Overview.

The Battle of the Somme was planned as a joint French and British operation. The idea originally came from the French Commander-in-Chief, Joffre. Although Joffre was concerned with territorial gain, his plan was also an attempt to destroy German manpower. General Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the BEF from December 1915, favoured an attack on Flanders which was closer to his lines of supply at the channel ports, but he accepted Joffre’s choice.

At first Joffre intended to use mainly French soldiers but the German attack on Verdun in February 1916 meant that the Somme offensive became a large-scale British diversionary attack. Haig took over responsibility for the operation and came up with his own plan of attack with the help of General Rawlinson. Haig's strategy was for an eight-day preliminary bombardment that he believed would completely destroy the German forward defences.For days thousands of British and French guns, fed round the clock by munition trains, poured 1.6 million shells into German trench lines. However, weeks before scout planes had alerted the Germans to the fact that men and guns were being moved into position, and they had drawn back their troops from the front line, reinforcing their trenches with extensive fortifications. Most of the Germans survived the avalanche of shells in their deep concrete shelters and much of the barbed wire remained in place (particularly in one area where shell fuses had been faulty).

Rawlinson was so certain that there would be no German resistance that he ordered his troops to march forward in parade formation. He believed that running over ground torn by shellfire would disrupt formations and tire the men. In the event, when the British went ‘over the top’ the Germans poured fire on them, and, as many became entangled in the wire, they were massacred. On the first day of the Somme the British lost over 19,000 dead, over 35,000 seriously wounded and 2,000 missing. As the battle progressed the British did capture enemy strongpoints and trenches in some places, but their success was hampered by lack of good communications and the failure to concentrate fire and resources as necessary. Furthermore, in some areas excessive caution meant that successes were not followed through.

The loss of men did not make Haig change his methods. He ordered more attacks with the same tragic results. Against the advice of experts he also sent 50 tanks into battle. 29 broke down before they even reached the battlefield, some got lost, some fired on their own infantry and the rest soon got stuck in the mud.

For four more months Haig refused to accept defeat and continued the slaughter on the Somme. As the weather began to deteriorate Haig finally gave up in November 1916 - the Allies had gained 125 square miles of bloody mud from the Germans at a cost of 600,000 men. The Germans suffered 450,000 casualties.