Although, most of the deaths occurred during the Battle of the Somme between the 1st July 1916 and 20th November 1916, a considerable number of deaths also occurred when the soldiers were not fighting. This shows just how dangerous it was to be in trenches when soldiers were inactive.
Therefore, source C contradicts source A, which does not describe death, rather the dull routines and sheer boredom. However, being a photo of a captured German trench, source B gives us a small idea of what the fighting may have been like.
3. How useful are Sources D, E and F in helping you understand why the public at home supported war?
Throughout the war, propaganda was used to win public support at home. Sources D and F can both be seen as material used to persuade people at home that the war was not as destructive as it actually was, whilst source E contradicts them both.
Published in 1916, the provenance states that source D, taken from a story of the “struggle for honour, justice and truth” during the war, was given to ‘boys and girls of the Empire’ providing them with worthy motives to fight for their country. Targeting the youth as its readers, the book is appealing to their patriotic nature, persuading those of Britain and its Empire to sign up and fight.
As conscription was introduced in March 1916, the government needed to win over popular support for the war, before people began to ask questions as to why the army needed to recruit more men and what had happened to all the other soldiers. So, by publishing patriotic material such as Source D, where the Germans are described as ‘cowardly’ and the Allies are ‘brave’ and “Heroes all”, people became more confident of their soldiers winning. Also, with no mention of death or suffering, public support grew and grew.
Similarly, Source F, a film on the war, shows no destruction, suffering or any signs of death. Shown in Picture palaces at home on projection screens, the public could watch this silent film in black and white and be able to see the ‘reality’ of war, or at least what they thought was reality. Although it seemed real, the video did not show the whole picture of what went on, only showing small pieces of what happened, with the harsh reality of blood and gore unseen by the public. Unlike Source D, which targeted the youth, this source is targeted at the whole nation and those in its empire, aimed at gaining huge public support.
In contrast, Source E, part of a letter from an Australian Lieutenant who was killed soon after writing this ‘last letter’ contradicts all that is shown in sources D and F. his letter suggests that he may have been a journalist as he wants it to be “on record” and uses words such as ‘callousness’ in his letter, whereas an ordinary soldier would probably not have enough education to use such words.
As censorship under the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) did not apply to Australians, Lieutenant Raws, of the Australian Infantry, was free to write what he wanted without his letters being censored, enabling him to write about the real truth whereas it was not mentioned in sources D and F.
In his letter he states that he believes “Goldy and the others were murdered through the incompetence, callousness and personal vanity of those in high authority”. From this we can tell that he blames his superiors for fellow soldiers’ death, but the words he uses to describe their actions gives us an idea as to the anger he is feeling towards his superiors. He also mentions ‘Goldy’, which makes me ask who was Goldy? After researching Raws, I found that he had a brother called Robert Goldthorpe Raws, suggesting that Goldy was his brother. Although Raws thinks, “the facts are so obvious that it must be said”, his anger and bitterness at his brother’s death casts doubts upon how reliable his letter may be. However, he may have right to blame them, as it was inaccurate information on his own side, relating to the exact positions of the soldiers that probably killed Raws whilst under a creeping barrage.
In conclusion, these sources re useful in telling us that the public at home supported the war due to propaganda misleading them, as seen in sources D and F, and the failure to mention the sheer number of deaths due to DORA censorship.
- Use Sources G and H and your own knowledge to explain why the Battle of the Somme resulted in such high casualties.
The 1st of July saw more than 60,000 casualties suffered all in one day. It is no wonder that the Battle of the Somme has come to stand for the horror and hardship of the First World War. So, why were there so many casualties?
Source G, a primary source in photographic form, shows the destruction of a battlefield at Pozieres, September 1916. It shows four men, presumably soldiers, judging by the uniforms they are wearing, standing looking a row of bodies lying in front of them. These men on the ground could either be wounded or dead, but it is more likely that that they are dead, due to the crosses that have been lain on top of some of the bodies. Also, the area behind the four soldiers seems to be like a desolate wasteland, with nothing more than the remains of trees left in the background, a sign of the devastation caused by the war.
From looking at this source, the question of who the photographer was arises. The provenance does not state who took this. However, as one of the soldiers is looking directly forward to where the photographer would be, we can presume that this photograph was staged, and the men are posing. So, it is reasonable to assume that another soldier took it. But for what reason was it taken? There could be a number of possibilities for this.
Firstly, this could have been taken with the intention of showing the public, but this kind of photograph would not have been shown to the British public as it would have be censored under DORA. Though, due to the time it was taken, September 1916, we can deduce that the soldiers are Australian, since they had been fighting at Pozieres Ridge since July 1916 and remained until the first week of September, where the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Divisions lost 23,000 men killed or wounded. So it is quite possible that this photograph was to shown to the Australian public as they were under no orders of censorship.
It is possible that this photo was taken to show the public what war was like. On the other hand, the photographer could be trying to show that the soldiers were well taken for as many of the soldiers had bandages on them. Also, the crosses on them could be seen as telling the public that these men died for God.
