Post by hi224 on Nov 22, 2018 23:37:59 GMT
The War: World War I, 1916
The Leader: Field Marshal Douglas Haig
It was the first day of the Battle of the Somme, which ultimately became the bloodiest battle of Great Britain?s history, with 630,000 casualties. After a week-long bombardment that primarily served to let the Germans know they were coming, July 1 found a massive attack by the British army beginning. However, because many of the soldiers were new to the front, Haig told them that they were to march across the treacherous terrain known as ?No Man?s Land? in neat, ordered lines of battle. As a result, the British army suffered 60,000 casualties that day, presenting targets that were ridiculously easy against entrenched machine gun positions, which were barely touched by the attack. Not only was this after two years of battles that demonstrated how stupid this was, but on the very same day, down the line of trenches, the French army was attacking. Spacing their soldiers out, they actually broke the German lines. It?s things like this that lead to Haig being viciously parodied in British programs like Black Adder.(Source: ramsdale.org, skip to 8:19 in video for Haig section)
The Leader: Field Marshal Douglas Haig
It was the first day of the Battle of the Somme, which ultimately became the bloodiest battle of Great Britain?s history, with 630,000 casualties. After a week-long bombardment that primarily served to let the Germans know they were coming, July 1 found a massive attack by the British army beginning. However, because many of the soldiers were new to the front, Haig told them that they were to march across the treacherous terrain known as ?No Man?s Land? in neat, ordered lines of battle. As a result, the British army suffered 60,000 casualties that day, presenting targets that were ridiculously easy against entrenched machine gun positions, which were barely touched by the attack. Not only was this after two years of battles that demonstrated how stupid this was, but on the very same day, down the line of trenches, the French army was attacking. Spacing their soldiers out, they actually broke the German lines. It?s things like this that lead to Haig being viciously parodied in British programs like Black Adder.(Source: ramsdale.org, skip to 8:19 in video for Haig section)
