This brings me onto my next point, tactics. The tactics used in the Somme were used over and over again even with the reports of high causalities. Also the tactics that were a success weren’t built upon. The tactics that were used were; 1.artillery bombardment to destroy barbed wire, trenches, weapons and men. 2.men went over the top (with 28kg of equipment). 3.capture German trenches and kill any remaining Germans. 4.to stay in German trenches until called back. However what really happened was that when the British troops went over the top, the Germans came out of their deep dugouts set up their machine guns and end up shooting most of the British troops. The bombardment didn’t destroy anything and it made the barbed wire more difficult to get though. Also the communications were so bad that the Germans knew everything about the attack, the tactics when everything was going to take place and what the signal for “going over the top” was. For example a quadrant of men had just sent a group “over the top” and they none had made any progress, so a message was sent to the generals to ask whether another group should go “over the top”, the decision was that they shouldn’t however as the communications were so bad it didn’t arrive in time and they went “over the top” and died. This made it very easy for them to defend themselves. The tactics didn’t reach their target and lost many thousands of men.
However it wasn’t just that the tactics used at the Somme weren’t good, it was also the fact that the weapons weren’t brilliant either. During the artillery bombardment there were 1¾ million shells fired (in the first week), 1/3 of them didn’t explode. This is shown by the fact that today 90,000 a year are found unexploded. As well as that tanks were first used at the Somme, they were seen as the weapon that would win the war; however it didn’t seem like that at the Somme. The tanks were used badly. They got suck in the shell holes in “no mans life”, also in the mud; they were as much of a danger to the driver as they were to the Germans. Mines were also used at the Somme; they were also used badly. To use the mines miners had to dig into “no mans lands” and then lay the mines. The problems with this was that you had no idea where you were when you’re under ground, so therefore the mines were laid in the wrong positions. The poor weapons had an effect on the human cost, as many died using the weapons or by setting them up.
This now brings me onto my last point of human cost. There was a huge human cost at the battle of the Somme. Most died in the first 20 minutes of going over the top on the first day of the battle. The first day of the battle is considered the bloodiest in British history. Overall 57,000 men were killed or injured by nightfall on July 1st, the first day. The causalities at the Somme had a huge effect of the impact back home. Many of the pals’ battalions were wiped out and this then had an effect on the population back home, as generations were wiped out. Most of the casualties were young men who had volunteered for the army. It would have been their first, and for many their last, battle. As well as volunteers 1/3 of the BEF were wiped out. These were Britain’s best officers. As well as men dying in battle 1,000 men died a week due till illness. 70,000 of the men at the battle of the Somme have no graves. Overall 1 million men fought at the Somme, all of them were British.
So therefore I conclude that the battle of the Somme was a tragedy because of the poor tactics, the weaknesses of the generals, the poor weapons and the huge human costs. The tactic were poor because they didn’t change once the Germans knew what they were or with the high death or even when they failed. Also the tactics that had become a success weren’t built upon, so therefore it showed that the generals were narrowed minded and not very educated in that didn’t seem to see what was wrong with their attacks. Also the weakness of the generals was an important point in that even with all their experience trench warfare was different and difficult to plan. Generals had know idea what to do, because this was a new type of warfare. Even with military schooling generals didn’t know because defence was important in trench warfare and in the schools attacking was taught to be important. This is an important point in that if the tactics were built upon they could have meant that the Somme would have had a better effect for the British. However the most important is the huge human cost. The battle of the Somme lost thousands of men, and for some of them it was there first and last fight. The human cost had a huge effect on the view of the war back home. It was the turning point, for after the battle conscription had to be brought in. this showed that the people of Britain had changed their views on the war. It now seemed to them to be a terrible thing instead of an exciting one.
