What was the fighting like on the Western Front?

1 One of the biggest problems facing the army planners was supplying thearmy with food, weapons and other equipment. Use Sources 20-22 to compile a list of all the things they would need.

2 Sources 20-22 give you three different kinds of evidence about thetrenches: a modern reconstruction drawing, an aerial photograph, and two ground-level photographs. Explain how each one is useful to a historian.

3 Write your own five-point definition oftrench warfare. Your audience is a younger student in your school who has not yet studied this topic.

4 Explain why the two trenches shown in Source 22 are so different.

The war on the Western Front was a new kind of warfare. No one had experienced war like it before. The generals' plans had not allowed for it. Everyone had to adapt. You are now going to look at the main changes in the techniques of warfare brought about by the First World War.

Change 1: trench warfareThe most obvious new feature of this kind of warfare was the system of trenches. Instead of a war of movement this war was static. Trenches began as simple shelters but by 1915 they haddeveloped into complex defensive systems. Source 20 shows a cross-section of a trench. However, Source 22 probably gives a better idea of what the trenches were really like.

SOURCE 20( Parapet

Wa t t Woodenperiscope Lee Enfield

Cross-section of a front-line trench. These were supported by much stronger reserve

trenches and linked by communication trenches. German trenches were generally stronger and better constructed than Allied

trenches. The Germans generally held better ground and had established their

trenches in the early stages of war. Manyof their dug-outs and machine-gun posts

were reinforced with concrete whichprovided a stronger defence against

artillery bombardment.

ACTIVITY

Study Source 21 carefully.

1 On your own copy of Source 21 label the following features:• front-line trenches• support trenches• no man's land (the area between

front-line trenches).2 Explain why you think the trenches are

arranged as zig-zag lines, not straightlines.

3 If you had to get from your headquarters behind the lines (marked

Iiihrribcra,ort

Sandbags

Wooden or iron supports

Fire step

SOURCE 21

rifle

Dug-out

Duck boards

Mud and water

• AM -""•

X) to the front-line position (marked Y), how would you get there? The trench system. This is an aerial photograph taken by British planes.

The British trenches are on the right. The main trench area is German.

SOURCE 22A r

Trenches in A the Somme, July 1916, and B Guedecourt, December 1916.

Change 2: artillery became more powerfulFor much of the war, all day, every day, artillery would pound the enemy's trenches with hundreds of shells. Artillery bombardments caused more casualties than any other weapon.

At the beginning of the war the guns were not very accurate. Firing from well behind their own lines, artillery often bombarded their own forward trenches before they got their range right.

By the end of the war, artillery was much bigger, and it was also more accurate, By 1918 artillery tactics were extremely sophisticated as well (see pages 30-32). Artillery was the keyweapon of the Great War. Throughout the war a vast part of European industry was given over to making shells for the artillery.

Change 3: cavalry became less importantThe First World War saw another major military change — the end of the cavalry as a weapon of the modern army. Before 1914, all sides thought the speed and mobility of the cavalry would be decisive. However, once trenches were dug cavalry became too vulnerable to artillery andmachine guns. In one particular cavalry charge only three out of four hundred horses survived. Even so, horses and mules remained vital for transporting supplies and equipment in theswamp-like conditions of the Western Front.

SOURCE 23

Horses at work for the British army near Ypres, 1917. 2]

SOURCE 24The spirit of the bayonet . . . must be inculcated into all ranks so that they may go forward with that aggressivedetermination and confidence of superiority born of continual practice . . In an assault the enemy must be killed with the bayonet. Firing should be avoidedf or in the mix-up, a bullet, passing through an opponent's body, may kill a friend who happens to be in the line offi re.

From a government pamphlet on military training, published before the war.

Change 4: infantry became more importantThe infantryman or foot soldier was the backbone of the army.

The standard equipment for an infantry soldier is shown in Source 25. Steel helmets giving some protection against shrapnel from enemy shelling only became standard equipment in 1916. Troops also improvised their own weapons for the conditions of trench warfare.

Before the war, the theory was that an attack on the enemy would be led by a cavalry charge. The infantry's job was to follow the cavalry and take charge of the captured positions. They then had to defend the position against counter-attack.

Trench warfare changed the role of the infantry dramatically. The cavalry charge was replaced by the 'infantry charge' which became the main tactic used in the war.

`Over the top'A major assault would usually proceed like this:

1 The attacking side's artillery bombarded the front-line trenches of the enemy. This was called a 'barrage'.

2 As soon as the barrage stopped, attacking troops would go 'over the top' - thatis, climb out of their trenches. It was now a race between them and the defenders, who had to emerge from theirshelters and set up their machine guns before theattackers got over the barbed wire of no man's land.

