Haig: Hero or villain
Field marshal Haig was born in Edinburgh on June 19 1861 and died in London on January 29 1928. He was a British soldier and senior commander during ww1. He commanded the BEF from 1915 to the end of the war. He was also commander during the battle of Somme, the 3rd battle of Ypres and the series of victories leading to the German surrender. So why was Sir Douglas Haig was was called the “BUTHCHER”?
General Haig was in many ways described as a “Butcher”. He ate in comfort slept in a comfy bed while his men lay in mud and water over a mile away. But the real reason in why so many called him the “Butcher” is from the British massacre of the battle of the Somme. In which he led over 400thousand soldiers to their final resting place. The Somme had been forced upon Haig by the French, who needed to relieve the pressure on the French Army at Verdun. But this was no excuse for Haig to “murder” 20,000 soldiers on the first day of the Somme. This was merely due to his lack of understanding of the war and his ignorance of using the same attack again and again. Haig made many mistakes on the Somme but these mistakes were costly to him. One of the biggest mistakes was that he ordered his men to walk to the enemies trenches after 5 days of bombardment. These were murderous orders as ¼ of the shells didn’t work. The Germans leapt out of there trenches and shot down 60,000 men that day. This day was known as one of the bloodiest days for Haig and his soldiers.
