Why did the British plan for the first day of the battle of the Somme fail?

At the end of 1915 the British and French governments held a conference at Chantilly. They decided that they should have a combined attack against the German front line situated at the Somme, where the British and French forces met. This was mostly to the people back in each home country that the British and French were working together in the war, as they had mostly been putting in individual efforts.

The attack was planned to take place in August 1916 but because the French were unable to join because of a major attack at Verdunne, which the British hoped to relive by attacking the Somme and drawing away German troops. The date was moved to the 1st of July so the British armed forces could be ready without the help of the French. The bombardment of the German trenches had started seven days previous to this date of attack

Sir Henry Rawlinson devised the plan and Field Marshall Douglas Haig oversaw the carry out of the plan.

The plan was to bombard the German trenches with eighteen miles of artillery shelling for seven days and seven nights. This was supposed to destroy all the barbed wire in front of the German trenches and kill all the German machine gunners. When this bombardment finished, tunnels leading up to the German trenches (that were constructed by ex-miners) contained explosives, which were set off. After that the British troops were ordered to leave their trenches and walk towards the German trenches with their arms at port. As they walked across no-mans land they were shot down by German machine gunners whom had hidden in bunkers far away from the trenches and so had survived the shelling. The British troops headed over no-mans land every fifteen minutes. The shells had not destroyed the barbed wire completely but had only blown gaps in it and so the British soldiers funneled towards the gaps, making them easier targets for enemy fire.

21,000 British soldiers died on the first day. Their own artillery shelled many of the soldiers who made it to the enemy trenches.

There were many reasons for the failure of the bombardment. One such reason was where the battle was held. The geography of the Somme was not in the British favour. It was a well defended point for the German army where they held many strongly defended villages and had many troops on that point. They also had well built bunkers set back from the front line and were not visible to British artillery. The trenches were ...

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21,000 British soldiers died on the first day. Their own artillery shelled many of the soldiers who made it to the enemy trenches.

Another reason for the bombardment’s failure was because of the shells used by the British troops. Because the battle was to consist of only British troops then the British would have to make more shells for their artillery. The shells had to be made quicker and because of this the quality of the shells were lowered and one third of the thousands of shells fired were dud. The artillery firing was also of low standard, most were obsolete and had to be used to make up the numbers and so this took down the accuracy of the shelling. Because the shelling was supposed to destroy all barbed wire obstructing the German trenches it was a surprise to the walking British troops that the shells, due to their poor quality had only made gaps in the wire. This caused the funneling effect of the British army on their walk to the German trenches. The reason for only making gaps in the wire is because the wrong types of shells were used. The shells were packed with shrapnel and their force was aimed up when another type of shell with a downward explosion should have been used.

The effect of this failure meant that the British troops had to funnel towards the gaps in the barbed wire and the Germans were still alive in their bunkers and so could rush to their parapet (The lip of the German trench) And they could fire upon the British troops.

Due to the lack of faith Rawlinson had in the inexperienced troops. Most of them were volunteers as the regular army had been killed or sent home Thinking he was safe in the knowledge that all Germans had been killed, he had ordered the troops to walk towards the German trenches at a leisurely pace with their arms at port. The British troops were told ‘not a rat will be alive’ and ‘it will be like a Sunday walk’. Because of this the British troops did not expect any resistance from the German troops as they were all supposed to be dead and so they felt no reason to defy orders and rush for the parapet. Haig had doubts about the troops walking but he did not want to over rule Rawlinson as he had more experience of warfare and infantry leadership.

Because the attack had been moved forwards and there had been little fighting at the Somme. The German troops had the time to practice their drill of getting out of their bunkers and setting up their machine guns and this made them more effective and faster at getting to fire upon the advancing British army. Because the Germans were still alive it would be a race to the parapet, this was unknown to the British, only the Germans knew there was a sense of urgency to get to the parapet. So the Germans had the element of surprise on the British troops who were carrying heavy equipment for later stages in the attack. So it was hard for the British to run even if the had to try.

The German had the advantage of knowing when the attack was going to happen because there had been an announcement on British radio telling the British munitions workers not on strike (as they were planning) because a massive offensive was about to take place. The Germans also knew the time of the attack because when the bombardment had finished, large underground explosions set by the British were set off and then the Germans ran from their bunkers up the hill to their parapets.

If the British had won the race to the parapet they could have shot the Germans as they came out of their bunkers and won the battle. They didn’t and so lost the first day. One regiment ran and disobeyed orders these were the Royal Ulster regiment. They made it through to the second trenches where they were shelled by their own artillery.

I think the most important reason for the failure of the bombardment was the fact the Germans were hidden underground and this is because them surviving was the reason so many British soldiers died and so failed the plan to take the trenches safely and with little or no casualties. This failure was not really to blame on the British. It was a fact unknown to them that the Germans had bunkers but I think that if they had a little more faith in their men and not their plan, then they would have taken precautions, such as letting the men run. I the men had of run they could have killed all German troops hiding anyway and so them walking was the most important reason for them loosing the race to the parapet and ultimately the battle on the first day.

Ben Squire 11.3