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File Reference: Synd 3/G3/2/2020

BATTLE OF SOMME

Reference:

A. MAFJP 0.01, Chapter 4 (Svc Paper).

B. General Instruction for Battle Study Grade 3 Staff and Tactics Course Serial 2/2020.

INTRODUCTION

1. The Battle of Somme was one of the series of battles that took place in France, between

The Allied and Central Power in World War 1. It is considered as one of major battle between

those two forces which affected the war briefly. It was all started when The Allied wanted to

have first offensive action towards the Central (mainly Germany), as the opposite force always

have upper hands on the advancement of their troops towards France.

2. On 24th June 1916, The Allied on the British side started the bombardments towards the

German lines with heavy artillery in one week straight, with the assumption that their defenses

will be compromised. On 1st July, the British started their first advancement with almost 60,000

soldiers marching towards the German trenches. Far from the front lines of Somme, Sir Douglas

Haig the commander of the British forces received many good reports as the radio comms keep

sending the positive signals. However, all the news is already too late when it reached the

commander’s post, as the soldiers are already been obliterated by the Germans using machine

guns and rifles. Unbeknownst to Haig, those bombardment, although it lasted a week, did not

affecting the defense of Germans at all. The barb wires are still intact, and the Central Power

troops are still managing to survive within the barrage period. Because of the wrongful

assumption, British forces suffered casualties on almost all his troop in one day, which costed

57,470 soldiers.

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3. The battle continues with both sides started striking each other, trying to wear both their

opponents till the last breath of the last soldiers. Germans, with faster digging timing compared

to the Allied, have upper hands until Haig drags the battle until winter. The battle finished in

stalemate, as both sides are suffering casualties and demoralization due to the cold weather and

winter climate.

AIM

4. The aim of this battle study is to achieve better understanding about the battle that cost

too many casualties compared to other battles/campaign by the Allied Forces and/or Central

Power. For the records, until 16th November 1916, British suffered almost 420,000 casualties,

with additional 200,000 from French while Germans costed 465,000 casualties.

SCOPE

5. The Scope of this paper is as follows:

a. Overview:

(1) Somme Offensive Timeline

(2) Allied Forces’ preparation before 1st July 1916.

(3) Central Power’s response towards Allied deployment at Somme.

(4) Douglas Haig’s tactics, skills, and leadership.

(5) Weaponry and vehicle used by both sides to achieve firepower and

advancement.

(6) Kitchener’s Army conscription.

(7) Total casualties and death on both sides.

(8) War of Attrition.

b. Recommendation.

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OVERVIEW

6. Somme Offensive Timeline. Timeline for Battle of Somme is as follows:

a. 24 June 16. The Allies begin a week-long artillery bombardment of

German defensive positions on the Somme River in northern France, in

preparation for a major British-led offensive. Over 1.5 million shells are fired

along a 15-mile front to pulverize the intricate German trench system and to blow

apart rows of barbed wire protecting the trenches. British Commander Douglas

Haig believes this will allow an unhindered infantry advance and a rapid

breakthrough of the German Front on the first day of battle.

b. 1 Jul 16. The British Army suffers the worst single-day death toll in its

history as 18,800 soldiers are killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The losses come as 13 attacking divisions encounter German defenses that are still

intact despite the seven-day bombardment designed to knock them out. The

British also attack in broad daylight, advancing in lines shoulder-to-shoulder only

to be systematically mowed down by German machine-gunners. The Somme

offensive quickly becomes a battle of attrition as British and French troops make

marginal gains against the Germans but repeatedly fail to break through the entire

Front as planned.

c. 10 Jul 16. The Germans attack again at Verdun, using poison gas, and

advance toward Fort Souville. Four days later, the French counterattack and halt

the Germans.

