's look at why the Somme was fought in the first place.
For a number of months the French had been taking severe losses at Verdun – to the east of Paris. To relieve the French, the Allied High Command decided to attack the Germans to the north of Verdun therefore requiring the Germans to move some of
their men away from the Verdun battlefield thus relieving the French.
Doulas Haig-Was he to blame?
Field Marshall Douglas Haig is most associated with the Battle of the Somme in World War One. Douglas Haig was Britain’s commander-in-chief during the Somme battle and took much criticism for the sheer loss of life in this battle. The Somme led to the
loss of 600,000 men on the Allies side; 400,000 were British or Commonwealth troops. When the battle had ended, they had gained ten miles of land. Haig has been criticised by some for his belief in the simple advance of infantry troops on enemy lines. With 20,000 Allied soldiers killed on Day One and 40,000 injured, some historians have claimed that Haig should have learned from these
statistics and adjusted his tactics. Unfortunatley he did not.
The tank was first used weapon at the Somme but it did not receive the enthusiastic backing of Haig – though many senior cavalry
officers were against the tank and Haig was not alone in his suspicion of it as a weapon. If another more reliable weapon had been used like machine guns maybe less men would have died. This was only at the beginning of the Somme. Machine guns were probably one of the most common tactical weapons used in the height of World War I. This could also be the reason why the battle was such a disaster.
Leadership and planning
Actually leadership and planning was less to blame than in other disasters in the Somme campaign. The soldiers bombed relentlessly for 3 days over several miles and then charged over open fields fully exposed, as we thought they were all dead. However they survived, because the Germans built exceptionally deep trenches. Far deeper than allied ones. They were narrow also. This meant that damage from artillery shells was far less than in regular size trenches. The Germans did not fire back much, but stayed low down in the trenches. So leadership and planning may not be as important the weaponry.
other battles on the western front
MARNE 1914
This decisive battle on 6 September 1914 stopped the Germans winning the war in one swift strike. This was located only 30 miles from Paris, the French commander Joffre gambled on a counterattack that split the German army in two and forced a retreat. Did you know that 600 Paris taxis were used to carry reservists to the battlefield. YPRES 1915 The second battle of Ypres in April 1915 (the first was in August 1914) was the only major German attack in of the year. To break through the trench lines, the Germans used poison gas for the first time, allowing them to advance several miles. However, the British recovered and the German attack was thwarted. VERDUN 1916 Falkenhayn who was the German commander, decided to 'bleed France white' by attacking Verdun, a historic fortress town that the French felt honour-bound to defend. From 21 February 1916 the Germans made some progress, but the battle became a bloody stalemate. The French suffered 550,000 casualties and the Germans 434,000 from the battle which lasted until December. Like the Somme, it showed the horrors of war. What happened to the wounded soldiers? As you can see there were so many casualties. Click on the link to go back to the home page to see how many died. Some of the wounded couldn't fight and went back home. The Somme was such a disaster and there were a lot of reasons why it was. |