Field Marshall Haig: “The Butcher Of The Somme”
Study Sources B and C. Which one of these two Sources do you trust more?
Both Sources have something in them of which can be trusted, Source B claims that the men and in “splendid spirits” which most of them probably were, as the battle had been made out like it was going to be an easy victory. Source C can be trusted because the battle turned out to be a disaster, Private George Coppard claims that the “Hundreds of dead were strung out on the barbed wire” which is very believable because the barbed wire hadn’t been cut well.
Source B could perhaps not be trusted because the barbed wire wasn’t cut, when Haig claims that “The barbed wire has never been so well cut”. Haig also says that the artillery preparation before the battle was “thorough” although out of 3 million shells that had been fire at German front lines over the course of 7 days; 1 million of them had been dud and not exploded. Haig had also claimed, after the first day of the battle, that it had been “Very successful” and that it “All went like clockwork”, this isn’t true because statistics show that after the first day that 60,000 casualties had been recorded, commonly known as Britain’s least successful battle in history to date. This Source could also not be trusted as this may just have been an attempt at boosting moral amongst troops and in England towards the soldiers, and is not an entirely true comment. Haig’s idea of what the battle had gone like could have been twisted for the better by messengers reporting back to him, 40 miles behind the front line, as many would not like to anger him. Haig being so far away from the front line wouldn’t have given him a clear out look on the battle, being so far away.