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d. 13 Jul 16. The British launch a night attack against German positions

along a 3.5-mile portion of the Somme Front. After advancing nearly 1,000 yards,

the advance is halted as the Germans regroup their defenses. Two days later, the

British once again penetrate the German line and advance to High Wood but are

then pushed back.

e. 27 Aug 16. Romania declares war on the Central Powers and begins

an invasion of Austria-Hungary through the Carpathian Mountains. The

Romanians face little opposition initially and advance 50 miles into Transylvania.

f. 28 Aug 16. Kaiser Wilhelm appoints Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg

as Germany's new Chief of the General Staff, replacing Erich Falkenhayn

following the disappointment at Verdun and recent setbacks on the Eastern Front.

g. 28 Aug 16. Italy declares war on Germany, thus expanding the scope of

its military activities beyond the Italian-Austrian Front.

h. 29 Aug 16. Germany's entire economy is placed under the Hindenburg

Plan allowing the military to exercise dictatorial-style powers to control the labor

force, munitions production, food distribution and most aspects of daily life.

i. 1 Sep 16. Romania is invaded by the newly formed Danube Army,

consisting of Germans, Turks and Bulgarians under the command of German

General August von Mackensen. This marks the start of a multi-pronged invasion

of Romania in response to its aggression against Austria-Hungary.

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j. 15 Sep 16. The first-ever appearance of tanks on a battlefield occurs as

British troops renew the Somme offensive and attack German positions along a

five-mile front, advancing 2,000 yards with tank support. The British-developed

tanks feature two small side-cannons and four machine-guns, operated by an

eight-man crew. As the infantry advances, individual tanks provide support by

blasting and rolling over the German barbed wire, piercing the frontline defense,

and then roll along the length of the trench, raking the German soldiers with

machine-gun fire.

k. 20 Sep 16. On the Eastern Front, the Brusilov Offensive grinds to a halt.

Since its launch in early June, four Russian armies under the command of General

Alexei Brusilov had swept eastward up to 60 miles deep along a 300-mile front

while capturing 350,000 Austro-Hungarian troops. But by the end of summer, the

Germans brought in 24 divisions from the Western Front and placed the surviving

Austro-Hungarian troops under German command. The Russian attack withered

after the loss of nearly a million men amid insufficient reserves. The humiliating

withdrawal from the hard-won areas wrecks Russian troop morale, fueling

political and social unrest in Russia.

l. 25 Sep 16. British and French troops renew their attacks in the Somme,

capturing several villages north of the Somme River, including Thiepval, where

the British successfully use tanks again. Following these successes, however,

heavy rain turns the entire battlefield to mud, preventing effective maneuvers.

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m. 8 Oct 16. The German Air Force (Luftstreikrafte) is founded as various

aerial fighting groups are merged.

n. 10 Oct 16. Romanian troops return home after being pushed out of

Hungary by two Austro-German armies. The Austro-German 9th Army then

invades Romania and heads toward Bucharest.

o. 24 Oct 16. At Verdun, the French under General Robert Nivelle, begin an

ambitious offensive designed to end the German threat there by targeting Fort

Douaumont and other German-occupied sites on the east bank of the Meuse River.

The attack is preceded by the heaviest artillery bombardment to-date by the

French. Additionally, French infantry use an effective new tactic in which they

slowly advance in stages, step-by-step behind encroaching waves of artillery fire.

Using this creeping barrage tactic, they seize Fort Douaumont, then take Fort

Vaux further east, nine days later.

p. 13 Nov 16 . British troops stage a surprise attack and capture the towns of

Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt at the northern end of the Somme Front.

q. 18 Nov 16. The Battle of the Somme ends upon the first snowfall as the

British and French decide to cease the offensive. By now, the Germans have been

pushed back just a few miles along the entire 15-mile front, but the major

breakthrough the Allies had planned never occurred. Both sides each suffered over

600,000 casualties during the five-month battle.

7. Allied Forces’ Preparation Before 1st July 1916. General Joseph Joffre, Commander

of the French had proposed the offensive act at Somme, as a result of German attacking Verdun

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on February 1916. The proposal also including French as a supporting role only due to being

attacked by large scale by the Germans before.

8. British’s 3rd Army, in March 1916 have been relieved by the 4 th Army on the Somme

River, in vicinity of Fonquevillers and Maricourt. As the offensive plan developing near Seree

on the left side and Maricourt on the right side, British troops slowly replenishing the trenches as

well as digging up the new ones in order to fulfill the operation mission, which happened on

April till June 1916.

