It was a terrible experience for all the soldiers and very other few people realised it. The senior officers got to live away from the front line and relatively safe – therefore, not having good contact with their soldiers and understanding the conditions they had to experience. Even letters were censored, so the soldiers could never reveal the true appalling conditions they had to suffer.
2. Why was there a stalemate on the Western Front during much of the First World War?
There were various reasons for why there was a stalemate on the Western Front, the main reason being because both sides had dug themselves into trenches.
As the Schlieffen Plan had failed it meant that there was no quick defeat of France, as the British had to fight a war on two fronts, instead of defeating one enemy and then the other, as originally planned. Instead, the opposing armies dug themselves into trenches, which made it clear that it was not going to be a quick war. Major attacks couldn’t be organised quickly or easily which resulted in stalemate – with hundreds of thousands of soldiers living in the trenches but making no progress in winning the war. Trenches were very hard to capture since the system consisted of at least three lines of trenches, all protected by rows of barbed wire up to thirty metres deep.
The armies were evenly matched, with the French and British armies joined together, and half the German army in Russia. This contributed to the stalemate, as it had become a war of attrition – where each side tried to wear down the enemy, instead of the war of movement everyone assumed it would be.
There was also a lack of strategic thought from the generals who were trying to fight an offensive war, when in fact the best weapons were the ones for defence. The machine gun was a great defensive weapon, firing minimum eight bullets per second – turning fields into butchers yards, wives into widows and making the troops stay in the trenches for longer in order to protect themselves. The machine guns drove soldiers underground and the artillery – biggest killer of all, kept them there. The supply of weapons to both sides was ongoing and never ending, to add to the bombs, hand grenades and gas. But technology was not advanced enough to lead to a breakthrough and new weapons such as gas, aircraft and tanks were not effective enough. At first, the tank was thought to be the way out of stalemate as it would not be affected by machine gun fire, could cut through enemy wire and could drive straight over trenches. But they made little impact as many broke down even before reaching the battle area and others soon got bogged down in mud or knocked out.
Apart from this, the preliminary artillery bombardment always warned the enemy of an attack in advance and mass attacks of infantry did not work, but the generals still wanted a war of attrition, wearing down the enemy regardless of the casualty figures, until their morale collapsed. They were also far from the front; they followed rigid plans that allowed no freedom to the officers at the front.
Both sides wanted peace on their own terms and the morale of each army stayed high enough for the war to be continued. In the end, the ‘Big Push’ was regarded as the way through stalemate, but even this fell through and stalemate continued on the Western Front for most of the First World War.
3. Why did Haig decide to fight the battle of the Somme in 1916?
There were quite a few reasons why Haig decided to fight the Battle of the Somme in 1916, but there were three main reasons in particular.
The first and probably the most important reason, was connected to the politicians. The politicians wanted to relieve the pressure of the town of Verdun, where the German army had heavily covered and fortified the whole French area. It was seen as a symbol of the French struggle against the enemy, but some people, such as the French commander-in-chief, Joffre, questioned whether it was actually strategically necessary to protect Verdun. But others, such as the Prime Minister, Briand, were persistent that Verdun had to be protected no matter what. In order to do this, pressure had to be taken off Verdun and put on other places where the Germans would want to defend themselves, therefore, forcing the German troops to divert and leave Verdun. This would allow the chance of opening up supply routes to the city so that it would not have to give up and surrender. The politicians compelled Haig into agreeing for an Allied attack, where the British would launch an attack at the Somme, as well as the Russians launching an attack at Lake Naroch on the Eastern Front and the Italians fighting on Isorzo. Therefore, one reason Haig decided to fight the Battle of the Somme was to protect Verdun, relieve pressure off the defenders at Verdun and to please the politicians.
The second reason was that fighting at the Somme was thought to be the way to break the stalemate. There was a belief amongst the army commanders, especially on the French and British side, that the way out of stalemate was to have a ‘Big Push’ or ‘Great Offensive’, removing the Germans from the French and Belgian soil, by launching attacks on the German trenches and crossing ‘no man’s land’. By sending a series of waves of soldiers at one particular point, it was reasoned that eventually, even if the first and second waves of soldiers were unsuccessful, the third wave would break through the enemy’s defences. It was accepted and seen that there would be high casualty numbers, but it was believed that eventually, the ‘Big Push’ would result in victory, as there was no other way to break the deadlock.
