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Unlock This CourseBy 1916 the British army in France had grown huge. Many of its soldiers were volunteers who had joined up in 1914 and 1915, and the Somme was their first big battle. Britain and France planned a joint attack near the River Somme in northern France. Then, in February 1916, Germany attacked the French fortress city of Verdun. The French were losing so many men there that the Somme became mainly a British battle, led by the British commander-in-chief, Sir Douglas Haig.
The attack had three aims:
The plan relied on artillery. For seven days from 24 June 1916, British guns fired more than 1.5 million shells at the German lines. The generals expected the bombardment to cut the barbed wire and destroy the German trenches, so that the infantry could walk across and take them.
Key terms:
The bombardment failed. Many shells were duds that did not explode. Others were the wrong type to cut thick barbed wire. German soldiers sat out the shelling in deep dugouts. The week of shellfire also told them exactly where the attack was coming.
At 7.30 am on 1 July 1916 the British infantry climbed out of their trenches. When the guns lifted, German soldiers came up from their dugouts and set up their machine guns. Many British soldiers, each carrying heavy kit, were shot down in no man's land or in front of uncut wire.
Britain had 57,470 casualties on 1 July, and 19,240 of them were killed. It is still the worst day in the history of the British army. Whole Pals battalions were shattered. The Accrington Pals lost 584 of about 720 men in the first half hour, so some towns lost many of their young men in one morning.
In the south, British and French troops did take their targets on the first day, such as the village of Montauban. The battle then went on until 18 November. A surprise attack before dawn on 14 July captured part of the German second line. Tanks were used for the first time at Flers on 15 September. Autumn rain turned the battlefield to mud.
The battle's official name is the Third Battle of Ypres. It was fought in Flanders, in Belgium, from 31 July to 10 November 1917. It is usually called Passchendaele after the village on a ridge that became its final target.
To break out of the Ypres salient and take the ridges that looked down on it. To push on to the Belgian coast and capture the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge, which German U-boats used. To keep Germany busy while the French army recovered from its mutinies.
About 4.5 million shells were fired before the attack. They wrecked the drains of the low, flat farmland. August then brought the heaviest rain for 30 years. The ground became a swamp of flooded shell holes. Tanks sank, guns could not be moved, and men and horses drowned in the mud. German machine guns fired from pillboxes.
In drier weather in September and early October, General Plumer used bite and hold. His attacks at the Menin Road, Polygon Wood and Broodseinde all worked. Then the rain came back. Canadian troops finally captured the ruins of Passchendaele village on 6 November.
Losses and results: the British and Empire armies advanced about 8 kilometres in over three months. They took the ridge, but they never came close to the coast, so the U-boat ports stayed in German hands. Casualty figures are argued over. Britain and its Empire lost roughly 250,000 to 275,000 men, and Germany lost a similar number, often put at about 220,000. Germany, fighting on two fronts, could less easily afford these losses. But the battle also damaged the morale of British soldiers, and for many people 'Passchendaele' came to stand for mud and wasted lives.
Don't write that the Somme lasted one day. The first day was 1 July, but the battle ran until 18 November 1916. Don't say that either battle achieved nothing: the Somme took the pressure off Verdun, and both battles wore down the German army. And don't mix up the dates. The Somme was 1916 and Passchendaele was 1917.
Source A: From the diary of Sir Douglas Haig, commander-in-chief of the British army in France, 2 July 1916, as published by the National Library of Scotland, which holds the diary. This was the second day of the Battle of the Somme.
'A day of downs and ups. I visit two casualty-clearing stations. They were very pleased at my visit, the wounded were in wonderful spirits. Reported today that total casualties are estimated at over 40,000. This cannot be considered severe in view of numbers engaged and the length of front of attack. By nightfall the situation is much more favourable than when we started today.'
Source B: From the official war diary of Maud McCarthy, Matron-in-Chief of the British army's nurses in France, 3 and 4 July 1916. On 4 July she visited casualty clearing stations and field ambulances behind the Somme battlefield. MOs were medical officers (army doctors).
'The present Staffs, MOs, nurses and men have been working day and night, and unable entirely to cope with the work ... There was a continuous stream of wounded arriving ... Nurses doing splendidly, but needing more help ... crowded with wounded. Unable to clear as quickly as the patients arrived.'
Study Sources A and B. How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the situation of the British army in the first days of the Battle of the Somme? Explain your answer. [8 marks]
Source A supports Source B to some extent. Both show that the battle had caused very large numbers of casualties. Source A reports that 'total casualties are estimated at over 40,000', and Source B describes 'a continuous stream of wounded arriving' at stations that were 'crowded with wounded'. Both also give a good impression of the people at the medical units. Haig found the wounded 'in wonderful spirits', and McCarthy writes that the nurses were 'doing splendidly'.
However, the sources differ about how serious the situation was. Source A plays the losses down. Haig says they 'cannot be considered severe' and that things were 'much more favourable' by nightfall. Source B does not support this. It shows a medical service under great strain, with staff 'working day and night' and still 'unable entirely to cope with the work', and patients arriving faster than they could be moved on.
Overall, Source A supports Source B only partly. They agree on the facts, that there were huge numbers of wounded, but they disagree on what those facts meant. Source A sees the losses as acceptable, while Source B shows them overwhelming the people who had to deal with them.
What lifts this to the top level: it matches short quotations from both sources for agreement and for difference, then judges how far A supports B.
Two sources can agree on a fact and still differ in attitude. Here both mention huge numbers of wounded, but only one calls the losses not 'severe'. Look for that gap between facts and attitude, because it often gives you your point of difference. For more help, see the Exam Skills lesson Paper 2 Section A Question (b): How Far Does Source A Support Source B?