9. At Gommercourt, the 3rd Army of British forces have deployed two infantry division as

subsidiary attack together with main forces towards the German front stationed there. While on

German side, five division were in standby to defend the area while another four divisions acted

as reserves.

10. From April to June at the same year, Allied forces have prepared heavily complete with

artilleries, troops, equipment and miscellaneous items necessary for the battle, which they

expected to be large scale offensive operation against the Central Power, mainly German forces

which was defending on the other side.

11. As preparation for the battle, British forces have commenced various training with its

troops in order to anticipate the unexpected. Together with reconnaissance by air and land, plus

capturing prisoners of war, they did whatever they can to prepare themselves before the assault

begin

12. The British Army also did some aerial bombards so that the Centrals will not have

enough time to ready themselves for the war. Collecting information from the prisoners and

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locals nearby were also conducted as the information gathered were useful for them, such as the

strength of the enemies, the assets used and many more.

13. Mines deployment plan turned into done to put eight massive and eleven small

mines below key German positions as a part of the guidance for the massive – scale offensive

operation in opposition to the German Front Line at north of the Somme River. The plan turned

into to break strongpoints or salient to behavior a a success and formidable frontal assault. The

British Army plan to creating gaps withinside the German line, difficult the German via way of

means of wonder of the immerse explosion and knock out their defenders at strategic places.

13. The artillery hearthplace plan became for an extended of bombardment, and the

hearthplace charges had now no longer been accomplished earlier than in this battlefront. Wear

Down the morale and nerves of the German defenders, reduce thru the German

barbed twine defenses, wreck German Front Line trenches, and disrupt

rear deliver routes became their fundamental motive of the bombardment.

14. Over 1400 hundred heavy weapons and area weapons, over a hundred French area

weapons and howitzers, plus over three hundred trench mortars are been deployed with the aid of

using the British Forth Army for this bombardment. The universal preparatory artillery

bombardment lasting for seven days in general beginning from 24 June to 1 July 1916. It turned

into a brand-new achievement of seven-day artillery preparatory bombardment in current conflict

for such massive scale.

15. During the preparatory bombardment, very last guidance of training and making plans

have been made via way of means of the British infantry. Captured prisoners are confirming

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which German devices have been retaining the road, that been performed from raids and patrols.

From the record presents that the cord being cuts via way of means of the artillery bombardment

have been various and at instances conflicting. From those reports, the cords were higher

reduced at the proper of the Forth Army in the front, which at the south of the Albert – Bapaume

road, and at the front north of Albert – Bapaume road.

16. Messages of encouragement had been dispatched to the guys through their commanders

on 30 June. Padres and chaplains held discipline offerings withinside the rear areas. Parades with

bands playingheld for a few units. All the assets and items are also checked and cleaned.

17. Thousands of British troops made their moves among 0200 hours and 0512 hours alongside

the pre – organized routes to the ahead lines to prepare and in role for Zero Hour at 0730 on 1

July 1916.

18. Kitchener’s Army. In 1914, Field Marshall Horatio Herbert Kitchener’s, Secretary of

State for War, became anticipated that the battle could be withinside the long-time period fight.

To maintain that fight, he then organised a huge recruitment reserve military for the British

referred to as a Kitchener’s Army. This recruitment blanketed Pals Battalion made up of men

which have been friends, family, and workmates from the identical communities. The

recruitment is set to have 100,000 reserve military and this new recruitment became given a

schooling to sustain and survive in the battlefield.

19. In 1916, the Kitchener’s Army was first time deployed in the course of the Battle of

Somme. During that point of war, Kitchener’s guys get a big hearthplace from opponent. There

are greater they could do in place of maintain their head down and pouring hearthplace into the
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oncoming rank of squaddies. Stumbling ahead over no man’s land, squaddies could be driven

right into a maelstrom of device gun hearthplace, counter bombardment and the damaged

panorama of the current battlefield. Overhead, become the bombardment that become meant to

guard the attackers, a shifting curtain of shellfire that could try to clean the trenches in the front

of the dwelling wave of guys.