3 The defenders usually had- the advantage. They swept the

advancing attackers with machine-gun fire, sometimes setting up a cross-fire.

4 If the attackers did411.- capture forward positions,

they then had to hold them.This generally proved impossible and they were usually forced back to their original position.

The machine gun was devastatingly effective against the infantry charge. It could fire eight bullets a second or more, and each trench would have a number of machine guns. During an infantry charge it could cut down a whole brigade in minutes. The machine gun made it inevitable that any charge on an enemy trench would cost many lives. However, the theory was that if enough soldiers charged then no matter how many were killed or wounded on the way there would still be enough men alive to capture the machine guns in the enemy trenches.

The infantry charge was the only attacking strategy the generals had. They thought that if they did it often enough, with enough men, eventually it would wear down the enemy, and they could break through. However, the idea that the generals simply threw away lives is not supported

SOURCE 25

Steel Leehelmet Enfield

rifle

Bayonet

Ammunition pouch

Gasmask

tPnkiN Waterbottle Hand

grenades I Cookingequipment

Heavyboots

22 An infantryman's weapons and equipment.

by the evidence. As the war continued, the generals tried new tactics, weapons and equipment. New camouflage techniques were used to protect troops and guns. Artillery and infantry attacks were bettersynchronised. Troops were given gas masks. One of the most promising developments came very late in the war: the tank (see page 25).

Day-to-day tasksThe soldiers did not spend all their time charging the enemy trenches. Far from it. Most of the infantry's work was more routine. Infantrysoldiers spent much of their time digging new trenches or repairing old ones. They carted supplies and equipment up and downcommunications trenches. They spent long hours on sentry duty or in secret listening posts near to enemy trenches.

There were also specialist infantry called sappers. Sappers were usually ex-miners who dug tunnels below enemy trenches and placed huge mines there.

The infantry also made occasional raids in small numbers on enemy trenches — to capture prisoners or particular positions. Prisonersprovided priceless information. If a new enemy unit was in your sector, you could soon be facing an attack.

SOURCE 26We see the attackers coming. Our machine guns rattle, rifles crack. We recognise the helmets of the attackers. They are French. Thei' have already suffered heavily when they reach our barbed wire.

We retreat. We leave bombs behind us in the trench. We hurl explosives at the feet of the enemy before we run.

At last we reach one of our support trenches that is in somewhat bettercondition. It is manned and ready for the counter attack . . . Our guns open in full blast and

stop the enemy attack . . We counter attack. It does not come quite to hand to handfi ghting; they are drivenback. We arrive once again at our original shattered trench and pass on beyond it . . Now we are so close on the heels of ourretreating enemies that we reach their line almost at the same time as they do . . . But we cannot stay here long. We must retire under cover of our artillery to our ownposition . . We get back pretty well. There is noInrther attack by the enemy.

Adapted from All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel by Erich Maria Remarque. He

was a German who fought on the Western Front, and was twice badly wounded.

1 Read Source 26. Draw a diagram to show what you think actually happenedin this attack.

2 Why was it so easy for the Germans to win back their captured trench?

3 What was the role of the artillery in thisattack?

4 Look at Source 27.a) If you were an attacking soldier

how could you get through thisbarbed wire defence?

b) How might the following factors affect your answer to a)?i) It is completely dark. ii) You are being fired on.iii) You are carrying heavy

equipment.iv) You are wearing a gas mask.

5 Look at Source 28. One of the artist'saims was to show how vulnerable soldiers were when going over the top. Do you think he succeeded? Explain your answer.

SOURCE 27

The miles of barbed wire that protected the German trenches from infantry charge.

SOURCE 28

Over the Top, a painting by John Nash. It is based on an attack that he took part in, in 1917, near Cambrai. The soldiers had to climb out of their own trench, charge towardsthe enemy trench and try to capture it. Of 80 men in his unit, 68 were killed in the first

five minutes of the attack. 23

Change 5: poison gas The first poison gas attack was made in April 1915. The Germans released chlorine which wafted on the wind across no man's land into the British trenches. There was panic there as the soldiers coughed, retched and struggled to breathe.

From that time gas attacks by both sides became a regular feature of the war. To start with, the aim of a gas attack was to disable enemy troops so that your own infantry charge would be successful. Later, scientists on both sides began to perfect new and more lethal gases such as mustard gas, which had a perfumed smell but which burned, blinded or slowly killed the victims over four to five weeks.

However, scientists also developed very effective gas masks. Soldiers in the trenches would carry their gas masks with them all the time. At the alert they would put them on. As a result only 3,000 British troops died from gas in the whole war. The main significance of gas was therefore its psychological impact. Soldiers who could bear a long bombardment by artillery often lived in fear of a gas attack.

