The Failure of the plan of attack
Introduction of the point:
In 1916 the British Army planned to win the war in one major battle. Which was the Battle of the Somme. The plan, which was a top secret, was:
Plan of attack (British Plan):
- A huge new army of volunteers will be recruited.
- Supplies and men will assemble to attack the Somme sector of the front
- German defenses will be bombarded with over one and a half million shells for seven days before the attack.
- The bombardment will destroy the German defenses, break their barbed wire and kill most of their defenses.
- Three big mines and seven small ones will be dug under German strong points to be exploded just before the attack.
- The army will cross no mans land walking (so that they can stay in line). They will capture the German Trenches.
This plan ended up a failure it can be argued by the primary sources of evidence, which are from a book called challenge and change world study after 1900.
Source A
The mines were blown at 7:28 am; all expect the one at Hawthorn Ridge. This was a mistake. The German Artillery started to shell all the British trenches. Their soldiers, too, got ready- they knew an attack was coming.
Written by a modern historian.
Source B
I was in the first wave. Most of all, I remember seeing all the shells which had not exploded. They were supposed to destroy the German Barbed wire, But it was still all there.
Private G.S. Young who was in the battle
Source D
When the English came at us, it seemed that we could not stop them, but then we saw that they were walking. We had never seen that before. I saw one officer walking out in front with his stick. When we started firing, we did not have to aim; we just fired into them. If they had run they would have defeated us.
Private Karl Blenk, a German soldier
Conclusion of the point:
The reason why this attack was a failure was because when the British soldiers kept firing for seven days and then went on No Mans Land. They didn’t release that the German Bombardment wasn’t destroyed. So when the British soldiers went on No Mans Land the Germans came out of there especially prepared deep dug outs and started to shoot them with their machine guns.
Deaths in the Battle of the Somme
Introduction of the point:
The battle of the Somme began in July and ended in November 1916. Very little ground was won or lost. But the loss of life was massive.
Life Lost in the Battle of the Somme
The British lost 420,000 men, the French lost 200,000 and the Germans lost 500,000.
(A bar chart here showing the losses in the battle of the Somme)
Conclusion of the point:
The number of deaths was a large amount in the Battle of the Somme, mainly for the British troops.
The Nature of trench warfare
Introduction of the point:
The Generals believed that the only way to win the war on the Western Front was to take over the enemy’s trenches and drive their forces back until they surrendered.
How the Trench System would work
For four years the army generals followed the same tactics in their attempts to create a breakthrough. Each attack would begin with a heavy artillery bombardment from behind the front line, which was intended to break up the barbed wire defences, destroy the machine gun posts and many of the front trenches. The bombardment would often continue for days before the next stage in the attack .
When the bombardment finished, the men in the trenches were ordered to go ‘over the top’. This meant that they climbed out of the trenches and advanced across ‘No mans land’ towards the enemy trenches. On their backs the men carried their personal kits including clothing, and weapons which weighed at least 28 kilograms. They advanced over ground, which had been churned up by previous attacks and artillery bombardment. When they reached the enemy trenches, they had to weave their way through the barbed wire and capture them.
(A DIAGRAM HERE SHOWING THE TRECH SYSTEM IN WW1)
Life in the trenches
Men spent long spells in the trenches during the war. During battle they might have spent several weeks in the front trench, though normally it was only about four days at a time in the front trench and a similar time in the supporting trenches. During lulls in the fighting life was boring. Sleeping was difficult.
For evidence I have a primary source which shows a British soldier in a trench during the battle of the Somme.
(A PHOTO OF A BRITISH SOLDIER IN A TRENCH DURING BATTLE OF THE SOMME)
Conclusion of the point:
The Good Thing about the Trenches (defending wise) was the barb wire which defended you from the enemy coming into your territory and also making it easier to defend. The good thing about the trenches (attacking wise) was when you were using deadly machine guns the trenches made it more vulnerable when attacking.
Failure of Tanks
Introduction of the point:
One new invention, which could end the deadlock of trench warfare, was a tank. A few were used by Allies at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 but they were not used in great numbers until the battle of Cambrai in 1917. They were still very primitive in design.
The Failure of Tanks in the Battle of the Somme
The last chance of breakthrough came on 15 September when the British used tanks for the first time. They were intended to lead the infantry, protecting them against the German gunfire and crushing their barbed wire and trench system. The German troops were taken by surprised and retreated. But again the British were too slow to take advantage and the Germans were given time to build up their defences. By the end of the day all of the tanks had broken down, were stuck in mud or been eliminated by the Germans. Hag has been criticized for using tanks before the design was fully developed.
Source H
When the German troops crept out of their dugouts in the mist of the morning and stretched their necks to look for the English, their blood chilled. Mysterious monsters were crawling towards them over the craters. Nothing stopped them. Someone in the trenches said, ‘the devil is coming’, and word was passed along the line. Tongues of flame leaped from the sides of the iron caterpillars. The English infantry came in behind.
A German war correspondent describing the effect the sight of British tanks had on German soldiers at the Somme.
Facts about Tanks
Tanks could get to speeds of 6 kilometres an hour on solid ground, but much slower in the mud of battle.
They were armed with high-powered naval guns and three machine guns, protected with armored steel. Eight were needed to crew a tank. Inside, the tank was noisy and extremely hot, with temperatures rising to 38 degrees Celsius. A crew could die if they stayed in the tank for more than three hours.
A major effect of the tank in battle was psychological. They frightened the enemy and the morale of those at home watching newsreels, and those on the battlefield watching from the trenches was raised by the sight of these ‘metal monsters’ lumbering towards the enemy. As technology improved they came to play a greater part in trench warfare.
(A PRIMARY SOURCE PHOTO OF A TANK HERE)
Conclusion of the point:
The British Soldiers had a failure of tanks, because;
- The Tanks broke down.
- They got stuck in the mud.
- They won’t tested very well.
The British Soldiers could have made the tanks more reliable by testing the tanks out properly and could have made the tanks stronger.
Conclusion of the point:
The number of deaths was a large amount in the Battle of the Somme, mainly for the British troops.
Conclusion of the essay
There were many important reasons why so many men died in the Battle of the Somme. But in particular, I think the most important reason why so many men died in the Battle of the Somme was because the disaster on the first day. When 60,000 British troops were casualties and 20,000 of them were dead.
By Hardeep Sarai