20. Central Power’s Response Towards Allied Deployment at Somme. The assault at

the Somme in reality were predicted by the German. This is stated through the Erich Von

Falkenhayn, the Chief of the German General Staff and the de facto commander-in-leader of the

German troops. The evaluation was made after German released an attack of the French citadel

at Battle of Verdun which pressure the French authorities for the peace negotiations. The

German additionally determine that British will release an offensive in the direction of German

primarily based totally at the strain ally. Based at the British forces' overall performance in

preceding offensive, the German fashionably believed that the following British offensive might

be at identical and might effortlessly be conquered.

21. German had fought at this space since 1870 and that they conjointly had created a special

study on this ground within the military lecturers before the war. They also had 2 years of their

time before the key allied attacks that is sufficient to designing and prepare positions. The

position of the German army at the upper ground which is provide smart observations across the

Somme valley. At the defense position, German had created tunnel at a lower place the village

for the quilt and concealment. The tunnels are connected to the robust points, dugouts, and

machine gun for the bloody crossfire on any advancing infantry. German conjointly dug the

trenches regarding five hundred miles on either facet of the stream of Somme that is provide

smart advantage to them to defend their battlefront within the area.

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22. As Winston Churchill wrote later, "The doctrines of the French and British commanders

had decided on because the factor for the offensive to became what of certainly the most

powerful and maximum flawlessly defended function withinside the world". On the 24 Jun 1916,

British had released the huge artillery toward the German defenses and prompted the Germans

remarkably few casualties. 2,478 killed and 4,478 wounded as properly preliminary

bombardment through the British. The British General, Douglas Haig expected that German

protective can be closely broke and anticipated to stroll into German trenches through trenches.

However, the huge British artillery handiest damages the floor of the German defenses.

23. On 1 Jul 1916, that's the 8th day of the battle begin, approximately 55,000 of the allied

attack troops had superior closer to the German defenses. The motion of superior changed into

genuinely recognized via way of means of German on wireless messages interception which was

4 hours earlier than the advancement being deployed. In different words, German already make

coaching and geared up to welcome the attack troop of the allied. There is set 19,000 of the

allied attack troop had been killed for the duration of the advancement which was the worst

withinside the records of British Army and the surviving attackers are pressured returned to their

beginning points.

24. Weaponry And Vehicle Used By Both Sides To Achieve Firepower And
Advancement. The battle in No Man’s Land between the French, British and Commonwealth
forces to attack Germany was the bloodiest clash in history. A fierce battle ensued as both armies
managed to break the bloody Somme deadlock by using some nice weapons namely Rifles,
Machine Guns, Hand Grenades, The Flamethrower and Artillery.
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25. Rifle. The most commonly used weapon for infantry, including during the battle of the
Somme, was a rifle. For the English the weapon referred to the .303in Short Magazine Lee
Enfield (SMLE) commonly used in every battle. Gew 98 Mauser type guns commonly used A
large number of German infantries would be armed with rifles were very precise target personal
weapons at the time. For the French, every battle usually rifle of choice was Level 1886 and
Berthier 1907.

26. Machine Gun. As British and French troops advanced toward the German
trenches by crossing the No Man's Land, one of the most effective weapons to inflict casualties
and deaths was machine guns killing infantry on the open battlefield. In defending ditches and
fieldwork, MG 08 and MG 08/15 were very important during battle and caused heavy casualties
on advanced French and British forces. Britain's counterpart for this terrifying weapon was
Lewis Gun, arguably one of World War I's best machine guns, while France relied on LMG
Chauchat.

27. On 1st July, the British launched a massive offensive against German forces in the French
Somme River region. In the previous week, 250,000 allied bullets had toppled the German
position near the Somme, and 100,000 British troops flowed out of their trenches and entered the
uninhabited land on 1 July, hoping to find a way for them. However, a number of German heavy
rifles survived the artillery attack, and the infantry was killed. At the end of the day, 20,000
British soldiers were killed and 40,000 wounded. This was the worst day of sacrifice in British
military history.

28. Hand grenade. Throughout World War I British, French and German forces all
had grenades which because they were considered the main weapons to win the war against the
trenches. The ability of grenades in cleaning the army inside the trenches is very effective. It
became the fear of the opponents who were in a defensive position inside the trenches. Each
country continues to progress with the development of grenades, various fuse lengths are factors

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that are emphasized, percussion explosions and different shapes according to combat conditions
when in use. In battle Somme grenades will be used when attacking ditches and also when
defending themselves from attackers.

