Lions Led by Donkeys

The British launched The Battle of the Somme to achieve two objectives. The first and most important goal was to relieve pressure on the French Army at Verdun, and the second was to inflict as heavy a loss as possible on the German Armies. The Battle of the Somme had to be fought to save the French Army from the crucifixion of Verdun. The head of the French Army, General Fock, and some leading British commanders did not believe this battle would help, but political masters in London and Paris supported the campaign. For many years The Battle of the Somme received much criticism for the way the battle was fought based on the number of casualties.

He states, “We americans know that freedom, like peace, is indivisible.We cannot retain our liberty if three-fourths of the world is enslaved”. Therefore, Ickes is credible as an American and is giving credibility to the rest of the American audience. In Ickes’s speech he quotes Hitler which says, “‘The British nation can be counted upon to carry through to victory any struggle that it once enters upon no matter how long such a struggle may last or however great the sacrifices that may be necessary or whatever that means that have to be employed; and all this even though the actual military equipment at hand may be utterly inadequate when compared with that of other nations.’ Do u know who wrote that? Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf. Since Ickes mentioned this quote this means he obviously knows who the enemy is in this situation. He used a quote that used the enemies own words against

The Battle of Fromelles was a horrific battle which didn’t help prevent the Battle of Somme. All the battle had done was make people very scared and worried about the Germans. The people who were majorly effected by this were the French British and Australia. The 5th Australian Division suffered 5,533 casualties, 1,547 61st British Division casualties and little less then 1,000 casualties for the Germans.

Well, to start off with the Battle of Somme was ultimately won by the Germans. This is so because they had the more powerful military. According to documents B and C the Germans won the first day of the Battle. In document C he says “the youth of England bled to death.” Describes machine gunfire. and how “Belt after belt was fired…”. I also think that the German won because the British had started the Battle and whoever starts it usually loses. From the beginning the British did not achieve a breakthrough that penetrated the German lines and, end the war. From my knowledge, the Germans were able to contain the British offensive with locally available reserves, but didn't transfer any troops. Also the British suffered extremely heavy casualties,

The battle of Somme took place during the 1st of July and the 18th of November 1916 in the region Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of Somme. It was during the time of the First World War that Newfoundland was still under the power of the British Empire. Britain declared war on Germany in August of 1914. This was the beginning of Newfoundland's first regiment. There was a great response from Newfoundland with many proud Newfoundlanders ready to serve in the war. There was such a huge demand that from a population of 240,000 that more than 12,000 people joined up for the regiment. When war had been declared an enormous amounts of soldiers were being killed and the rapid progression of military warfare such as tanks, grenades and mines were being introduced promptly in large numbers. In order to end this war, generals came up with the conclusion of making what they called the "Big Push" which was the joining of the British and French troops against enemy Germany. These troops would start the assault at the Somme. This would be the Battle of Somme near Beaumont Hamel that the first Newfoundland Regiment would partake in. On the morning of July 1st thousands of British and French troops marched towards No Man's Land, within half an hour of walking to their destination, the troops were dramatically decreasing in soldiers

     Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Curries was not pleased at the prospect of going to Passchendaele. Currie, like many Canadian soldiers, had grim memories of the Ypres salient, and grim memories to he Ypres salient, and admitted that his “experience in the salient in 1915 and in 1916 were such that I never wanted to see the place again.” Unfortunately, on 3 October, Currie was warned that the Corps might be sent north, to take part in the offensive in Flanders. Currie could make no sense of Passchendaele, and he was furious. “Passchendaele!” he raged in front of his staff. “What’s the good of it? Let the Germans have it--keep it--rot in it! Rot in the mud! There’s a mistake somewhere. it must be a mistake! It isn’t worth a drop of blood.” Although Currie was not at all happy that the Canadians had been told to take Passchendaele. One of Currie’s first moves was to assign intelligence officers to the various headquarters with which the Canadian Corps would be associated: Second Army, II Anzac Corps, which was responsible for the sector the Canadians would be taking over, and its front-line divisions, the New Zealand and 3rd Australian. These officers, and the general staff were to acquire

The Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I began in the fall of 1918. The offensive began in the dawn of 26 September 1918 and concluded on 11 November 1918 after forty-seven days. The massive and bloody offensive pitted the newly formed American Expeditionary Force (AEF) referred to its allies as the “Doughboys” led by General John "Black Jack" Pershing against a heavily fortified German force entrenched between the Meuse River and Argonne Forest located northwest of Verdun in the Alsace-Lorraine region. The battle became the bloodiest and deadliest in the Army’s history. This battle analysis will examine the Meuse-Argonne offensive.

