Battle Of The Somme Coursework 3

Battle of the Somme Coursework- Question 5

This question is asking me to study Sources I and J, and then to comment on why I think that these sources differ about the Battle of the Somme. I shall start by elaborating the whole of Source I by adding fact to theory. This Source was written by Lloyd George to Haig on September 21st, 1916, after visiting the battlefield. At the time of writing this, Lloyd George was Secretary of war, which meant that he was responsible for war. Throughout he is trying to boost morale, and tries to make the Somme out to be a complete success, “… confirmed our hopes that the tide has now definitely turned in our favour.” Tanks were used for the 1st time on the Somme, to attack the village of Flers. There were 50 altogether, by the end of the attack, approximately half had broke. They had been brought out to use too quickly and they had problems such as their tracks, steering and mechanical problems. Although, the tanks were rather successful as this village was taken. The Germans retreated. Lloyd George is congratulating himself so much in order for him to look good, as he was wishing to advance politically.

Source J written by Lloyd George in his War Memoirs. It was written in the 1930s. He says in it that “I expressed my doubts to General Haig as to whether cavalry could ever operate successfully on a front bristling for miles with barbed wire and machine guns.” Here he means that Haig thought the machine gun was over rated and preferred cavalry. Haig was a man who was not used to modern tactics and weaponry; he wished to stand still in time with cavalry and older weapons. Herbert Asquith retired from being Prime Minister in December 1919 due to the failure of the war, and Lloyd George took over the role until 1922 when he retired. Although, Lloyd George was War Leader from 1916, so he was in charge since then. In his memoirs, Lloyd George makes himself look the better man and decides to blame other people for the losses. He was basically using the phrase “I told you so…” throughout this extract. Here he is creating an anti-war feeling, and trying to compel the blame onto Haig as he was no longer living then.

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At Mametz, 8000 Welsh were killed. These men suffered due to the incompetence of their leaders. Lloyd George was Welsh and he put his friends in charge of the Welsh divisions. The 38th division were a Welsh division and Haig had criticised them for taking to days to clear the wood of Mametz in July, 1916. Although these men were controlled by Lloyd George’s friends, of whom he had put in control as a favour, not due to their potential. Therefore, he should accept some blame.

As a conclusion, I think that Sources I and J differ about the ...

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As a conclusion, I think that Sources I and J differ about the Battle of the Somme as Source I is trying to praise Haig when he is alive, and Source J is trying to blame Haig for losses when he is dead. Lloyd George would not have put in danger his career for accusations against Haig when Haig was alive, although he would shift the blame onto him when Haig is dead as he has no way of retaliating.

Battle of the Somme Coursework- Question 6

This question wants me to study all the sources and then to say how far the sources support this view, “Haig was an uncaring general who sacrificed the lives of his soldiers for no good reason.” I shall carry out this task by comparing all the sources individually to the statement.

Source A is realistic as it does not do any good to Haig; it shows support for this argument. It shows this when he states, “No amount of skill… will enable victories to be won without the sacrifice of men’s lives.” Here he makes it seem as though that he is expecting his men to die, whereas a good general would go on to say that they would try to their best efforts to prevent many deaths. He completely rejects this point by going on to say that “the nation must be prepared to see heavy casualty lists.” Haig new the risk, he just went ahead still. He took over his job role as commander- in- chief- in 1915, and it has been said he could have been planning the Somme with Geoff.(?!). The debate which has arisen is whether being realistic is uncaring, as although he stated there would be heavy casualty lists, he was also preparing the nation; also Haig was given the job, anyone who had the job would need to say this.

Source B shows Haig to be confident of his soldiers and full of praise for them. Haig says, “Several men have said they have never before been so instructed and informed of the nature of the operation before them.” If this was a fact, it would prove that Haig was not uncaring as he made sure men had been looked after. He goes on to say that the preparation was all done, “The barbed wire has never been so well cut, or the artillery preparation so thorough.” If Haig was uncaring, he would not have done such thorough preparation with this equipment. In the second paragraph although he shows the preparation was not so thorough as he did not know of the enemy’s status and preparation techniques, which showed he did sacrifice the lives of his soldiers for no good reason. If a proper check up of the enemy’s trench lines and other tactics were taken then men’s lives could have been saved. Haig thinks “the battle is going very well for us and already the Germans are surrendering freely”. Although in the real sense they were just waiting till all the bombardments were finished, and then carried out attacks. The Germans were in underground dugouts waiting for the attacks to end. These dugouts were not just bud pits, but actual rooms. At the Y-Ravine it was shown that dugouts there were like homes. At least one has been proven to carry a piano inside, and all were described quite highly of. It shows the Germans were totally safe. The Newfoundland Park, and also the Danger Tree, were prominent landmarks for the Germans as it was an easy place to attack more of the enemy in a shorter time. Where saying “Very successful attack this morning. All went like clockwork”, he does not know what really happened, only a good side to it. This shows the lack of care for his men.

Source C was taken from an interview with Private George Coppard, a while after the war. Coppard was present at this battle; therefore he was an eye witness. Many would say that he knows more about the battle than the Generals, as he is showing ideas never used in the war, where they should have been, “How did the planners imagine that Tommies would get through the wire?... Any Tommy could have told them that shell fire lifts wire up and drops it down, often in a worse tangle than before.” It could be said that Haig was an uncaring General as he did not fully investigate into their enemy’s tactics, and also their own. If he did, the casualty lists would be less.