“By the 16th of August I informed Haig that tactical success was no longer possible with the forces at my disposal, except with very heavy losses”.
Then on to the second paragraph he tells us that even though Haig knew about this factor he still went on fighting and he did this for another three and a half months before the bloody struggle finished. And even though the battle went on for so long they still managed to achieve there primary objective, which was to Protect Petain and his French army from any serious attacks.
Source H written by A J P Taylor talks again about the adverse weather conditions that the army had to fight in. He tells us about the German front line being also ready and when the attack came around they never got near to thee front line because of the everlasting rain, which fell. He gives descriptions about what happened to what he set out on to the battlefield
“The ground churned up by the shellfire turned to mud. Men struggling to advance, sank up to their waists… Haig sent in tanks. They also disappeared”.
And in the end of this source Taylor goes on t say that in the end the battle was not to get to Zeebrugge and Ostend but to kill as many Germans as possible and to shake up there morale.
These two sources had many similarities. Both of the sources agree that the weather conditions affected the battle a considerable amount during this time. They both talk about the men attempting to advance and not being able to walk or run because they have fallen in to shell holes filled with water and sunk up to their waists. They also both believe that if they were to carry on the advance it would be at the cost of hundreds of men. They both then go on to talk about the Germans always being one step ahead of them and the Germans were always ready and prepared before we even thought about attacking and if they had attacked it would be at the cost of hundreds of men. But they also disagree about a few things. Taylor elaborates when talking about the weather conditions, unlike Gough’s extract, Taylor really elaborates and over exaggerates the amount of mud and rain that lies on the battlefield. Gough also disagrees about the way in which they have lost resources. Taylor talks more about the loss of the men, guns and the morale of the men. But Gough only talks about the loss of lives due to the lack of morale and belief in there effort.
But overall, these sources give a very negative impression of how Britain was doing at Ypres. A combination of situations put the allied forces with a slim chance of victory against Germany right from the very start. Sources G and H vary slightly in their descriptions and thought of the 3rd battle, and so I feel that it is air to say that they agree to a large extent. Points that each source mention do not constrict the general opinion that they both give, and that the others talk about. So from this evidence I think that sources G and H agree with each other.
