The Battleof Somme

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Chris Phillips    08/05/2007

The Battle of Somme

Germany’s ‘muddy grave’

In this battle the British and French were together. The French role had been cut back by about 50 per cent, though, because they were involved in fighting off a fierce German attack on Verdun. General Haig went ahead with the attack because at the very least, the attack would force the Germans to move troops from their attack on the French at Verdun.

This is a battle report from the British’s point of view written after the whole battle has finished.

 Date the war started was on the 1st of July 1916, the first day was a disaster and it was soon obvious that the offensive would never succeed. 40 000 British troops were wounded and 20 000 killed. Half the troops who attacked on that day became casualties. Despite this, the offensive went on until November at a harsh cost of 420 000 British killed and wounded. The French lost 195 000.

The Germans were forced to send troops form Verdun and so pressure on the French was eased.

The German army had also suffered heavily, losing many of its best junior officers (captains and lieutenants) among its 650 000 casualties. They could not be replaced.

Haig wasted Britain’s secret weapon, the tank, by using them in such few numbers. He should have waited until there were far more available to make a really dramatic impact. Nearly 500 were used a year later at Cambrai but the attack still failed because the troops couldn’t keep up with them. The ground captured was quickly taken back by the Germans.

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Were there alternatives?

Haig failed to realise the importance of the machine-gun, he believed that two machine-guns per battalion (around 800 men) was enough. It was Lloyd George, Minister of munitions at the time, who insisted on increasing it to 16 per battalion.

One idea from a man called Paul Fussell was to stop the British barrage for two minutes before dawn witch was when most attacks took place. The Germans, thinking that an attack was about to start, would then being flocking back to their trenches to set up their machine-guns. Another heavy barrage would then ...

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