Lack of experience could be another factor to regard the Somme as such a great military catastrophe, as throughout 1916 the British army was urgently lacking in experience.
This could have been because the original British army (BEF) had been effectively wiped out by the battles of 1914 and 1915.
This meant that the bulk of the new British army was now made up of volunteers of Lord Kitcheners recruitment scheme. Kitchener began to train his new army in August 1914. Most of these soldiers joined through their own patriotism. The Somme would be the volunteers first military experience, therefore the general believed that lack of experience would cause the soldiers to become disorganised and in a rush to attack. This is one of the reasons that the soldiers were forced to walk across no mans land in straight lines which lead to greater casualties as the Germans found it easier to shot them down in straight line. The expansion of the British army meant that there was a demand for generals in senior command, this meant promotion-and fast which did not always reflect a soldiers competence or ability resulting in the promoted officers not being up to the job. I believe that this along with others could be why the Somme is a great military calamity as the lack of experience gave them a great disadvantage in the battle. This also led to the failure of other things.
Another addition to the reasons that the battle could be considered as a huge military tragedy was the failure of tanks. The tanks were going to be Haigs secret weapon when he originally planned the battle of the Somme, however the tanks were not going to be ready until after the first arranged battle and so Haig was forced to start without them. The tanks were firstly used on the 15th September 1916 at the battle of Flers-courcellelle; this was two months after the beginning of the battle of the Somme. But if this battle started at the arranged time then the tanks could have made a dramatic impact on the outcome of the battle of the Somme and made a colossal reduction to the total number of casualties for the British. But even if the tanks were able for use they still would have failed, as there were not enough tanks for the Somme. The tanks were also a new invention and the commanders did not know how to use them, but as they were so slow (2mph) the British soldiers ran in front of them instead of behind them, using them for cover. Even though the tanks were able to drive over barbed wire and into machine gunfire, the tanks were remarkably slow and often got stuck in the mud. Out of the 49 available only 32 made it to the starting line, which I agree, makes this a justifiable point. But the tanks gave Haig a false confidence, as he believed that they would work.
The overconfidence of Haig and the British army was another important issue of why the Somme was thought of as such a giant military disaster. Haig’s first stage of attack would be a seven-day bombardment of the German trenches. This apparently would eliminate all Germans and the British would be able to walk no mans unopposed, in an orderly fashion. This shows a sign of tragedy as the soldiers believed they could walk across “kicking a football” when really they were walking into there own death. They would then conquer German trenches without any confrontation from German soldiers. In reality the seven-day bombardment did not actually cause any destruction to the German trenches as they reinforced their superior trenches with concrete and furthered their dugouts. This meant that as soon as the British left their trenches they mowed down by German opposition. I understand this to represent a great example of over confidence and a cause of so many tragic casualties which links to reasons that was why the battle was looked upon as the disaster known today as the Somme. This could have been why the first day was such a great failure.
The first day of battle was in my opinion one of the main if not the main reason that the Somme as reconciled as such a great mishap. Firstly because of the overall total loss of suffered which was 57,470 which 19,240 were killed and 35,493 were wounded which gave a loss rate of one German solider to every eighteen British (in Orilles). The main casualties were especially heavy amongst officers as officers still dressed differently to normal soldiers making them a prime target for German artillery. These were the highest recorded number of losses the British have ever suffered during a battle. It is thought that the British casualties on the first day were “probably more than any army in any war in a single day.” The fact on its own could justify the statement why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy. But this is not only a military tragedy it is also a human one too. For all the men were killed which could have only damaged British morale, even though this enormous loss should have been a indication to change strategy Haig stayed fifty miles behind the frontline in his chateau at Valvion not learning his lesson and still confident with his attack. The first day was a major disaster for the British and maybe it would have been better if the French were not delayed in Verdun and the Somme was not forced forward.
The battle of Verdun was another cog in the wheel for the Somme becoming such a misfortune because the French were under such pressure from the German soldiers siege on Verdun. The German proceeded attack on Verdun for ten months were in all the French lost 315,00. Originally the attack on the Somme was meant to be a joint effort, as a result of the battle of Verdun the French were busy defending their grounds from the German attack, consequently the attack on the Somme would have to be made using mainly British soldiers. If the battle of the Somme would have been a joint attack as planned it would have been much more successful and many lives would have been spared, which made Verdun a great helping hand in the tragedy of the Somme. Verdun was also the reason that Haig was forced to launch his attack forward by three months. If he would have commenced his attack in the autumn when the tanks will have arrived in substantial numbers to have an impact then maybe the Somme would not have been viewed as such a great catastrophe for the British. The battle of Verdun was a major link with overall casualties, which would have been reduced with more help from the French.