1 According to Source 29 what were the effects of poison gas on the victim?

2 Why do you think gas attacks wereregarded with such fear?

3 Do you think Wilfred Owen (Source 29) would have approved of Source 30?Explain your answer.

SOURCE 29GAS! GAS! Quick, boys! —An ecstasy off umbling. Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;But someone still was yelling out and stumbling Anclflound'ring like a man in fire or limeDim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. I f in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; I fy ou could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, — My friend, you would not tell with such high zest Tb children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie.:Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori,

[How sweet and proper it is to die for your country]

SOURCE 30

From a poem by Wilfred Owen. Owen served on the Western Front

through most of the war. He becamethe most celebrated of the poets of

the First World War. He was killed just days before the final armistice in

November 1918.

Gassed, a painting by John Singer Sargent. A famous portrait painter, Sargent was commissioned in 1918 to paint a memorial picture of the soldiers killed and

injured in the war.

Change 6: tanks The tank was a British invention. Early in the war inventors took the idea to the army leaders but it was rejected as impractical. However, Winston Churchill, head of the navy, thought that the idea had potential and his department funded its development.

Tkvo years later, the tanks were used for the first time at the Battle of the Somme. They advanced ahead of the infantry, crushing barbed-wire defences and spraying the enemy with machine-gun fire. They caused alarm among the Germans and raised the morale of the British troops. Surely this was the weapon that could achieve a breakthrough!

However, these first machines only moved at walking pace. They were not very manoeuvrable and very unreliable — more than half of them broke down before they got to the German trenches. It was not until a year later, in November 1917 at Cambrai, that tanks actually achieved great success. Unfortunately they were too successful. They blasted through enemy lines so quickly that the infantry could not keep up.

By 1918, German forces were using armour-piercing machine-gun bullets to deadly effect. They had also learned how to adapt field guns to fire at tanks. Tanks were virtually impossible to miss because they were so large and slow. However, the tank offered a significant boost to morale.

SOURCE 31

:0C.: r( ,

How did the fighting on the Western Front change?

On pages 20-25 you have studied how the equipment and the tactics used on the Western Front were adapted to therealities of trench warfare.

1 Work in pairs. You each have to compile advice to be included in a'Soldier's guide'. You should include advice on tactics and equipment.One of you should write the advice as it might be given in 1914 at theoutbreak of war. The other should write your advice as if it was 1918, at the end of the war.Compare your ideas with your partner's.

2 Write three paragraphs to explain the changes in fighting during the war.You can use this structure:

Paragraph 1: how the war was different from what people expected.

A British tank crossing a trench on the Western Front, September 1916.

What was life like in the trenches?Soldiers on the Western Front went through an enormous range of experiences, from extreme boredom to the appalling stress of an enemy bombardment or attack.

People often think that soldiers in the trenches spent all their time going over the top, attacking enemy trenches. In fact, such attacks were the exception rather than the rule. Soldiers spent much more time on guard, repairing trenches, or just trying to rest or sleep.

Nor did soldiers spend all their time in the front-line trenches. Sometimes it would be eight days in, four days out. Another arrangement was three days at the front line then three days in support trenches, followed by three more days in the front line then three days off behind the lines. However, during a major assault, such as the Battle of the Somme, soldiers could be in the

Paragraph 2: ways in which front line for much longer.techniques and equipment were adapted to trench warfare.Paragraph 3: what things did not

Even in the front-line trenches soldiers could go for long periods without seeing an enemy soldier. As well as doing trench chores they would write letters or diaries. Many soldiers even took

change and why. up correspondence courses to pass the hours. 2

SOURCE 32We buried them behind the trench. One gets very callous If ind. It was a poor sort offuneral, no service, nothing; just an old greatcoat over the face . . . Naturally onewishes to bury the body as far back from the trench as possible, but one doesn't much like leaving the shelter of the parapet,because of the risk of a stray bullet, so the graves are dug just about two yards behind

the trench.

From the diary of Billy Congreve (see Source 17).

SOURCE 33

The Eternal Question.-When the 'ell is it goin' to be strawberry P"

Illustration by British officer Bruce Bairnsfather. Soldiers complained about

the quality of their tinned food, but rationswere actually quite good.

SOURCE 34Fourteen days ago we had to go up and relieve the front line. It was fairly quiet on our sector. But on the last day anastonishing number of English heavies opened up on us with high explosive,drumming ceaselessly on our position, so that we suffered severely and came back only eighty strong (out of 150).

From All Quiet on the Western Front, by26 Erich Maria Remarque.

Millions of men and thousands of horses lived close together. Sanitation arrangements were makeshift. In the summer the smell of the trenches was appalling owing to a combination ofrotting corpses, sewage and unwashed soldiers. The soldiers were also infested with lice, or 'chats' as they called them.

