The message received at ten o’clock ran something like this: “On a front of twenty miles north and south of the Somme, we and our French allies have advanced and taken the German first line of trenches. We had not to wait long for news, and it was wholly satisfactory and encouraging. Non-combatants, of course, were not permitted to witness this spectacle, but I am informed that the vigour and eagerness of the first assault were worthy of the best tradition of the British Army. “A perceptible slackening of our fire soon after seven was the first indication given to us that our gallant soldiers were about to leap from their trenches and advance against the enemy. This was written by John Irvine of the “Daily Express” on July 3rd 1916 – though his report would have been scutinised by the British military and government and he could only have used what information the military gave him. However, during the battle media information on the Somme was less than accurate. The use of artillery was heavily supported by Field Marshall Haig: The logic behind this was so that the artillery guns would destroy the German trenches and barbed wire placed in front of the trenches. 1,738,000 shells were fired at the Germans. The battle at the Somme started with a weeklong artillery bombardment of the German lines. British soldiers on the other hand were at a huge disadvantage and simply were not trained nor prepared for life on the battlefield. Conscription only began in Britain in 1916 but had been in place many years previously in France, meaning the French conscripts had usually some degree of military knowledge or training. Moreover the soldiers sent to fight on the battlefield were newly recruited volunteers and not trained military personnel. This shows how conservative military thinking was during this war. British military faith was still being placed on cavalry attacks in 1916 when the nature of warfare in the previous two years would have clearly indicated that cavalry was no longer viable. However, orders from the army’s political masters in London and Paris ensured that the battle would take place. Just how backward military thinking was then is shown by the fact that the British put a regiment of cavalry on standby when the attack started, in order to exploit the hole that would be created by a devastating infantry attack. Ironically, the head of the French Army, General Foch, believed that the attack in the Somme would achieve little – this view was shared by some leading British commanders such as General Henry Rawlinson. The second objective is to inflict as heavy losses as possible upon the German armies.” This is, therefore, the first objective to be obtained by the combined British and French offensive. The necessity of relieving pressure on the French Army at Verdun remains, and is more urgent than ever. “Remembering the dissatisfaction by ministers at the end of 1915, because the operations had not come up to their expectations, the General Staff took the precaution to make quite clear beforehand the nature of success which the Somme campaign might yield. After the war, Sir William Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, explained what this strategy was: To relieve the French, the Allied High Command decided to attack the Germans to the north of Verdun therefore requiring the Germans to move some of their men away from the Verdun battlefield, thus relieving the French. So why was the battle fought?įor a number of months the French had been taking severe losses at Verdun, east of Paris. Some soldiers were really still boys as young as 16, and the majority of men going to battle had no idea what warfare entailed. Ironically, going over the top at the Somme was the first taste of battle many of these men had, as many were part of “Kitchener’s Volunteer Army” persuaded to volunteer by posters showing Lord Kitchener himself summoning these men to arms to show their patriotism. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including nearly 60,000 on the first day alone. This criticism was based on the appalling casualty figures suffered by the British and the French. For many years those who led the British campaign have received a lot of criticism for the way the Battle of the Somme was fought – especially Douglas Haig.
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