The overall results of the Somme is my argument that the Somme was not regarded as a great military tragedy as, yes the British daily loss rate was high at 2,943 but compared to other battles such as the battle of Ypres were the daily total seems to have rocketed from the Somme to a massive 4,076 and also in the final hundred days of offence in 1918 the daily loss was 3,645 which again was dramatically higher than the Somme. Therefore the Somme was a disaster but also reasons to make me think that the Somme should not be regarded as such a great calamity. The overall casualties were mostly volunteers who mostly joined with Kitchener’s pal’s battalions.
The pal’s battalions could be referred to as the most traumatic and tragic episode of the Somme. As small towns lost the majority of their male population. The pal’s battalions were basically a group of volunteers through the theory the friends that join together die together. The idea was seeing your friends around you would raise morale and raise fighting spirits. The pals spent 1914 and 1915 training in Britain and the preparation went underway for the major offence, which is now known as the battle of the Somme. This would be their first battle and for most of them their last. Commanders had little if any faith in the new volunteers this meant that the generals concentrated on discipline and instructed them to walk to keep them in formation, considering the lack of faith the British army was virtually made up of volunteers. So when they were struck down by the German artillery the small towns for example Accrington who sent 720 men to the battle and 585 did not returned and Leeds who sent out 900 men and 750 were lost in their war efforts. This severely effected morale and the amount of enlisted volunteers dropped in a shocking manor. I understand this to be another reason for the Somme being realised as a military tragedy but also a human tragedy because of the lose of most of male population in small towns, the huge downfall in morale and the fact friends and family would have to watch each other die. The pal’s battalions were given their first battlefield experience at the Somme and it was a horrific experience for most of them.
The Somme is though of as a military catastrophe partly due to the battlefield experience. Yes the Somme was different to other previous battles Britain had previously been involved in. The horror, disaster, horrific shots and constant explosions of shells with the knowledge that the sound was killing someone was a major reflective point for a first timer in the battle. This caused major nervous breakdowns and posttraumatic stress disorder. I think that small things such as lack of experience all build up to give reason for the battle of the Somme to be regarded as such a great military tragedy. But the Somme was no different to any other battle, in terms of battlefield experience except for the scale so why weren’t they more prepared?
In conclusion I believe that poor planning was the main reason that the battle of the Somme was regarded as such a great military tragedy because poor planning lead to basically every factor of the Somme failure. For example the attack was started with a seven-day artillery bombardment were 1,537 British guns were fired with 1,723,873 rounds. The aim was to kill as many Germans as possible, and to reduce them to a chaotic shell shock. Their second aim was to destroy the barbed wire protecting the German frontline. Furthermore the shells were not powerful enough to break down the German trenches were at the deepest were 9 metres. One third of the British shells failed to explode and the shrapnel shells were filled with mere balled bearings that did not destroy anything but made the task harder to overcome.
Another example of poor planning was the mines built under the German trenches, which were packed with explosives. The mines were detonated just before the British attack but this still gave the Germans a ten-minute warning that an attack was immanent. At 7:30 am the volunteers went over the top and were shot back down, as Haig did not consider that the Germans would not be destroyed by the bombardment.
Also communications were inadequate and commanders were largely ignorant of the progress of the battle. These are the reasons that I believe made poor planning the main reason for the battle of the Somme to be regarded as such a big military cataclysm. I believe that poor planning is a good main structure for a causal web as it links to many things such as pal battalions for example. Poor planning led to a huge decline in morale such as Accrington as they lost the majority of the male population to the pal’s battalions. Poor planning also causally links to the battlefield and lack of experience because if Kitchener gave his army of volunteers a realistic opportunity to know what a real battle was like before throwing them in at the deep end at the Somme. Poor planning I also believe was the overall loss of casualties on the first day of battle as if the British would have planned the whole day better then there would not be a huge decline in officers as Haig should have realised a different uniform would provide an easy target for the German snipers. Also Haig making the effort to visit the frontline trenches would have given them the urge of necessity to change his plan. On the other hand help from the French could have affected the loss of casualties. Poor planning consequently gave Haig overconfidence as he was told that “tomorrow you will be able to go over the top with a walking stick, you will not need a rifle” This was by captain martin and was only one of the many exaggerated statements given to Haig in order to excel his confidence to his optimum level. Again if Haig would have visited the trenches he could have known this to be untrue. The final link that makes poor planning to me was the failure of the tanks. The tanks failed twice in the Somme firstly they were not ready for the start of the battle which would have helped them sustain less losses of men. Secondly the tanks were new equipment so none of the soldiers new how to properly operate them. You could also say that there was a third failure factor as they were extremely slow averaging only 2 mph.
Why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy? That was the exam question but who decided it was a great military tragedy? I believe that compared to other battles the Somme went well I have reason to believe this as the battle of Ypres and the hundredth day offence totalled in a much greater loss of men per day.
Finally I believe the battle of the Somme was regarded as such a great military tragedy because of general Haigs and Lloyd George poor planning of the battle.
