The Battle of Somme Essay

The battle of the Somme, intended to end the war that year, had ambitious objectives, it was significant for failing to achieve almost all of these. One of these was Beaumont Hamel, a fortified village behind the German lines. The Battle plan called for the village to be taken on the first day. The fact that the village was not taken until the very end of the battle on the 13th of November, illustrates how much the plan failed. Demonstrating the level to which the plan failed Private Anthony Stacey reports that this was a death trap for our boys as the enemy just set the sights of their machine guns on the gaps in the barbed wire and fired . Another objective, Serre, was not taken at all. In fact, the British staff were so unaware of modern weapons, that they had cavalry ready to attack after the infantry broke through. This is significant as it shows how inexperienced the British army was when it came to trench warfare. Had the staff understood the trench tactics better, they would not have

Reality quickly set in for the Germans that they were in a stalemate on the Western Front, so they decided to shift many of their fighting forces to the Eastern Front to try and finish off the Russians. This left them with an army along the Western Front that could hold the line, but would have a hard time gaining any ground.

Imagine hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting in blizzard conditions, both sides fighting for their country, The Battle of the Bulge was one of the largest battles of the war and proved to be one of the most important. Some people ask how the Allied forces were able to stop the seemingly unbeatable Nazi war machine, this battle would be the last major offensive by the Third Reich in attempt to change the tides of the Second World War. The Allied forces were about to be a part of the true terrors of war.

Germans were positioned with ground advantage, machine guns, and an open firing range of men.

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.

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

Only to find the artillery was unsuccessful in destroying or even remotely neutralizing the German defenses of barbed wire and concrete bunkers. Leaving the Germans, the advantage of still having the high ground and all their protections. Once the Calvary steps off for their attack, they were left with no option but to fight uphill against the fortified Germans due to their prideful Commanding Officer. The attack resulted in heavy casualties for the British and French, with the British receiving 58,00 causalities and minimum causalities received by the Germans. Making this attack the worst day in history of the British

The most obvious factor in stopping an advance through a line of trenches, are the trenches themselves. These were ditches dug with

A few important accomplishments that were led by the tactics used at the battle of the Somme include the French’s recapture of Fort Faux (Verdun), as well as Canada’s great success at Vimy Ridge. Although the “creeping barrage” technique used at the battle of the Somme failed to success, it inspired and was promoted later, in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in order to attain victory. The victory at Vimy Ridge was notably achieved by 100’000 Canadian soldiers who used the tactics of the creeping barrage of bombs and artillery, preceded by infantry. After the failed attempts of the French and British, Canada’s technique taken from the concept form the Somme was the main reason why they were able to overtake the highland (ridge) from the Germans. Not only did these tactics and overall outcome at the battle lead to the success in WWI, but also helped the British army to learn a lesson based upon their experience on how to fight to avoid such abounding casualties. The higher commanders, especially Douglas Haig made horrible miscalculations—by weighing down their soldiers with 60 pounds of heavy equipment; leaving them apparent and unprotected form the German Offensive. The unfortunate outcome of battle allowed the Allies to learn from their mistakes of Haig’s orders

The Battle of the Somme took place over five months (between July and November of 1916) and the aim of it was to divert the attention of the Germans from Verdun. The first day was disastrous for the British consuming the biggest amount of British soldiers ever recorded in just 24 hours and the statement is probably based upon this. However the British did have a huge turn around.

The French headquarters believing these forts worthless removed most of the artillery pieces and Soldiers to be reassigned to locations that were believed to be a higher priority to the German Army. The largest weapons they left at these forts were 155mm artillery and heavy machine guns to combat the 420mm guns of the Germans located less than ten miles away.3

After seven months of planning at the highest levels, an operation that was to be the crux in Germany’s strategy for invading France rested on the shoulders of a competent but lowly company grade officer, Lieutenant Rudolph Witzig. Thirty-five minutes into the attack, victory was assured. Fort Eben Emael’s guns lay in pieces, it’s men in puddles, and the door to France swung open violently. From an uninformed, superficial level, the storming of Fort Eben Emael may appear to be nothing more than luck, an unrepeatable combination of uncontrollable variables accidentally aligned in the attacker’s favor. After all, the attack featured the untested use of gliders and shape charges, a ten-to-one ratio of

The Battle of The Somme on July 1, 1916 - November 18, 1916 was a decisive battle primarily because the Germans were distracted on the Battle of Somme, which the French took advantage of and Germans failed to take over Paris. Also, if Paris was taken over by the Germans, the result would end in taking over France. With millions and millions of brave soldiers sacrificing their lives, the battle of The Somme was decisive for the future generation and also The French people since Germans failed to take over France and also they did not capture a lot of land (Trueman). This was one of the bloodiest battles ever and a battle like this caught a lot of eyes and also the Germans had to split their army from the battle in Verdun. The Germans had to pay attention in both battles, they could not send all their soldiers to one battle as they would lose the other one. With a million people dead or wounded, this was like a breaking news to all Generals. The death of soldiers made this battle one of the deadliest battles ever. The first day of the war was described this way by British

On April 24th, the Germans released even more chlorine attack this time directed toward us. We didn't know what to do and ran for our lives. We lost lots of trench positions but drove the Germans back.

Haig settled late on a plan with a five day artillery barrage leading to an infantry attack on June 29th. The artillery barrage was designed for the first two days to reduce the Germans wire defenses to create freedom of maneuver for the infantry across the no man's land. The last three days of the barrage would be used to reduce trenches, emplacements, strong points, and artillery pieces, as well as fire smoke and gas canisters to confuse the German forces about their intentions. Even with over 1,500 artillery pieces at his disposal this would not be enough to make enough of an effect on German defenses.