IGCSE History: World War I – Battle of the Somme

IGCSE History: World War I – Battle of the Somme Battle of the Somme: Launched because: ● Haig believed in the policy of attrition. ● Secretary of state for War Kitchener had launched a highly successful recruiting campaign. Resulting in approximately one million new recruits. In addition to troops from all over the British Empire. ● The Germans had assaulted Verdun and the French needed relief. ● A victory on the Western Front, even if not decisive, could boost morale. ● It may have resulted in a decisive victory for the Allies. ● Weaken the German army and force them to reduce the width of their frontier. ● Possibly gain ground on the Germans. ● Reduce German morale. Some politicians, like Lloyd George, preferred trying to get behind the Germans through the Eastern Front. Others believed that the Battle of the Somme could win them the war. ● Sir William Robertson was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the time. o Sir Douglas Haig was Commander-in-Chief on the Western Front at the time. o Ferdinand Foch was Commander of the French Army at the time. ● They were all criticized, mostly Haig, for their decision to attack the German defenses at the Somme. Somme was chosen because it was where the British forces met the French forces and where the German defense was strongest. First Day of the Somme: (1st July 1916) Figure 1: British and French front line shown in red, German front line shown in blue. German second and third lines shown as dashed blue lines. British and French objectives on the first day are shown as a dashed red line. British divisions are colour-coded: green for regular divisions, yellow for Territorial Force divisions and red for New Army divisions though in most cases the regular and New Army divisions contain a mixture of battalions. 1 500 guns shelled the German lines continuously. This had continued for 7 days prior to the Battle. This did nothing but warn the Germans of impending attack. ● The Germans strengthened their lines. 7:30 am the British soldiers went over the top: ● ● ● ● The German defense was still unexpectedly strong: They thought no one could survive such a barrage. That they would not even need rifles for the attack. 40 000 soldiers were wounded and 20 000 were killed. July – November: ● Haig continued to attack, resulting in 400 000 casualties: ● But because of this pressure was taken off the French at Verdun. ● Tanks were used in September but they failed spectacularly. Beaumont Hamel and Beaucort were captured using the creeping barrage: ● Whereupon the infantry would creep in under artillery fire: ● Where no man’s land was too narrow this could not happen as artillery at the time was very inaccurate. Battle ended due to bad weather. ● The British had achieved what they came to do. During the Somme: ● Soldiers were told they would not need rifles. ● No one could survive such extensive shelling. ● This was what made soldiers unsuspecting of the truth: They were shocked when the German machine guns came to life. ● >100 000 shells were being fired each day at that Battle. ● Extensive shelling cut off supply lines for the Germans. ● 5 large mines were planted beneath the German trenches: Plan: Shells were detonated as the Battle began. Extensive shelling to remove German defenses: ● Such as the barbed wire. ● Then an infantry charge. The shelling failed to remove the barbed wire: ● Only made it more tangled. ● Encouraged the Germans to dig deeper trenches. ● Did little to weaken German defenses. 1st July, 1916: ● 57 000 casualties (Allies), 8 000 casualties (German). ● 19 000 fatalities (Allies). The Battle was shown, uncensored, as a movie to 20 million British citizens: ● Caused support for the war to dwindle. ● The 90th Brigade went from being 800 strong to 400. ● The Allies only advanced 6 miles. They were 4 miles short from their target. The Battle lasted 4 months. 1 million casualties in total: ● 620 000 Allied. 460 000 were British. ● 450 000 German. At the beginning: ● ● ● ● The Allies had prepared thoroughly. They had never had so many artillery shells to shoot before. They used to always have a shortage. This caused troops to have high morale. At the end: The Allies first realized just how long this war could be. ● Kitchener realized well before this and so he started the recruitment campaign. This expectation was one of his reasons for doing that. The soldiers were heavily demoralized. Their tanks had failed: ● 50 originally were made. ● 29 broke down before reaching the front. ● The rest could not overcome the muddy terrain. Progress: Figure 2 : Map of the Somme battlefield, 1916, showing the frontline before the three major offensives of 1 & 14 July and 15 September as well as the final frontline at the end of the battle of 18 November.