THE SOMME CAMPAIGN
Read the handout entitled “1916 – Verdun and the Somme”, and watch the video
Great Military Blunders (the excerpt dealing with the failure of the Somme
campaign), then answer the following questions.
1. Why did the Germans launch their offensive at Verdun?
2. What was the result of the Verdun Offensive?
3. What was the aim of the Somme Offensive?
4. What was the purpose of the artillery bombardment at the Somme? How many
shells were fired?
5. List three reasons why the artillery barrage at the Somme failed.
6. How did the failure of the artillery barrage contribute to the disaster of the
Somme Campaign?
7. List three other reasons why the infantry attack failed.
8. How many British soldiers were killed on the first day of the offensive? How
many were wounded?
THE VERDUN AND SOMME CAMPAIGNS
Read the handout entitled “1916 – Verdun and the Somme”, and watch the video
Great Military Blunders (the excerpt dealing with the failure of the Somme
campaign), then answer the following questions.
1. Why did the Germans launch their offensive at Verdun (February 1916)?
General Von Falkenhayn launched the offensive because he knew the British
were planning an attack of their own in 1916, and he wanted to forestall it. He
also expected that pride would oblige the French to defend the town, given its
history and its strategic location (protecting the route to Paris). As such, he
believed Germany would be able to inflict very heavy casualties on the French
Army. Finally, Germany’s hopes of defeating Russia had faded by late 1915,
so Falkenhayn only real option for victory in the war was to achieve a decisive
breakthrough in France.
2. What was the result of the Verdun Offensive?
The result of the Battle of Verdun was that the Germans pushed the French
back, but did not manage to take the town. Even so, French casualties were so
high that the Army’s spirit was effectively broken by the end of 1916.
3. What was the aim of the Somme Offensive (July 1916)?
The aim of the Somme Offensive was to take pressure off Verdun, where the
Germans had mounted a major attack in February 1916. The British and
French realised that if they mounted an offensive of their own, the German
would be forced to move troops and artillery away from Verdun, thereby
blunting the attack. In addition, the Allied commanders hoped that victory at
the Somme would punch a hole in the German lines, allowing the British and
French infantry and cavalry to surge through and win the war.
4. What was the purpose of the artillery bombardment at the Somme? How many
shells were fired?
The aim of the bombardment was to destroy the German trenches and
barbed wire. The Allies had 2,000 guns and fired about one and a half million
shells.
5. List three reasons why the artillery barrage at the Somme failed.
In the first place, the artillery barrage failed because 90 percent of the shells
fired into the German lines were of the wrong type. Shrapnel shells were used
to kill infantry, but far less effective against trenches and barbed wire. To
destroy the latter, high powered explosives were needed. However, during the
‘munitions crisis’ of 1915, the government had been under extreme political
pressure to increase the number of shells being produced, so they opted for the
cheapest type of shell – that containing shrapnel. Many of these shells were
earmarked for the Somme Campaign the following year. During the artillery
barrage, the Germans dug in underground, where they were protected against
the British shrapnel shells.
The second reason the barrage failed was that about 30 percent of the shells
that used were poorly manufactured and failed to explode. The reason for this
was that many of the skilled workers from Britain’s munitions industry either
enlisted or were drafted into the armed forces, and were replaced by unskilled
workers or women. It took these replacements some time to master the skills
of munitions manufacture, and during this time they produced many dud
shells.
The third reason for the failure of the barrage was that the British guns were
placed too far behind the front lines (to prevent them from being hit by
German counter-fire), and were therefore very inaccurate. They had to be
given their instructions by phone from scouts out in no-man’s land, something
which was very difficult to do with any accuracy. Often, the scouts passed
messages to the wrong guns; at other times, German artillery fire destroyed the
lines by which they communicated.
Finally, the barrage failed because the Germans had advance warning of it and
were able to dig into the chalk hills for protection.
All in all, the barrage failed as a result of bad planning on the part of the
British, and good planning on the part of the Germans.
6. How did the failure of the artillery barrage contribute to the disaster of the
Somme Campaign?
When the artillery barrage failed, the infantry were left defenceless against the
German machine-gunners who emerged from their trenches. So confident
were the British generals that they told their men not to bother to run across
no-man’s land; there would be no Germans there to fight them. Huge numbers
were gunned down as they crossed. Then, when they reached the German
lines, they discovered that the artillery barrage had not even destroyed the
German barbed wire. Because they had not planned for this scenario, the
British troops had not brought ladders or barbed wire cutters with them,
causing even more of them to be killed as they attempted to clamber over the
wire. Finally, the British barrage, while it failed to kill many Germans, did
manage to turn no-man’s land into a complete bog, hindering the British
troops as they crossed.
7. List three other reasons why the infantry attack failed.
Firstly, the attack failed because the British troops were not adequately
trained. Secondly, their officers, who had been recruited straight from school,
lacked the judgment of professional soldiers. Thirdly, the infantry were too
heavily weighed down with supplies, and were easy targets for the Germans.
8. How many British soldiers were killed on the first day of the offensive? How
many were wounded?
20,000 were killed, and another 40,000 were wounded.