How Far Do You Agree That the Battle of the Somme Was a Complete Disaster for the British Army?

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How far do you agree that the Battle of the Somme was a complete disaster for the British Army? The Battle of the Somme was indeed dreadful and appalling and could definitely be seen as a complete disaster because of the number of deaths caused. There were however some positive aspects that came out of it. The Battle began on July 1, 1916. The purpose of the battle was to take the pressure off the French army at Verdun. It was organised by General Haig whose plan was to begin with a weeklong artillery bombardment. The theory was that this would destroy German defences and eliminate any effective resistance from the Germans. The cavalry would then advance to take hold of German positions before the infantry was sent in the break the enemy line. One and a half million shells were fired but one million of these were shrapnel, not high explosive and not effective at killing or immobilising men in sheltered dug-outs. In addition, many of the shells were duds with poor fuses. The artillery bombardment also acted as an alarm for the Germans which warned them that the British were to attack. Their front lines were indeed destroyed, but the barbed wire was still thick and intact. Also, the Germans were able to get their support trenches and reserve trenches full of men waiting for the British. They also managed to hide in concrete bunkers built deep underground with machine guns so when the British were ordered to go over the top towards the enemy trenches, they were slaughtered. 19,000 men died on the first day alone. A further 34,000 were injured. It was particularly disastrous at the Northern end of the battlefield, where the first Battalion, Essex regiment was virtually wiped out and the 1st Newfoundland Regiment suffering a 91% casualty rate. For many soldiers, the Somme was their first major battle, so all the time, effort and expense of training them was for nought.

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