There are some views that are put forward recently that shows General Haig in a more sympathetic light. The reason General Haig never visited the front line was because back then it was not expected for him to visit the frontlines but it was expected for him to stay behind and command the attacks, as Trevor Wilson of Adelaide unit said “Its better for Haig to be at Headquarters receiving information. The basic problem for the western front was to get soldiers out of the trenches and across no-mans land with the least amount of casualties and deaths. Two present day soldiers John Hussey and Trevor Wilson said that “Haig’s tactics were modern for his days, much like modern military tactics.” They also said that he was a forward thinking man. General Haig also managed in his time in World War 1 to push the Germans back many miles which was an achievement from Sir John French.
The Battle of the Sommes was one of the biggest battles under Haig’s command. The original attack was going to be on June 1916 with the French army but the Germans attacked the city of Verdun in February. Most of the French troops then moved to fight in Verdun so the Somme was now mainly a British attack. This was the first time the British played a large part in the war; it was the first great allied offensive. There were 32 divisions involved in the Sommes. The attack delayed and took place on the 1st of July 1916 with a week before hard of artillery bombardment. The aim for the artillery shell fire was to cut up barbed wire, smash the trenches and kill the German defenders. The British used one and a half million shells in the bombardment. General Haig was so confident that he ordered the British soldiers to walk up to the German lines in a straight line sweeping no-man’s land. On the attack 100,000 British soldiers climbed out of their trenches in a line of 25 kilometers long. The soldiers attacked in waves. The Germans had spent two years building their trenches so when the British started firing shells the Germans went and hid in their trenches, when the British stopped the bombardment the Germans quickly came out and set their machine guns up then started firing, sweeping backwards and forwards. British soldiers fell one by one as they came up each wave but General Haig did not halt the battle. By the end of the first day 60,000 men were dead or wounded. The Germans lost 8000 soldiers. This was the most loss in a single day that the British army had ever suffered. A critic, Dr Laffin said that Haig was a believer in war of attrition. At the 1st August Haig told London that he’ll continue with the Sommes. The fighting got harder and conditions got worst because the rain filled in the craters making them metres thick in mud. The mission of the Somme has now changed to cover the high land around the Somme River. Haig was realistic about deaths and casualties on the western front and he is willing to bear the responsibilities but some critics argue that Haig saw death as a sacrifice for victory.
The 3rd Ypres in 1917 was also one of Haig’s major roles in the war. The year began well for Haig because he was promoted to Field Marshall which was the highest rank in the army. Haig had enemies as well as friends in high places. Prime Minister Lloyd George blames Haig for the huge death toll in the Somme and he wanted to reduce Haig’s power and he wanted a quick victory in the war. After hearing the plan of General Nivelle a French Commander, to find and attack the weakest spot of the German lines with the biggest ever attack and the French soldiers would pour in and push the German troops out of France, Lloyd George put Field Marshall Haig under the Nivelle’s command, even though he was a Field Marshall. The first attack, which was a week before the main attack, was at the town of Arras which was a diversion for the main French attack. The attack was a success, British troops captured important high ground called Vimy Ridge, and this gave the British the control of Arras. The French attack was a failure many soldiers were killed. As the French failed their attack the British took on more fighting at Arras, the battle lasted six weeks longer and when it ended 158,000 British soldiers were dead and wounded. Nivelle was sacked and now Haig no longer had to take orders from the French. Haig’s first attack was at Messines where British miners have dug 19 tunnels under the German trenches. At the end of the tunnels they packed a million kilogram of high explosives. At the morning of 7th June they detonated it all at once. British soldiers quickly moved in and captured what was left of the German trenches. Straight after Passchendale the second offensive was Passchendale where Haig fired 4.5 million shells but it was raining so the battlefield turned into swamp of liquid mud. Haig ordered the soldiers to advance at the Germans even when the ground was filled with leg-deep mud. Haig still didn’t call of the attack because he herd that the Germans were collapsing but they were not. At the advance more than 2000 soldiers were killed or wounded each day. By the time they reached Passchendale 250,000 soldiers were dead. Two weeks after the attack Haig tried a new method and sent 381 tanks towards German trenches at Cambrai. The attack was a huge success but the tanks had gone too far and the soldiers could not keep up so German soldiers gathered their troops and countered attack recovering all the ground that the tanks gained.
In 1918 the American had joined the war so the Germans decided to attack before all the US troops reached the western front. The Germans attacked with half a million soldier but they used different tactics to the allied, they came in small units which was very effective and in 10 days forced the British to retreat 65 kilometers. The Germans had gone too far and fast so supplies were cut out. They were in allied territory with shortage of ammunition, food, and reserved soldiers. The allied, led by Foch, gathered a huge army and countered attack. The Germans retreated from then on back to the Hindenburg line, but it was attacked by the allies on 26th September and breeched by mid October. At the time Germany had a revolution and the new leader ended the war on the 11th November 1918. Haig joined forces with the French and American but the whole thing was led by Foch so Haig did not play a big role in 1918. After the war ended Haig was a hero to the British people everybody respected him, but as time went on he was more and more criticized because they thought more about his actions. Haig in the end did play a part in the failings of British war effort in 1916-1917 but some of the failings were not his fault.