Although there are some dead in this source, it is relatively few compared to the number you would expect to see on a battlefield, implying that this area was not of a severe battle. Also, the area around the dead soldiers appears to be quite clean and sanitized, with many of them wearing bandages and some of them lying on stretchers. This suggests that this could be the hospital area where medical attention was given to wounded soldiers.
On the battlefields, those who were too seriously injured were not really given much medical attention, as they were not expected to live and fight, so priority was given to those who were not so critically hurt and could go back to fighting. Therefore, we can assume that the soldiers in this photograph did not have grave injuries and were expected to fight again. From this we can say that there injuries probably did not kill them and it is likely that they died from an infection brought on by the unhygienic conditions surrounding them.
Close inspection of this photograph shows that some of the soldiers have crosses on them. But why don’t they have they all have crosses on them? A simple answer to this is that they were not all Christians, but it is likely that most of the Australians fighting in the Somme were Christians. So, another solution could be that they did not have enough crosses for those that died. This shortage of crosses implies that even the generals were not expecting so many deaths. If there was a lack of crosses, it is probable that they were used to pay respect towards the higher ranking officers fighting on the battlefields.
Shells and shell holes were one of the greatest killers of the war. What seems to be a shell hole can be seen on the left side of Source G, behind one of the standing officers. Shell holes were usually very big, and in the winter months would have filled with water and mud. So, if a soldier were to fall in one of these shell holes, it would have been nearly very difficult to get out and is likely that he would have drowned in the water and got sucked in by the mud. Such shell holes can be seen in Source H at the Newfoundland Park.
Source H also shows masses of graves of the hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world that died fighting in the Battle of the Somme. Also, the Thiepval Memorial shows the names of the 73,000 British soldiers who were labelled as ‘missing’. The term ‘missing’ was given to any soldier who was not identified. So, any bodies that were wounded and injured so badly that they were beyond recognition were labelled as missing. The thousands that were blown up to pieces by grenades and shells were also termed missing.
The untouched trenches of Newfoundland Park, where the Canadians fought, showed that moving around the trenches was very difficult due to the trenches systems being quite narrow. Also, the wounded soldiers from the front lines were continuously being carried through the trench systems. This made it quite hard for soldiers from the trenches to move forward to the front line to replace the wounded soldiers who would have out of action. Due to this, these soldiers would have to climb out of their trenches and move forward to the front lines trenches. However, climbing out of their trenches like this would cause their German enemies to see them and shoot them down. In this way, many of the soldiers were killed even before they reached the front lines.
Another reason why there were such high casualties was due to the Germans having the dominant high ground and the Allies having the lower ground. This meant that the Germans could see the British and its allies coming from quite far away. This made any kind of surprise ambush attack quite impossible.
Many soldiers blamed their superior officers for such high casualties. The generals would tell those fighting in the front lines to walk across no-man’s land. Walking uphill, of course meant they were quite slow in reaching the enemies trench. This in turn caused more deaths due to the Germans shooting down the approaching Allies. Often it was actually the side of the Allies that led to the casualties of their own men, through inaccurate information being sent forward. One example of this was with the creeping, where the soldiers were supposed to walk across no-man’s land and shells were supposed to be dropped in front of them. Unfortunately, the shells often fell short causing immense casualties. The inaccurate information which caused this was likely to be due to difficulties in communication, with the Headquarters not quite sure of the exact position of the front lines.
Consequently by the time the Battle of the Somme ended in November 1916, the British armies had 425,000 men dead. So, the First World War became known as the Great War, due to the great devastation and huge casualties that occurred.
5. “The soldiers who fought on the Somme were lions led by donkeys.”
Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain whether you agree with this point of view.
“The soldiers who fought on the Somme were lions led by donkeys,” suggests that the generals leading the soldiers into battle were cowardly and stupid like donkeys. However, the generals would have been trained and should have known what they were doing, whilst many of the brave, strong ‘lions’ would have been ordinary, young civilians who would have probably only received basic training before going off to fight in the war.
Source H, the Somme as it is today, suggests that progress for the Allies was probably quite slow. This was likely due to the Allies having the lower ground and soldiers being ordered to walk across mo-man’s land. With such poor conditions over the winter months, the soldiers would have been walking across very muddy ground. So, having to walk uphill in mud would have made it a slow and difficult process for the soldiers.
This in turn made it easier on the German enemy to shoot them down, so few actually got over to the enemy trenches. Although it seemed unusual to order troops to walk across, it is likely that generals were concerned that there was as less chaos as possible, thus prohibiting them from running across. This would have prevented some soldiers from tripping and falling over each other, avoiding being trampled to death, resulting in fewer casualties. On the contrary there were a lot of casualties as many men were shot, through coming at the enemy slowly, explaining why for every death, only four centimetres of ground was gained.