29. The Flamethrower. One of the scariest weapons used in the battle of the Somme was
the firearm. The weapon proved successful for Germany at the beginning of the war, and by
1916 it had become an integral part of the German armory. However, the Somme was the most
effective firearm in British hands. Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector is a static fire
extinguisher used to fire shots into German trenches at a distance of almost 100m, bridging long
trench lines that were easily occupied by British troops.

30. Artillery. The development of the use of artillery fire until the battle of the Somme
saw the German trenches undergo a week-long bombing, with French and British weapons
hoping to destroy the German defenses and destroy their spirits. On July 1 when the attack was
launched, the attack was used to support British and French troops, while the Germans sent
bullets that hit No Man's Land to cause as many casualties as possible.

31. Tanks. Tanks were first used in battle on 15 September 1916, in the final stages of the
Somme attack, in the battle of Flers-Courcelette. There were a small number of machines and
after several machines were damaged or lost, probably 27 reached the German front line. A
number of these tanks were quite successful in attacking the German trenches to show that such
discoveries could break the deadlock of the trench war. During the Battle of the Somme, the
British launched a major offensive against Germany, using tanks for the first time in history.

32. After the initial disaster, Haig retreated to smaller but ineffective progress, and more than
1,000 Allied lives were extinguished for every 100 yards acquired by Germany. Even the British
warship launched on September 15 for the first time in history failed to break the deadlock in the
Battle of the Somme. In October, heavy rains turned the battlefield into a sea of mud, and on
November 18 Haig stopped the Somme attack after more than four months of mass slaughter.

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33. The concept of a tank came from the development of agricultural motors that would pass

hard terrain without problems through the usage of caterpillar tracks. However, the British army

hierarchy became ruled through officials from numerous current cavalry regiments. At the start

of the First World War, the primary engagement among the British and the Germans had worried

cavalry close to Mons. This appears to emphasize the significance of the regiment. However, the

trenches battle has made using cavalry useless. Equestrian engagement released withinside the

dust proved to be very costly and from an army standpoint, there has been no hope. Despite this

clean statement, senior army commanders are adverse to using armored motors, as they'll oppose

using cavalry within side the field.

34. War of Attrition. Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting

of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through

continuous losses in personnel and material. The war will usually be won by the side with greater

such resources.

35. This situation happen in the Somme war which was proved by words from Crown Prince

Rupprecht of Bavaria, "What remained of the old first-class peace-trained German infantry had

been expended on the battlefield".[2] A war of attrition was a logical strategy for Germany against

British and the same time war between France and Russia. A school of thought holds that the

Battle of the Somme placed unprecedented strain on the German army and that after the battle it

was unable to replace casualties like-for-like, which reduced it to a militia.

36. Other British and French forces had more success to the south, these gains were limited

compared to the devastating losses sustained on that first day of battle but Douglas Haig was

determined to press on with the offensive and over the British launched a series of smaller

attacks on the German line the next two weeks, forcing them to divert some weapons and

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soldiers from Verdun and putting increasing pressure on the Germans that called Battle of

Albert.

37. British troops launched another artillery barrage followed by a massive attack, this time

on Bazentin Ridge, in the northern part of the Somme that called Battle of Bazentin Ridge with

duration 3 day from 14 until 17 July 1916. This battle took the Germans by surprise and the

British were able to advance some 5.5 km into enemy territory and occupying the village of

Longueval. This advance continued to come at the expense of heavy casualties with the British

and French more than 200,000 and the Germans losing 160,000 soldiers by the end of July. [4]

38. The attrition war continued momentum with few battles like Battle of Pozières that

occurred between 23 July until 7 Aug 1916. This battle began with the 1st Australian Division

(Australian Imperial Force) of the Reserve Army capture of the village. The British success in

battle only on 22 and 23 July when a general attack combined with the French further south then

become degenerated into a series of separate attacks due to communication failures, supply

failures and poor weather.[5] Another factor that battle cannot achieve target because German

bombardments and counter-attacks began on 23 July and continued until 7 Aug. The strategic

objective of a breakthrough was not achieved but this battle won by British when the fighting

ended with the Reserve Army taking the plateau north and east of the village, overlooking the

fortified village of Thiepval from the rear.

