As Haig was new to this job, he had very big goals to achieve and high expectations to fulfil. He and his assistant General Sir Henry Rawlinson had great attacking qualities and believed in attrition warfare, and that is why they were appointed. Haig was specifically told by the government that he had to co-operate with the French military and their commander-in-chief Joseph Joffre. Joffre created a plan that would mainly involve French troops. Where the German trenches would be heavily bombarded and the French infantry would eliminate any remaining German resistance. The Battle of Somme was planned as a joint French and British operation. The idea originally came from the French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre and was accepted by General Sir Douglas Haig.
However when the German forces began an all-out attack on the town of Verdun, French forces had to be diverted and sent to defend Verdun. 5 months and 700,000 deaths later, it was decided by Haig and Joffre that the British forces should execute the operation in the Somme. At first Joffre intended to use mainly French soldiers but the German attack on Verdun in February 1916 turned the Somme offensive into a large-scale British diversionary attack. However Haig would have preferred to attack on a more northern point, for example, Flanders or Ostend, but was not able to as the French and the Government had recommended the Somme as the best place to attack. The idea of the attack now was to divert the German force from Verdun and relieve pressure from the exhausted French forces that were weakening, and to also lift the morale in France. This big push, also showed the Germans just how strong the Allies were. The Germans object of the attack on Verdun was that France would collapse and the British forces would be isolated and would not be able to continue because their supplies of troops would be cut off as they came via the Channel.
The battle was planned to happen on the 4th September 1916. haig was sure about the number of men he would have, and how they would outnumber the Germans(based on estimates). But as the French were failing so much at Verdun, Haig had to bring the date forward to 1st of July. Because of this move, Haig only received half of the men he needed, half of the equipment needed, and realised that there was going to be a lot of losses. Also, at another unfair disadvantage, the Germans had their trenches dug already, giving the British and French troops, the worst possible areas.