On the other hand, Source B is a photograph that shows a German captured trench in September 1916. This suggests that some of the tactics must have been good in order to achieve capturing a trench. Though, this photograph does not give us an idea as to whether capturing a trench was typical for the British or not, we can assume that this is not likely to be a typical event as this photograph was probably taken to mark the occasion of taking over this trench. It is probable that this photograph was taken as proof and to keep as a memory of this small victory.
Despite the developments in the war, there were still more deaths than expected. This can be seen from Source C, which shows that an average of 893 soldiers died every day, fighting on the Somme. The great number of deaths could explain why the government needed to recruit more men to fight in the war. But, it is surprising that no one questioned why more recruits were needed. We can assume that the public never saw what was going on, on battlefields, due to censorship and the government’s use of propaganda and patriotic material.
An example of propaganda is Source I, a government recruiting poster. Designed to persuade more men to sign up for war, it was put up in 1915, a year before the introduction of conscription. The poster shows a man standing with a woman who is presumably his mother. The mother is instructing her son to “Go!” being quite clear in its meaning. As there were no televisions, posters were the only to advertise. Also, as many were poorly educated they needed to be quite clear but simple to read, making the message completely clear.
This poster is aimed at females, especially mothers, to persuade their sons and husbands to “join to-day”. Using females to put pressure on their sons and husbands uses propaganda in the way of emotional blackmail. “It’s your duty lad”, suggests that the man is obliged to go and fight for his country. The way the poster is presented with the picture of the man and his mother saying these three phrases implies that if a man decided not to go to war he would be seen as a coward. This would have persuaded a lot of men to fight because they would not want to look like a coward.
Similarly Source D is patriotic, building an honourable image of soldiers fighting in the war. “Told for boys and girls of the Empire” in 1916, it is likely that this book was written to win the support of youths and possibly to persuade some of them to fight “for honour, justice and truth”. This source makes fighting sound more exciting and heroic, “Our men at once leapt from their trenches”. Reading this source may even have made some think that it was easy for the men fighting on the Somme.
Source F, an extract from the film, the battle of the Somme, showed people images of the war so that they could see what was happening on the battlefields. Although the scenes from it were all real, scenes of death, destruction and the thousands of graves would have been censored, thus portraying the war as almost glorious and effortless. For those watching it, they would have thought it was real and would not know the true extent of the casualties until after the war. The public would have believed that Britain and its Allies were winning the war under the leadership of generals whose tactics seems to have worked. However, as a piece of government propaganda it would be expected to be like this, so we cannot tell from this film whether the generals’ plans and strategies were actually successful.
Throughout the war, many of the tactics used remained the same. Bombarding the enemy with shells was the normal procedure in launching an attack. The plan was to make gaps in the barbed wire fences defending the enemy trench, and kill as many of their officers as possible before going over the top and across no-man’s land. However, as this procedure did not change, the Germans would know that that the Allies were coming, and wait for them. The Germans would be waiting in their trenches and shoot the soldiers as they came across no-man’s land. This led to many casualties, including thousands dead, yet still the generals used this same tactic.
Source E shows a part of the last letter written by Lieutenant John Raws on 19th August 1916, shortly before he was killed in battle. Raws believed the tactics and leadership given by the generals was wrong. He also blames them for his brother’s death, which he sees as “murdered through the incompetence, callousness and personal vanity of those in high authority”. Raws is clearly angry with his superiors, but it is possible to say that his bitterness over brother, Goldy’s death could have affected him. However, it was inaccurate information between headquarters and the front line trenches, which actually killed John Raws, during a creeping barrage attack on the Germans. This was when bombs where dropped just in front of the soldiers. As they walked forward, the bombs would go forward, but unfortunately inaccurate measurements and co-ordinates of where the troops were, meant that many of the bombs hit the Allied soldiers.
Another person who felt in a similar way to Raws was Siegfried Sassoon, who has become well known for his anti-war poems, which he wrote as a soldier fighting in the war. Source J shows one of his poems ‘The General’, which was written in 1916 whilst serving on the Somme. The poem starts off in a cheerful tone, “Good morning; good morning! the General said”, but very quickly changes its tone to become angry. “Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of them dead”, suggests that Sassoon blames the generals for sending his friends to get killed. Referring to his superiors as “incompetent swine, Sassoon believed that they had poor tactics that were not planned properly, “he did for them both with his plan of attack”, implying that these soldiers were as good as dead the minute the generals planned the attack.
Written in 1916, this poem was not published until after the war, as he would never have been allowed to have it published during the war due to DORA censorship. However, if people were not meant to read it, why was it written? It is likely that Sassoon simply write it to let out the anger and bitterness he felt towards the generals. Although he fought in the war, after seeing many of his friends and comrades die, Sassoon later refused to continue fighting in the war.
Although the reality of war was hidden from the public at home through censorship, propaganda and patriotic material, it could never be hidden from the many soldiers that watched their friends die around them. So, it is no wonder they blame their superiors for such incompetence. On the other hand the generals used the tactics they thought would work to win the war, but it seems they were unequipped to handle the war. However, they must have done some things right as Britain and its Allies did eventually win the war in November 1918, but as the great cost of 425,000 deaths on the Allies side.