39. The end of Aug, with German morale running low due to lost ground both on the Somme

and Verdun, Germany’s General Erich von Falkenhayn was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg

and Erich Ludendorff. The command change marked a change in German strategy. They would

build a new defensive line behind the Somme front, conceding territory but allowing them to

inflict even more casualties on the advancing Allied troops.

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40. This situation fully manipulated by British during to winning this attrition war. British

was make moved by few battles to putting increasing pressure on the Germans and forcing them

retreated in third phase of war which is from Sep to Nov 1916. The battle that give most impact

for German is Battle of Flers–Courcelette which third and final general offensive mounted by the

British Army. This battle started on 15 Sep 1916 by attacked an intermediate line and the

German third line to take Morval, Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt. This battle was combined with a

French attack on Frégicourt and Rancourt to encircle Combles and a supporting attack on the

south bank of the Somme. The strategic objective of a breakthrough was not achieved but the

tactical gains were considerable, the front line being advanced by 2,500 to 3,500 yards (2.3 to

3.2 km) and many casualties were inflicted on the German defenders. The battle was the debut of

the New Zealand Division, the Canadian Corps and tanks of the Heavy Branch of the Machine

Gun Corps on the Somme. [7]

RECOMMENDATION

41. The principle of war is the main part to be considered before our forces or commanders

take place in any battle, but several principles must put on very high weightage to achieve victory.

Besides the commander must plan deliberately according to intelligence information and

simultaneously think about the principles of war that can be applied.

42. In this battle, there were 10 principles of war that have been applied and used as guidance

by both the forces. With the application of these principles, commanders from both sides were

able to plan their tactics and techniques in executing each phase of the war effectively. This

paper will be focusing specifically on 5 of the major principles applied which are:

a. Maintenances of Morale.

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Since most of the men who involved in the battle were volunteers, British had established

the Pal Battalions which was good in theory. Battalions within a regiment would be made

up of men with the same town, village or workplace. They have trained and worked

together as well as fight together. Most of this people were unprepared and joined for the

sake of the pay which twice of what workers got in mill or factory. At first, the honest

patriotism was also seen as element that drive the morale of the soldiers. In addition to

poor planning, these young soldiers paid with their lives for lack of training and inferior

weapons.

16. On the other hand, this war was a tragedy because so many men were killed

needlessly due to poor planning of the British. The backbone of the army were the

veteran non commission officers who greatly suffered by the previous battles they have

gone though. Moreover, majority were also newly recruited soldier who lacked of

experience in term of tactical. The important tragedy which had become one of the

significant made the soldier’s moral at the lowest was during the attack at ‘no man land’.

During this point of time, at the first day of the attack, 20,000 British soldier has been

killed and another 40, 000 wounded at the land by midst of machine gun storm caused by

surprise attack launched by Germany in the trenches. For the newly recruited young

soldiers, this event was a nightmare and thus decrease the moral to fight the other party.

17. Nearing the end of the war people started to lose confidence in the generals and

particularly General Haig. Most of all the troops had lost all respect for the generals and

confidence in them, at the start of the war people were raring to fight for 'king & country,'

but by the end of the war the soldiers could not care less. Their own battalion shot many

of their men for 'cowardice.' The troops had lost belief in the generals leading them to

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victory in the war. The conditions that led to physical stress also had other effects on the

soldiers these were psychological effects.

b. Offensive Action.

c. The attack took place on 1 Jul 16. For a week before that, a huge bombardment of

German positions had been going on. Most of the British troops expected the

German defences to be badly damaged, but it is a myth that they were told that the

Germans would simply surrender. General Haig underestimated the strength of

the German defences and his changes to the plan weakened the impact of the

bombardment.

d. Another problem was that about 30 percent of the 1.7 million shells fired by the

British did not went off. The attacking British troops met extremely strong

artillery and machinegun fire from the German defenders. There were some

important successes at the southern end of the attacking line, but the troops at the

northern end suffered huge casualties. Around 20,000 were killed and around

40,000 wounded.

e. Selection and Maintenance of Aim. General Sir Henry Rawlinson's original plan

of attack was simple. He intended to hit the front line of German defences with intense

artillery bombardments to destroy German positions and kill large numbers of troops.