The third main reason that Haig decided to fight at the Somme for was to do with weapons. Haig had confidence in the new weapons and especially the tank. He mistakenly believed that there was enough machinery, tanks and overall weapons for the British army, to fight the German army and make them withdraw from their trenches. He also believed that all the weapons would work well and strengthen their army considerably, not break down like the tanks actually did. But he was wrong and the Germans had their own advantages and defences themselves anyway, such as the underground bunkers that they had built, which no one else knew about - and even planes could not spot them. Also, most of the army consisted of mainly volunteers who did not know how to fight a war or proper infantry tactics, and so this did not help as they were put under orders that made them much more vulnerable to the enemy.
Another reason for choosing the Somme was that the river was connected between the British army in the North, and the French army in the South, and therefore it was hoped to be joint attack with the Allies, as the politicians wanted it to be.
- Explain why the Battle of the Somme failed to achieve British objectives
There were many reasons as to why the battle failed to reach British objectives, the main reason being about Haig and his failure of leadership. Haig had overestimated his men and weapons, but underestimated the Germans. He was always using the same tactics, trying to fight a war of attrition in high command. He did not believe in or try any other way to lead and fight the war and this failure of leadership was a major problem that led to the failure of British objectives.
Haig was also determined to fight without any change and never changed his battle objectives, which caused more death and casualties than necessary and little victory that was wanted so much. His tactics left a lot to be desired for in many ways too. He failed to change his tactics, so the enemy always found out and had an advantage in deciding the best way to defend themselves and kill as many of the opposing soldiers as possible in one go. Haig used flawed infantry tactics and made his soldiers wear full packs whilst fighting, which made them vulnerable as they became slower and got tired more quickly due to the heavy weight. He never took ideas from others like everyone else did, for example, copying the French and the ‘rushing tactic’ in order to make an attack more efficient and beneficial. Furthermore, along with the politicians, he mistakenly thought that the Allies would support each other continuously, all the way.
The plan of attack was also very weak and orders such as ordering the infantry to attack at walking pace with full packs, resulted in obscene, unnecessary murder that could have been avoided. Similarly, situations such as the constant bombardment did not help the British objectives. Barbed wire was thrown into the air and came back down again in a worse tangled mash than when it started, therefore making it even harder for the soldiers to cross into the enemy area. Defensive weapons such as shells made it impossible to cross No Mans Land. But there was a major failure of bombardment in quite a few ways. There were numerous reports of the preparations being made in the French papers that the Germans got hold of easily in order to get information and decide the best way to defend.
The technology was poor and most of the shells were faulty, so the high number of Germans expected to be killed, and the easy way of cutting the barbed wire was not achieved. The new weapons failed to be used effectively, and the majority of weapons were better for defence than attack. The Germans had more superior, better weapons than the British - not weapons such as the tank which was thought to be a great attacking weapon but was actually a let down.
There were also many misunderstandings that caused confusion for the British and let them down. Rawlinson believed that that the German frontline positions and machine guns had been destroyed, when in fact, the bombardment had failed to destroy anything. It was due to misunderstandings such as this, which contributed to the numerous amounts of soldiers killed and the 58,000 casualties.
The overall role of the infantry was not that great. Inexperienced soldiers who flawed the basic tactics were sent to war, as there were not enough soldiers on the front in the first place - due to the Generals’ rules and tactics, ending in hundreds of thousands of soldiers dying.
The lack of secrecy and surprise was another disadvantage for the British. The Germans had the technology and spotter planes to see what the British were doing, and when and where they were going to go ‘over the top’. The end of any artillery barrage signalled to the Germans when the British were going to begin their attack and paths marked with tape signalled to the Germans the exact location of the British advance. The Germans also had lookouts and commanding view of No Mans Land, and therefore could easily spot the British troops.
The Germans used certain things to their advantage, such as using the gaps in the barbed wire to place machine guns to directly fire and hit the British. The unsuitable location, with the Germans uphill and the British in bad places of attack, and the bad weather which halted any progress that may have been made were also some of the many reasons as to why the Battle of the Somme failed to achieve British objectives.
