The Battle of the Somme: A Layman’s Guide.

Scott Addington

For many people The Battle of the Somme is synonymous with military blundering and unnecessary slaughter.

Picture: IWM Q65442

It is true that the first day of the battle is still the blackest moment in British military history…

… but the battle was more than just one day.

And the story starts way before July 1st 1916.

1914

Field Marshall Earl Kitchener of Khartoum became Minister of War on 5th August 1914 and immediately put together plans to

expand the British Army.

He did not think the war would be over by Christmas. Instead he foresaw a long drawn out conflict that would require many more

men than the BEF currently had.

Kitchener didn’t want to rely on the Territorial Army for the expansion because they could opt-out and avoid overseas service.

Shoulder badge of the 10th Btn. Royal Scots. Territorial Army

Instead he went about building an army of volunteers. The ‘Call to Arms’ went out and the country listened…

… two weeks later 100,000 men had joined up. Kitchener had his first Army: K1.

To help the recruitment effort men were encouraged to join up with friends and work colleagues into what

became known as ‘Pals’ Battalions.

By the end of Sept 1914 over 50 towns had formed one or more Pals Battalions. K2 was born.

By March 1915 enough men had volunteered to make five new Armies and a sixth was well on its way.

Almost 600,000 men had answered Kitchener’s call in 6 months.A quite remarkable achievement.

Over the following months the issues of training and equipping these new recruits were slowly solved…

… and by the beginning of 1916 the Kitchener’s men were itching to give ‘The Hun’ a good kicking.

It had long been decided that the main Allied assault on the Western Front in 1916 would be in the Somme region.

It was originally planned to be a French assault with British support.

The objective was simple: To smash the German Army and deplete their reserves of men and equipment.

As it was going to be their show, it was France who decided to attack across the Somme region.

Haig didn’t agree. He preferred an attack in the north of Belgium, but was forced to agree with his French friends.

Eventually it was all agreed. The ‘Big Push’ was penciled in for August 1916.

Germany however ruined all of that planning when they decided to attack Verdun at the beginning of 1916.

Suddenly it was France on the receiving end of a beating.

It quickly became apparent that France was going to struggle to lead any kind of major offensive in the summer.

In fact, it was touch and go as to whether they would survive at all.

France needed help. Fast.

The ‘Big Push’ was now going to be a large scale British diversionary attack to relieve the pressure on Verdun.

Also, instead of being August, it was moved forward to 1st July.

1st July 1916

Haig’s plan was simple...

Use more guns than have ever been used before…

… to fire more shells than have ever been fired before…

… for longer than had ever been done before.

The German defenses would stand no chance. They would be totally smashed to pieces.

Once the artillery had done their worst, the infantry (750,000 men, many from Kitchener’s Armies)

would advance and consolidate.

The British guns smashed the German lines for 8 days prior to the infantry advance.

However, due to a mixture of poor quality ammunition and world class German defenses the bombardment failed.

German wire was not destroyed, their defences were still intact and morale was not broken.

2 minutes before ‘Zero’ several huge mines were detonated underneath the German lines.

However, when the British infantry advanced the German machine gunners were ready and waiting.

The advancing infantry were either cut down in No Man’s Land or forced back to their own lines.

Any success was isolated and temporary.

The result was carnage.The British Army suffered 57,470 casualties that day.

A third of that number were killed.

It still stands as the blackest day in the history of the British Army.

Despite this, Haig continued to press the offensive over the following days and weeks.

On 11th July the first line of the German defense system was secured.

Soldiers of 11th Btn. Cheshire Regiment occupy a captured German trench. July 1916 (IWM Q3990)

That same day Germany moved significant men from Verdun to the Somme area, doubling the amount of men available.

The fighting continued throughout the summer, each side trying to smash the other into submission, but to no avail.

On 15th September 1916 the British attacked again in the Battle of Flers-Courcellete. It was here that the tank made its operational

debut.

Although the tanks scared the hell out of the Germans, poor reliability and tactics meant these ‘land ships’

failed to make a real impact in the fighting.

The fighting continued until the snow of November forced the suspension of operation. The Allies had gained a slither of tortured

land 8 miles across at its deepest point.

Britain and her Empire lost 419,654 men (wounded and killed) during the Battle of the Somme.

Germany took a beating too, with casualties of around 500,000.

Fricourt German Cemetery. Photo from www.ww1battlefields.co.uk

Germany was also forced to stop attacking Verdun, allowing the French to rest and regroup.

So, even though the tactics of the battle remain controversial, Haig could be forgiven for saying ‘job done’.

This slideshare was inspired by the e-bookWorld War One: A Layman’s Guide

Available on Kindle for less than the price of a cup of coffee.

Amazon.co.ukhttp://tinyurl.com/mksc329

Amazon.comhttp://tinyurl.com/lvbe4d2

Lest we forget.