Why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy?

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Why is the battle of the Somme regarded as such a great military tragedy?

Battle of the Somme: 1st of July to 13 November 1916.

Intended to be a decisive breakthrough, the battle of the Somme instead became a good example for useless and indiscriminate slaughter, with General Haig’s tactics remaining controversial even today.

     The British planned to attack on a 15-mile front between Serre, north of the Ancre, and Curlu, north of the Somme. Five French divisions would attack an eight-mile front south of the Somme, between Curlu and Peronne. To ensure a rapid advance, allied artillery pounded German lines for a week before the attack, firing 1.6 million shells. British commanders were so confident they ordered their troops to walk slowly towards the German lines. Once they had been seized, cavalry units would pour through to pursue the fleeing Germans. This though, did not happen and instead of this great British victory was this. The British had not concealed their plans of attack and the Germans intercepted some, plus the weeklong bombardment gave the Germans plenty of warning.

     The Germans were happy to stay on French land so German trenches were heavily fortified and, furthermore, many of the British shells failed to explode. When the bombardment began, the Germans simply moved underground and waited. About 7:30am on the 1st of July they blew their whistles to signal the start of an attack. This plus the 10 minutes between the end of the bombardment and the land assault gave the Germans plenty of time to man their machineguns and get ready for the British.                                      

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     As the 11 British divisions advanced towards the German front lines the slaughter began. Even though a few units managed to get across they were forced back. By the end of the day the British had suffered 60,000 casualties, 20,000 of whom were dead. Also 60% of all officers involved in the first day were dead. The battle went on with a stalemate being the result, Haig used new offensive tactics bringing ion tanks, but because of there light Armour, small numbers and often subject to mechanical failure they made little impact.

     Torrential rain in October ...

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