Origins of the Somme Plan
At the end of 1915, Entente Power commanders led by Joffre gathered to discuss the course of the war. Joffre looked at the attacks already made and concluded that only bad weather and a shortage of munitions had caused the failures, and he believed that using the same tactics again, only on a greater scale, would end the war. Joffre planned to use French troops and Britain’s new army in the Somme river valley, a previously quiet region along the front. The British commander, Haig, wanted the British to attack in Flanders, where German defences were weaker, but Joffre preferred the Somme where British and French forces met. He was adamant. Had Flanders been targeted now, instead in the battle of Third Ypres after a year of German counter-preparations, it might have fared better.The Somme wasn’t the obvious place to attack. Indeed, as one classic account of the battle explains “if the German command had been able to choose a single stretch of their five hundred mile front on which to beat off an Allied offensive, they would have chosen to meet it on the Somme where their line was virtually impregnable.” (Macdonald, Somme, p. 12).
As the French suffered a German onslaught at Verdun, the planned majority of French troops fell in number to just a small minority: the British and their imperial forces would do the work on the Somme. Planning took place in great detail, and troops and munitions were massed, with new railways and roads put in especially. However, with Joffre distracted at Verdun, the strategic purpose of the Somme offensive was turned simply into one of attrition: ‘wear out’ the German army. Tactical considerations took over: seize Thiepval ridge, take Bapaume and push on. Despite everything, the British commander, Haig, still believed that the Somme would offer a major breakthrough.
The Tactical Plan
The key to the Somme offensive was to be guns. 1,300 artillery pieces were allocated to the fifteen mile wide attack, and the British planned such a massive bombardment that the German defences would be smashed away after the ten day aerial attack. But they were wrong, and huge amounts of shrapnel were fired to cut wire, instead of high explosive which was better with shrapnel and the only thing to crush trenches, and this thus had little effect on the defences (even, in many places, the wire). In addition, while Haig knew he would need a lot of artillery to have success – a thought born out in 1918 – he had his resources spread out so much they were ineffective.The infantry part of the plan came next, and it was simple: each company of soldiers would climb out of their trenches and ‘over the top’ at 7:30am, form a line with a few feet between each man, and go four lines deep, and then walk towards the German defences, through the destroyed barb wire and into the devastated German trenches. The following lines would move forward to the next trenches, and on to victory. These basic tactics were partly used over fears that the new troops were too inexperienced for complicated tactics. In effect, Haig had failed to learn lessons he could have from 1915.
The First Day of the Somme
On July 1st 1916, the British soldiers got out of their trenches and advanced. The German defences had not been destroyed, and when the bombardment accidentally finished ten minutes early, the Germans moved up out of their shelters and to their guns. As the British walked towards them, a process made difficult by the barbed wire and the craters, the Germans used machine guns and rifles to fire back, as well as artillery aimed into No Mans Lands. On the first day, mostly in the first half an hour, 20,000 British soldiers were killed and 40,000 injured, some maimed severely; this was forty per cent of the attacking force. It would have been worse, but commanders at the front realised what was happening and called this off. Only a few reached their initial targets, and were counter attacked with little support, if not shelled. The first day of the Somme stands out as the worst day of combat for any army in World War One, and for the British ever.The Somme Continues
The British high command didn’t let this debacle deter them, and seized upon the small successes, reinforcing them. The battle – with repeated bombardments and infantry attacks – lasted a further 139 days, and incurred 600,000 British casualties. There were three further phases: in July-August, small units of troops attacked on local fronts, and met concentrated German fire; they made small gains at huge cost. This included the ordering and cancelling of an attack which, thanks to communications problems, led to the 13th Rifle Brigade first attacking on their own, and having taken German trenches at large cost being ordered to pull out, only to then be destroyed by their own shells fired by gunners unaware of the advance.On September 15th a creeping barrage and tanks were used. While most of the latter suffered mechanical failures, they boosted allied morale and scared the Germans. Troops did take some German defences and advanced the Somme frontline further than before – including Thiepval village and some of the ridge - but not as far as hoped. They also discovered the Germans defences were deeper than expected, but high command concluded the Germans were faltering. In October to November, there were repeated British attacks against these deeper German defences. They had some limited ‘successes’. By now the British had introduced Anzac troops, as well as Canadians and South Africans. The battle ended with winter, and the front line had only advanced a few miles. The Germans suffered almost as many casualties as they counter attacked any British successes.
The Somme has been called a failure and a success. Critics point to the tiny fragment of land captured and the lack of any breakthrough for such huge a cost. Supporters point out the Somme played a massive part in the ‘wearing out’ of the German army which caused them to collapse in 1918. The German army was damaged in the attack, and became desperate to avoid another Somme.
