2.
In source B part one, Sir William Robertson, a general in the British Army, believed the “necessity of relieving pressure on the French Army in Verdun still remained” and this is one of the many reasons why the British launched an attack in the Somme area. With the stalemate holding the war in Verdun at a standstill both General Rawlinson, who was in charge of British Forces at the Somme, and General Haig believed an attack at the Somme would take the pressure away from Verdun and the focus on where they had set up i.e.: the Somme.
William Robertson believed the second objective was to inflict as heavy losses as possible upon the German armies and in source B General Rawlinson agrees by writing in the battle plan he was in charge of that “ it does not appear to me that the gain of two or three kilometres of ground is of much consequence, we should incur very heavy losses” and “ our objective seems rather to kill as many Germans as possible with the least loss to ourselves” These various quotes all imply that British Forces main goal was to simply annihilate all German troops and we managed to only kill 280,000 Germans all together whereas the Germans killed 60,000 Britons within the first 12 hours of battle.
3)
Both written and picture sources are useful in their own ways as both give different but very vivid ideas on what it was like for soldiers attacking across ‘No Mans Land’ on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. When looking closer at both sources, part of source I photographs are actually training grounds in Britain so it wasn’t actually the real thing or experience whereas the source H description is true and from a real experience.
The film stills are not actually taken from the Somme battle but a movie made for propaganda shown later in 1916 as they couldn’t show real pictures of those going over the top. There are, however several behind trenches that are the most graphically disturbing ones out of the photo selection. One picture shows a man in a small cramped trench carrying someone over his shoulder that is most likely injured or even dead. The second picture is of another man also helping an injured soldier in the trench. He had probably gone over to ‘No Mans Land’, been shot and somebody had gone to collect him from the rear trenches. These two pictures potray soldiers ‘going over’ but in fact they are at a training ground and even without a caption we can know this as they have no backpacks on and there is no barbed wire/defense mechanisms above ground.
Source H is a true extract from the experience of one of the ‘Bradford Pals Battalion’ and he was one of the many who went over and attacked on the first day of the Battle of the Somme so this piece of writing is a valid piece of evidence to describe life going over into ‘No Mans Land’. William Slater (the writer) describes going over the top at the Somme like “strolling along through a park” which agrees with what the men were supposedly told to do by Rawlinson. He then illustrates how “ we were in a midst of a storm of machine gun bullets” where he then saw “men beginning to twirl round in all kind of curious way as they were hit.” These are graphic descriptions of what happened and this was an experience so this is the most reliable but we must bear in mind that by looking at the provenance this interview was conducted 55 years after it happened which means details could be exaggerated and/or missed out.
Source I are pictures of men in trench but the question is ‘ Which sources prove more useful as evidence about what it was like attacking ‘No Mans Land’ so I know that Source H is the most useful one as it was from somebody who was there.
4)
Even though history has perceived General Douglas Haig as a slaughterer who purposely and carelessly sent his men walking across ‘No Mans Land’ there is always the opposite opinion saying how he was a respectful, careful and generous man who wanted nothing more than succession but opinions have changed over time from hero to butcher and vice versa.
To start with, of those opinions and viewpoints, many seem to oppose General Haig though there are a few that don’t.
Source H in booklet one is an interview with a soldier who was involved in Haigs plan of walking across ‘No Mans Land’. He states how they ‘strolled along as though walking in a park’ showing us this seemed very strange and dangerous and another part of his interview he says ‘in the midst of a storm of machine gun bullets I saw men beginning to twirl round and fall in all kinds of curious positions.’ This implies that these battalions were put in a compromising situation and though they had weapons on them, they we struck unexpected, unprepared and surprised standing no chance.
Yet it seems there is a good result that came out of this as General Ludendorff in his ‘War Memoirs’ wrote ‘ the German Army had been fought to a stand still and was utterly worn out’ indicating a confession of defeat. Another confession in his ‘War Memoirs’ is phrased as ‘ the Entente has a tremendous superiority. On the German line we had heavy losses in men and material.’
When issuing a statement it appears to be that Winston Churchill did not believe Haigs battle plan was clever but just merciless as he says ‘British casualties were never the less than 3 to 2, often nearly double corresponding German losses’ and ‘campaign of 1916 on the Western Front was from beginning to end a welter of slaughter.’ This implies Churchill had no faith in what he did and found us continuously losing.
Two other pieces of evidence perceives Haig as “a mindless and arrogant General” whose battle plan was an “incredible failure.” First, a man named Fuller said ‘His stubbornness in the offensive all but ruined us on the Somme’ and the PW Turner in ‘Not For Glory’ said ‘the whole planning of the Somme campaign was ham-fisted and clumsy’ and ‘ the fault of the failure of most of the strategic planning must fall on Haig.’ All quotes deny Haig praise for his work.
But source A, a piece of Propaganda is a map of the Western Front being portrayed as the Kaiser. The outlined face has a look of surprise as a fist, which has the words ‘British Army’ imprinted on it, is pummelling straight into the Germans nose, which is where the Somme is marked. This is representing the idea that the British soldiers are succeeding at the Somme and fighting with force, damaging them where it hurts. So overall it is showing Haigs plan as a successful one.
After reviewing all evidence, sources, propaganda and quotes I have made the decision that General Douglas Haig was a not a slaughterer but not the most brilliant commander either. He had to make a series of tough, historic choices and though his Somme plan was very odd and contained plans which did not make sense we still won the Battle Of The Somme and that was our goal.
