Battle Of The Somme Essay

the allies attacked the Germans with 75,000 soldiers, more than 500 tanks and nearly 2,000 planes. In this attack Henry Rawlinson took 11 divisions. ( 3 British, 4 Canadian, and 4 Australian). Germany was not well prepared for this war they had 37,000 soldiers, 530 guns, and 369 planes. The weather didn’t help them because on that day it was foggy but it did help the Allies because it helped them cover up what they were doing. Rawlinson wanted to make the attack a surprise attack and to accomplish this he use wireless deception which included periods of radio silance and fake messages from the other part of the line. Rawlinson had a goal of achieving 8 mile advance in the first day. So to no surprise the troops and tanks advanced 8 miles in the first day, capturing 400 guns, causing 27,000 casualties, and taking 12,000 prisoners. In the first day the Allies Forces advanced 100 metres every 3 minutes. During the war heavy tanks were used to attack well defended german positions while smaller tanks called “Whippets” where used to probe german

Haig expected a breakthrough of up to seven miles from the start line. Rawlinson believed they would take a “bite” into the German trenches to be followed by more little bites to gain territory. Both generals were proven wrong on their expectations, but Rawlinson’s was the more realistic objective. The artillery plan was that the field guns would destroy the German barbed wire in front of the trenches and the heavy guns were to attack the enemy’s artillery and trenches. The artillery was to be the key to the offensive.

This was to be a joint operation between British, French and American forces. Though it was not the actual boundaries, the Meuse River and the Argonne Forrest restricted much of the U.S. 1st Army’s maneuverability between them. This area was comprised of a very dense and thick vegetation with few roads for heavy equipment and supplies to flow forth once the offensive began; therefore this was to be used to the Allied Powers advantage. The Germans would be attacked all along the front from British, French, and American forces simultaneously.

In 1916, the battle of the Somme began, intending to end the war for the allies. It pitted an unexperienced British army, against a professional German one. It was also, however significant in many ways. Two of the main areas where the battle of the Somme was significant were in its military value, and the reactions it caused, on the home front.

The offensive was planned on a strict time table, as Haig did not trust those who were considered volunteer soldiers. This quote demonstrates Haig’s disdain towards those who did not have significant military training, ““He tended to disdain and to suspect the motives of people who could not properly govern themselves.” (Johnson). As a result of his dislike towards the volunteer army he designed the offensive so

The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front by Peter Hart is a narrative describing the battle at the Somme. It begins with a description of the war before for the action and the preparations that took place to prepare for this battle. It progresses quickly then to the opening day, with its goal of breaking through the German lines. The author then discusses the numerous battles that occurred over this four and a half months long battle until the stalemate ending. The author then offers an assessment of this brutal and futile military encounter; one of the bloodiest and deadliest battles of all time.

The planning of the attack was a long hard thinking process to go through. The Americans used tons of tack ticks to keep it a secret and to sneak up on the Germans. They loaded up almost 160,000 soldiers in 5,000 ships and began to make their way to France early morning on June 6th. They had about 2 million tons of supplies including guns, ammunition and grenades. They also had 11,000 planes, 50,000 Vehicles coming over on ships called LST’s. Then they started to plan where they were going to set up around France to start the attack. They were planning the attack on Germany because they wanted north of France. They were also trying to get the

As General Sir John Monash later recalled “There was no flying and no photographing, no definite information of the German re-dispositions, no effective bombardment, and no opportunity of replenishing our ammunition dump”. For the Australians this meant more bloody battles and terrible losses.

Nearing the end of World War II and after the successful D-Day invasion by Allied Forces, Adolf Hitler would personally plan a counteroffensive he believed would turn the tied of the war in his favor and prevent his unconditional surrender. Historically known as the Battle of the Bulge, the Ardennes Counteroffensive, from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, would showcase the power of a full-scale German offensive while highlighting the ingenuity and heart of the United States Army as they encountered a seemingly undefeatable foe.

The Battle of the Bulge stands as the largest battle fought between the Allied and Axis forces on the Western Front during World War II. This battle was a German offensive intended to drive a wedge between the American and British armies in France and the Low Countries and capture the port of Antwerp in the Netherlands to deny the Allies use of the port facilities. The battle also known as the Ardennes Offensive, took place in the Ardennes Forest of Luxembourg and Belgium. The battle waged during the brutal winter months between December 16, 1944, and January 16, 1945.

Source A is written by Haig on 30 June 1916, the day before the attack started. General Haig informs us on the men and the pre battle efforts. This source includes some bias as it was a first person account from Haig’s and we know that Haig’s tries to always hide the truth. This sources credibility and truthfulness is questioned as we know that general Haig had never personally visited the front line and that the barbed wire and never been cut. Also it is hard to believe that the men where in “splendid spirits” and “so instructed and informed of the nature of the operation” as the men were not told of the reality of the battle and that they would be wounded or killed before they could jump over the trench.

Ferdinand Foch a French commander wanted to order the Fourth Army to launch an immediate strike on this point to push the Germans to Somme. Haig put the point that the German position was far too strong to spearhead and proper preparations would have to be planned in order to be applied to defeat this new German position. The old Somme battlefield was unsuited to armoured vehicle warfare, no this would require a heavy artillery bombardment to destroy the wire; the only problem is it would be a while before they could get the artillery to the front line. Haig’s master plan was to launch a new offensive north using the British Third Army and 100 tanks to take on the German Seventeenth Army. Foch had agreed but he withdrew the French First Army, it would launch its own offensive on the same day as this renewed British

On August 7 allied forces begonia moving from their positions, Canadian and British from Canen, moving south and the Americans from Avranches, moving north. German leadership realized that their army was being encircled and that the only route of egress was through the towns of Chambois and Argentan. The German forces fought hard to keep this gap open and evade encirclement, if they could not maintain a possible escape route the only choice would be to fight and die. General Bradley, after studying the map and movements of ground troops noticed a gap that would allow German forces to elude the allied advance. In order to close the gap General Bradley need to act swiftly to prevent the German army form escaping the pocket, he issued orders to General Patton; “strong elements of Patton’s Third Army turned north at Le Mans and moved aggressively toward the city of Alençon, they could link up with the Canadians and British, who were attacking south toward Falaise. This would block all the roads out of Normandy and trap Army Group B”. If General Bradley’s plan would work he saw it as “ a once-in-a-century opportunity

The Royal British Army at the time of the Battle of Somme was 256 years old, and they had plenty of success as an Army. The French Army was 471 years old, and shared in their own success as a military. The success of the Battle of the Somme would lean heavily on artillery support. The British had 1,500 artillery pieces ranging from light artillery 18 pounder guns, to heavy artillery 15 inch howitzers. The French brought an equal amount of artillery to support in the success of the mission. Throughout the Great War the British had great success in using artillery to shape the battlefield, setting the conditions for battle and would do so again in the Battle of Somme.

July 1st, 1916 marks the commencement of a memorable battle in the world’s history: the Battle of the Somme. This eminent battle, as well as its catastrophic first day is referred to as a symbol of the extravagancy and unfortunate outcome of Britain’s First World War. It was originally arranged to relieve the pressure on the French at Verdun. The immense count of casualties and deaths during this battle have totaled to a record of over 1.25 million dead on both sides. Both the Allies and Central Powers experienced great losses as a result of the poor decisions made on behalf of the higher commanders. The relation between the total casualties and ineffective strategies are clearly seen through the outcome of this battle; with a gain of only