The idea was to wear down the Germans in a war of attrition. The main weapon would be

the artillery bombardment, but there would also be small-scale raids and attacks by

British forces. Haig was sure that the Germans would crumble and he wanted

Rawlinson's plan to allow for this possibility. If this took place, then British forces could

achieve the long awaited breakthrough. Cavalry could get behind the German defences,

attack the Germans in the open and disrupt the road and rail links that kept the German

troops supplied and reinforced.

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This change in plan caused problems because it meant the artillery bombardment

was spread over a wider range of German defences and so did less damage than General

Sir Henry Rawlinson hoped. It also meant that the attacking infantry were more spread

out than General Sir Henry Rawlinson planned. This was a problem because they were

inexperienced troops and there were few experienced officers. The commanders were

concerned that there would be chaos if soldiers charged forward and lost contact with

their officers. This was the main reason why orders were given to walk towards the

enemy positions. As history now shows, these tactics were disastrous and the senior

commanders contributed to the huge death toll during the attack. However, it is important

to remember that General Sir Douglas Haig issued those orders because he felt he had

little choice. Units with experienced officers usually adapted the tactics and suffered

fewer casualties than units with inexperienced officers.

f. Cooperation. Cooperation and collaboration between different arms of the armed

forces. Infantry and arty work together to create ‘creeping barrage’ based on recce by the

Royal Flying Corps. The idea behind creeping barrage wall of bursting shells would

cease regularly at predetermined distance every few minutes in order to allow the assaults

troop to change forward. This would be repeated in follow of phases as the infantry

gained specified objectives. The command and control was critical to the success of the

creeping barrage.

g. A large number of artillery ammunition dumps had to be created. The largest

were at or near the railheads, where boxed ammunition was offloaded from the incoming

trains. Here the ammunition passed from Lines of Communication (GHQ) “ownership”

to that of the Army. Dumps were in the open. “Corduroy Roads” made of timber were

laid to allow the horsed transport to access the dumps. A total of eight days rations were

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accumulated between the Divisional dumps and the forward troops, and maintained at

that level. Each Division created a number of forward dumps for bombs, small arms

ammunition and the 1001 other supplies needed to maintain troops in the battle.

CONCLUSION

21. At the end of the battle, British and French forces had penetrated six miles (9.7 km) into

German-occupied territory during the Battle of Somme. Even though it showed that British won

the battle because of this territorial gain, it was only achieved at a very high cost, with he lost of

thousands of soldiers. The aims were not met in the battle of the Somme and by the end of the

war both sides had suffered the same and made it as an all-round 'tragedy' not just military.  The

main reason of this failure because most of the British Army had been an inexperienced and

patchily trained mass of volunteers. However, the British survivors of the battle had gained

experience and the BEF learned how to conduct the mass industrial warfare, which the

continental armies had been fighting since 1914. Later on, it had begun the war with trained

armies of regulars and reservists, which were wasting assets.  However, the battle is notable for

the importance of air power and the first use of the tank. The poor planning and the generals who

were too egoistic by underestimated the opponent he battles remains controversial over its

necessity, significance, and effect. The tragic even on the first can be avoided if Gen Haig did

not underestimate the German’s defence line and asked his soldier to walk to no man’s zone in

not tactical manner. Twentieth-century war as we know it simply did not exist before the battle:

new technologies like the armoured tank made their debut. Chaos in the battle zone, limited

Allied logistical capacity, and the fighting power of a German army at the height of its

effectiveness limited the offensive’s results. It demonstrates the battle was fought with a

coherent strategic and operational plan. The Allied strategy came closer to breaking German

resistance despite the British forces' inexperience and the inflexibility of its methods.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites:

1. http://www.greatwar.co.uk/battles/somme-1916/prelude/somme-prelude.htm

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14. Philpott, W, P. (2011). Three Armies in the Somme. Vintage Publishing. London.

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