Source one is a primary source with interviews elucidating the strategies undertaken at the Battle of Verdun and the soldier’s perplexing encounters of war. The perspective of this source varies with differing speakers with the first is that of the narrator, describing the history of of the German armies, with mention of Allied responses, giving it the main perspective that of a German history. Due to the first perspective not having a name identified, it therefore reduces the reliability. German solider Ernst Weckerling is that of the second perspective, reiterating his duties and events during his time in Verdun. The final perspective is that of Marcel Batreau, and is analogous to Weckerling’s perspective, with Batreau, a French soldier, telling his version of events during the battle.

Even though both Document 15 and 16 are soldiers describing the Battle of Somme, they both have different views on how they were being treated. For example, in Document 15 Christian Carver states, “Presently one saw great clouds of gas sweeping across and I must say I felt we were looking into hell indeed.” This is a clear description of how the soldiers in the Battle of Somme were being treated. However, not all the soldiers saw it that way. In Document 16, Karl Gorzel had more of a less dramatic view of the Battle. He states, “Anyone who reaches our line is at once polished off in a hand-to-hand bayonet fight, and now our bombs fly with redoubled force into the enemy’s ranks.” This quote seemed like he was the one who was doing the killing where in Document 15 Carver describes the Battle as if he was the one being shot

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 British went into the Somme with a mixed attack plan, which led to an unsuccessful first assault resulting in a battle of attrition. The opening day of The Battle of the Somme resulted in near 60,000 casualties for the British, the largest in British military history for a single day. Originally the Somme was supposed to be a French dominated offensive, however the Germans attacked to the South in Verdun occupying the majority of French troops. The British were then thrust into control of the offensive, leaving Sir Douglas Haig and General Rawlinson to arrange an offensive strike against the Germans. Haig advocated for the use of infantry including foot soldiers as well as cavalry to lead the offensive. Rawlinson countered with a bite and hold strategy, which involved fortifying a strong defense and warding off German counter attacks. Rather than committing to one strategy, the two were combined in order to create a week-long bombardment followed by an offensive attack on foot.

If a general can be trusted and is part of the team, Soldiers will have more confidence in challenging moments. As all troops believes on a leader’s intent, the collective trust will be stronger within the Soldiers. This was reflected when BG Gavin’s Soldiers did not like the idea of withdrawing from the

Having proposed that military history has been failing in its duty, Keegan then continues to demonstrate how it should be done. The battles of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme are the main interests of the book; these battles took place centuries apart and all involved British armies. He examines, in detail, which aspects of war changed or remain constant between the three battles. Keegan brilliantly and

Source 3 is a valid source as it is a newspaper front page that comes from the time of the Battle and offers the British perspective of the Battle. Once again this source draws

The battle of the Somme was the battle fought in World War 1. The battle of the Somme began when the French army required help from the British army to help fight the battle, Battle of Verdun, against the Germans. Britain went to the River Somme which distracted Germany so the German army divided in order to fight the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun at the same time. The battle of the Somme was fought by the British Empire against the German Empire. The British Empire was led by General Douglas Haig. General Douglas Haig was the senior officer and he led the western front from the late 1915 until the end of the war. General Douglas Haig served as the commander of the British Army for 3 years (1918-1921). Sadly 10 years after the war Haig passed away. The phrase ‘butcher of the Somme’ was given to General Douglas Haig. The phrase is given to General Douglas Haig as many people believe that he was responsible for the deaths of many innocent soldiers. The phrase ‘butcher of the Somme’ means how many soldiers died during the battle of the Somme due to the tactics General Douglas Haig used. Is General Douglas Haig a hero or butcher?