Haig - The main Allied attack on the Western Front during 1916 was the Battle of the Somme. Famous chiefly on account of the loss of 58,000 British troops

Haig Coursework

The main Allied attack on the Western Front during 1916 was the Battle of the Somme. Famous chiefly on account of the loss of 58,000 British troops (one third of them killed) on the first day of the battle, 1 July 1916. To this day it remains a one-day record. The attack was launched upon a 30 kilometre front, from north of the Somme river between Arras and Albert, and ran from 1 July until 18 November, at which point it was called off.

The offensive was planned late in 1915 and was intended as a joint French-British attack. The French Commander in Chief, Joffre, conceived the idea as a battle to depreciate the German forces of reserves, although territorial gain was a secondary aim.

The plan was agreed upon by the new British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, although Haig would have preferred an offensive among the open ground of Flanders. Haig, who took up his appointment as Commander in Chief of the British
Expeditionary Force on 19 December 1915, had been granted authorisation by the British government, led by Asquith, to conduct a major offensive in 1916.

Source B5ii, Part 2; Douglas Haig

This source supports Sir Douglas Haig, and we can tell this is true, primarily because it was written by Haig himself, but also from such parts of the source as “The work of our artillery was wholly admirable”. This quote shows that the large artillery bombardments at the very start of the British offence were as effective as Sir Haig thought they could have been.

This source could be useful if someone was to show just how effective or worth-while the artillery attacks were at the Somme, and also to show how highly Haig thought of his supposed accomplishments (“The excellence of the results attained was the more remarkable”).

This source is quite subjective as the source is from Haig himself.

Source B6i, Part 2, Douglas Haig (Written in June, 1916, before the battle began)

This source, written by Haig, obviously is supporting his beliefs about the way the battle was fought. When he says “The nation must be taught to bear losses”, it shows that Haig was willing to sacrifice the hundreds upon hundreds of men that he did sacrifice, and shows also that it was unlikely that he would regret in any way sending the men he did to their certain death. Haig then goes on to say how “no training, however good, on the part of the officers and men, no superiority of arms and ammunition, however great, will enable victories ...

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The source is useful when debating whether or not Haig may have regretted his decisions made at the Somme.

Source B6ii, Part 2, Douglas Haig (Written the day before the attack started)

This source shows Haig writing about how high-spirited the soldiers are, and also shows how Haig may possibly be slightly excited about the attack. He obviously has a lot of confidence about the attack the following day, and we can tell this when he says “The barbed wire has never been so well cut, nor the artillery preparation so thorough.” He then goes on to say “All the commanders are full of confidence.” This shows that Haig truly believed he would simply ‘walk over’ the German army.

This source is useful when showing just how confident Haig, and his men, were about the attack the following day.

Source B6iii, Part 2, Douglas Haig (Report by Haig on the first day of the attack)

This source, again by Haig, tells us how “All went like clockwork…” This shows that Haig believes his ‘tactic’ had worked very effectively against the Germans, and this is shown even more when he says “already the Germans are surrendering freely.” Haig still insists that his men are “in wonderful spirits and full of confidence.”

This source is useful when giving examples of how proud of himself Haig was.

Source B6iv, Part 2, Douglas Haig

Here, Haig gives some statistics on how many men they took prisoner (just over 38,000; which included over 800 officers) between the 1 July and the 18 November. He also informs us that “During the same period, we captured 29 heavy guns, 96 field guns and field howitzers, 136 trench mortars and 514 machine-guns.” Haig doesn’t mention the losses that his army had suffered: since the 1st July, the British has suffered 420,000 casualties, and the French lost nearly 200,000. Allied forces gained some land but it reached only 12km at its deepest points.

This source would be useful when identifying how many prisoners had been taken, and also for collecting statistics on how many weapons had been captured.

Source B6v, Part 2, Erich Ludendorff (Hindenburg’s main Military Advisor)

In this source, Ludendorff admits his heavy losses when the Allied infantry got into the trenches and villages before the Germans “could crawl out from their shelters.” We can tell that Ludendorff knows he was defeated in that particular attack when he says “A continuous yield of prisoners to the enemy was the result.”

This source is useful when showing that the Ludendorff accepted his losses and admitted them, unlike Haig who seemed to always speak of how successful he was and made excuses for his losses (“The nation must be taught to bear losses”).

Source B3, Part 2, A J P Taylor

This source states facts, and we can tell this when it says “The British High Command, unlike the French and the Germans, believed in keeping their men on their toes by constant activity.” British men made raids which had no actual purpose, which wasted English lives.

This source could be useful when showing how the decisions made by Haig were naïve, as he had no modern-day warfare experience (nobody did).

I think the source is very reliable; this source isn’t very biased, which means the source’s validity hadn’t changed a lot.

Source B7i, Part 2, George Coppard (a private who survived the Battle of the Somme)

This source states facts about the German barbed wire, and doesn’t really seem to go for, or against Haig’s decisions. Coppard says how “Quite as many dead on the enemy wire as on the ground.” This enables us to imagine just how good the German defence was. Haig explains in source B6iii how his ideas were going “like clockwork”, when really the German defences obviously had a high toll on Allied soldiers’ lives.

This source is useful when trying to show just how strong the German defences actually were, and also when trying to picture the effect of the barbed wire on the Allied forces.

The source is reliable as there are no biased comments and nothing seems to be exaggerated.

Source B7ii, Part 2, Gerard de Groot

This source clearly does not support Haig, and blatantly criticises him for being ignorant to the fact that the men Haig commanded lived “in noisy, muddy trenches”, in comparison to how Haig lived in a “quiet country chateau”. Groot also compares the food that the soldiers ate to that of what Haig ate. Gerard de Groot tells us how “it did not bother Haig” that his men were living in such conditions when he lived such a rich lifestyle.

This source is useful when showing how possibly unaware Haig was about the way his men were living.

The source isn’t very reliable as the source only shows Haig in a ‘bad light’. I think that this makes the source less valid (more subjective).

Source B7iii, Part 2, J A Raws (of the 23rd battalion)(taken from a letter written to his family)

This source shows a soldier’s letter written to his family, who is explaining how terrible the conditions of the soldiers supposedly were. “My tunic is rotten with other men’s blood and partly splattered with a friend’s brains.” This part of the source shows how inhumane the solders’ living conditions were. It also enables us to empathise how depressed the soldiers must have been at some points if they lost their friends, or saw something particularly unnatural.

This source would be very useful when showing how disgusting the living situations were for the men involved in the Battle of the Somme.

I think the source is very reliable as it was written at the time by a soldier.

Source B7iv, Part 2, German Machine-gunner at the Somme

The German soldier tells us just how easy it was for them to mow down the Allied attacks, and we can prove this when he says “You didn’t have to aim, we just fired into them.” This enables us to imagine how 58,000 men died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

This source would be very useful when criticising Haig for sending so many men over the top.

I think the source is reliable as it is written by a soldier who was fighting at the Somme.

Source B8i, Part 2, William Robertson (from a letter to Haig, 1916)

This source shows Robertson explaining to Haig that, firstly, casualties are unnecessarily high with no great gains, and secondly that “It is thought that the primary object – the relief of Verdun – has to some extent been achieved.” Robertson informs Haig that the actual point of the attack (taking the pressure off of Verdun) had been achieved, and also that the Ministers are bothered about the fact that the casualty bill was somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000, and the allied forces hadn’t made any great gains.

This source could be useful when showing that the Ministers and others of higher-importance than Haig knew that there were lives being casually and unnecessarily wasted.

I think this source is extremely valid and reliable as there are a lot of facts within the source.

By Ross Saunders