Haig, Butcher of the Somme

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Does Haig Deserve to be Remembered as the Butcher of the Somme?

Does Haig Deserve to be Remembered as the Butcher of the Somme?

Introduction

The first day of the battle of the Somme is remembered as the ‘bloodiest day of the British army’. Led by General Sir Douglas Haig, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought a long battle of trench warfare, designed to relieve German pressure from the French at Verdun and to destroy German manpower. Starting on the 1st July 1916, the battle continued until November 1916. The soldiers believed this would be the decisive battle in the war, giving the Allied forces the advantage.

Douglas Haig was a highly successful military commander. After service in Sudan and the Boer War he became the youngest major-general in the British Army. After praise for his Ypres campaign he was promoted to commander in chief of the BEF. This made him in charge of planning and implementing the Somme offensive in conjunction with French commander Joffre.

Haig decided, as the battle became one of attrition, the only way to break the stalemate was to sacrifice men whilst wearing down the German forces both in physical number and mentally. Due to the numerous deaths, many people throughout history have believed that Haig was a murderer, sending thousand of soldiers to their deaths. For this reason some title him ‘Butcher of the Somme’. This has been criticised by other historians who say Haig was just doing his job, doing his best to fight the war in a situation very different to that of battles he had been involved in previously.


Interpretation 1 - Haig was a Butcher

Those who believe Haig was a butcher, think he made many tactical mistakes. The initial artillery bombardment used poor quality shells. Many failed to go off, the remainder being underpowered with no chance of destroying reinforced concrete German dug-outs. He also assumed the bombardment would destroy the barbed wire, which the German’s had laid out in defence. Instead, it threw the wire into the air, bringing it down in even more of a tangle. In anticipation that the British soldiers would simply be able to walk across no man’s lands and occupy the deserted German trenches, Haig sent the men with heavy trench repair equipment. Unfortunately the German soldiers were still alive and manning their carefully positioned machine guns which the artillery bombardment also failed to destroy. The Brits were easy targets weighed down by the equipment as they struggled to penetrate the wire.

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However the causes of these tactical errors are more worrying. Haig had very little information about the German front line and defences including information about the depth of the German wire, their concrete lined bunkers or machine gun positions. This lack of intelligence meant his plans for the advance were fatally flawed.

Although it soon became obvious that Haig’s technique was losing the army thousands of men, Haig refused to alter his plans continuing with the same tactics for several months, only retreating when the harsh winter conditions forced him to withdraw. Haig decided that whilst the loss ...

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