Battle plans were made in detail. The aims of the battle were;
- To relive pressure on Verdun
- To inflict grate loss on the enemy
- to make a gap in the German lines, to restore open warfare and cause a German retreat.
There were also methods of attack, which went into detail about the initial bombardment and how the battle should be live. The most important part of the training was when soldiers practiced rapid firing, bayoneting and the consolidation of captured ground.
WHY DID THE BATTLE NOT GO ACCORDING TO PLAN?
Field Marshall Haig was a highly decorative solider in the Boer war and was said to be slow minded. He was greatly experienced in cavalry tactics, however trench warfare was a new kind of fighting. Haig made the following plans regarding the attack;
- To relive pressure on Verdun
- To inflict loss on the enemy
- To make a gap in the German lines and to restore open warfare.
Haigs other battle plans were the following;
- A five day initial Bombardment to cut barbed wire and smash German strongholds
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On 29th June soldiers to advance in wave formation.
- Reserve Army to capture Bapaume
- Reserve Army to move north and capture Gommecourt.
In theory these plans should have worked, however the German observer balloons saw all the preparations.
German observers could see the new roads being built and the railway line being placed. Also Germans noticed that the British guns were appointed into the air, which meant that they were ready to fire. So the Germans built bombproof shelters.
On 24th June 1916 at 07.00 hours the preliminary artillery bombardment of the German trenches began. Over 17,000,000 shells were fired on the 16-mile front over 8 days. However 30% of the shells fired were defective and many fell short of their targets, but the one's that did work could be heard on the south coast of England.
When ever the shells stopped firing 60,000 men stepped out of the trenches and into no-mans-land. At 07.15 the mines buried under the German positions were exploded. At 07.46 the German machine guns opened fire and the British soldiers dropped like flies.
When ever the soldiers of the Ulster 36th division reached the German trenches they realised that the barbed wire had not been cut. As the 36th division attacked Thiepval, Captain Graffiken took out an orange handkerchief and waving it around his head shouted “come on boys. This is the first of July! NO surrender!”
Over 30,000 were killed or injured in the first hour of the battle!
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME ACHIEVED NOTHING OTHER THAN THE SLAUGHTER OF BRITISH SOLDIERS. IS THIS FAR COMMENT? EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER
On the first day of the battle of the Somme there were about 57,470 casualties and approximately 20,000 were killed and this was only on the first day! Overall there were 500,000 British casualties from July to November.
Looking at the statistics for the first day I have found that for every 3 live lost only 30 cm’s of ground was gained. This was a very small slice of France for so many lives. One of the worst casualties on the Somme was an attack by the new Found land Regiment.
800 Strong
233 killed in action
386 wounded in action
91 missing in action
and only 68 survived!
However these losses compared to battles in World War 2 were very little for example, at the battle of Leningrad 1,000,000 Russians died. In Nagasaki 80,000 people died in a matter of seconds, and this was only with one bomb.
Some famous historians suggest that the Somme was a slaughter. Winston Churchill wrote that “In personal the operation has been disastrous.”
An official historian Mr C W Bean wrote “It was murder, with men wasted because of the incompetence, callowness and personal vanity of those in high authority” and historian John Keegan said Haig “ thought more of his own position than preserving the live of soldiers.”
In my opinion I believe that the battle of the Somme was a slaughter as the preparations were not well concealed. The plans did not have a back up in case the attack failed which it did. The troops were not prepared and didn’t think that there still could be some Germans alive in their trenches. The high command also naively believed that the Germans were all dead and whenever reports came back to command telling them of the disastrous attack and when new order were sent back by the time they reached the front line the soldier were died or the report would never make it to the front line. So in my opinion the battle of the Somme was a complete slaughter of British soldiers
