Battle of the Somm
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 03/29/2015 05:05 AM
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Brief outline on the Battle of the Somme.
On 1st July 1916, Sir Douglas Haig’s army launched the “Big Push”. This was supposed to end the battle on the Western front, but what happened next was a human catastrophe:
The soldiers scrambling over the top into the face of the German machine gun and artillery fire. Almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed that day alone and twice as many wounded. However, the battle did not stop there, it dragged on for another month.
As Commander in Chief was this mass slaughter Sir Douglas Haigs fault? Haig took over as Commander of the BEF at a point when the British Army had increased, with some thirty eight infantry divisions deployed on the western front. By January 1916 a total of nearly one million men had joined. Haigs real intensions was for him to have victory in 1916, but was well aware it might prove impossible.
1st January 1916: Although the guns had not stopped firing many men noticed the fire had calmed down. The final bombardment was at 0630 and almost every gun in the sector fired. The battle could be heard in England. Sir Douglas Haig believed the bombardment to have been successful, and ordered the soldiers to go over the top onto No Mans Land.
The cost of this was horrendous, the worst disaster ever for The British Army. 57,470 casualties and 19,240 dead. The British Army had failed, the bombardment simply did not do enough. Millions of shells fired, but the total length of the front stretched for nearly three miles.
Bodies were buried near where they fell in action. Once the burial of the dead was as far as possible completed the chaplain could tackle the colossal task of writing to the homes of the men who had fallen, but this was such a huge job that if he was to attempt it all some type of circular letter was the only possible solution, particularly if he was able to add that he had personally buried the mans body.
This shows the true horror of this day:
Some of the blame must go to Sir...
On 1st July 1916, Sir Douglas Haig’s army launched the “Big Push”. This was supposed to end the battle on the Western front, but what happened next was a human catastrophe:
The soldiers scrambling over the top into the face of the German machine gun and artillery fire. Almost 20,000 British soldiers were killed that day alone and twice as many wounded. However, the battle did not stop there, it dragged on for another month.
As Commander in Chief was this mass slaughter Sir Douglas Haigs fault? Haig took over as Commander of the BEF at a point when the British Army had increased, with some thirty eight infantry divisions deployed on the western front. By January 1916 a total of nearly one million men had joined. Haigs real intensions was for him to have victory in 1916, but was well aware it might prove impossible.
1st January 1916: Although the guns had not stopped firing many men noticed the fire had calmed down. The final bombardment was at 0630 and almost every gun in the sector fired. The battle could be heard in England. Sir Douglas Haig believed the bombardment to have been successful, and ordered the soldiers to go over the top onto No Mans Land.
The cost of this was horrendous, the worst disaster ever for The British Army. 57,470 casualties and 19,240 dead. The British Army had failed, the bombardment simply did not do enough. Millions of shells fired, but the total length of the front stretched for nearly three miles.
Bodies were buried near where they fell in action. Once the burial of the dead was as far as possible completed the chaplain could tackle the colossal task of writing to the homes of the men who had fallen, but this was such a huge job that if he was to attempt it all some type of circular letter was the only possible solution, particularly if he was able to add that he had personally buried the mans body.
This shows the true horror of this day:
Some of the blame must go to Sir...