Sunday 20 November 2016

The Battle of the Somme - What Has It Achieved?




Monday 20th November 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

If, as looks likely, the battle of the Somme has come to an end until the Spring, it is time to reflect on what it has achieved. A total of twenty four villages have been captured. It is true that the objective for the battle was Bapaume which has not quite been reached, the Butte de Warlencourt has stood as a German sentry in the dreadful weather of October and November denying the army their prize, but still much ground has fallen to our attacks.

Many of these attacks have been made by untried “Kitchener” battalions, such as the 6th and 7th Bedfords, whose first taste of action was during this battle. Some formations have already, as a result of their actions of the last five months, received a reputation as very efficient and deadly fighting formations – not least 18th (Eastern) and 30th Divisions.

The casualties have been high. There is no clear word from High Command about the numbers of dead, wounded and missing from our army, let alone calculations about the enemy but, given that for every British and Empire attack there was at least one corresponding German counter-attack, it is unlikely that the enemy have lost much less than we have(1).

It is clear that our attacks on the Somme materially aided our allies the French who were struggling against a vicious German offensive at Verdun. To be engaged in three major offensives, the Anglo-French offensive on the Somme, their own offensive at Verdun and the Brusilov Offensive in Russia, must have seriously depleted German reserves of manpower.

It seems, therefore, that, though the weather is gloomy, the outlook for the allied cause in this war is not. We know that Germany is not yet beaten and that severe fighting will take place in 1917 but we can reasonably expect that victory is much closer than it was on 1st July this year.

(1) Figures for casualties vary but British and Empire casualties were probably around half a million, the Germans not far behind or maybe slightly higher. French casualties probably exceeded 200,000. German Chief of Staff Erich Ludendorff called the Somme “the muddy grave of the German field army”.

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