The weather had a marked effect on soldiers' lives. In summer the trenches were hot, dusty and smelly. In wet weather soldiers spent much time up to their ankles or knees in water. Many thousands suffered from 'trench foot', caused by standing in water for hours or days. In winter the trenches offered little protection from the cold. Many soldiers got frostbite.

To add to all of these unpleasant problems the trenches were infested by rats. Many soldiers on all sides described the huge, fat 'corpse rats' which thrived on the dead bodies and the rubbish created by the armies. Some accounts even speak of cats and dogs killed by rats in overwhelming numbers.

SOURCE 35

Cczd

Sketch from Billy Congreve's diary showing a cross-section of a trench in dry and wet conditions.

All soldiers were aware that their daily lives could change at any time. Sometimes the soldiers' trenches could be subject to non-stop artillery bombardment for days on end. The majority of First World War casualties were caused by artillery. Death and injury could come almost without warning, as a shell buried soldiers under tons of earth, leaving smashed bodies and wreckedtrenches, and the job of burying the dead

Usually a long bombardment would be the prelude to an assault by the enemy; or a charge 'over the top' by your own side.

Despite all these hardships, it is worth remembering that discipline in all of the forces on the Western Front was good. There were relatively few desertions considering the huge scale of the armies. The only major mutiny among Allied forces was in 1917 when French soldiers refused to fight after appalling losses that year.

Historian Niall Ferguson's research suggests that a combination of factors kept discipline in the British army:

• A sense of comradeship and even achievement — many soldiers achieved more than they ever thought they could.

• Patriotism — most soldiers felt that they were fighting for their home and country.• The quality and quantity of food rations for British troops were generally good, even if rather

monotonous (mainly corned beef and jam). There were also regular luxuries such as tobacco, alcohol and parcels sent from home.

• Rest — most infantrymen spent about 60 per cent of their time behind the lines with comparatively light duties. Football matches were very popular.

Most surprisingly perhaps, soldiers had a respect for their leaders. There is a widespread modem myth that the generals wined and dined in the officers' mess while the men lived and died in the squalor of the trenches. But 78 officers above the rank of brigadier-general from Britain and the British Empire died on active service and 146 were wounded. This is evidence that British generals were often close enough to the front line to be in danger of losing their lives.

SOURCE 36 1 If you had to pair up Source 36 with

one of the text sources on pages 17-28, which text source would you choose and why?

L'Enfer (Hell) by the French war artist Georges Leroux, 1916.

SOURCE 37M live amongst men who would give their last fag, their last bite, even their last breath if need bejir a pal — that is thecomradeship of the trenches. The only clean thing to come out of this life of crueltyand

A soldier quoted in J Ellis, Eye Deep in He!!, 1976.

What was life like on the Western Front?

During the war, often the only chance a soldier had to be honest was whenwriting a diary. Using pages 20-27 to help you, write three diary entries which give a soldier's honest feelings about what life in the trenches was really like during a calm period, a bombardment and an assault.

SOURCE 38I do not know why the various occasions on which battalions have fought till there were merely a few score survivors have not been properly chronicled . . , Certain platoons or companies fought shoulder to shoulder till the last man dropped . . . or . . wereshelled to nothingness, or getting over the top wentf orward till they all withered away under machine gun fire . . . A fortnightafter some exploit, a field-marshal or divisional general comes down to abattalion to thank itf orsts gallant conduct, andf ancies for a moment, perchance, that he is looking at the men who did the deed of valour, and not a large draft that has just been brought up from England and thebase to fill the gap. He should ask the services of the chaplain and make hiscongratulations in the graveyard or go to the hospital and make them there.

A private's view of warfare, 1916.

SOURCE 39It was just as dangerous to go back as it was to go on. There were machine gun bullets spraying to andf ro all the time . . . When I reached our trenches I missed myfooting andf ell on the floor, stunned. When I got up I saw an officer standing on the fire step looking through binoculars at NoMan's Land. As I walked down the trench towards the dressing station he stood in my way with a pistol in his hand. He never said a word, but then he just stepped aside and let me pass. When I got to the dressingstation I asked someone 'What's that officerdoing back there with the gun in his hand?, and they said that his job was to shootanyone who came back not wounded. I thought to myself, what kind of a job is that? Anyone could have lost his nerve that day,

Memories of the Somme. A British soldier interviewed by the Sunday Times for an

article published in 1986 — the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. 2;

28

SOURCE 40It is all rot the stuff one reads in the papers about the inferiority of the German soldiers to ours. If anything, the German is thebetter, for though we are undoubtedly the more dogged and impossible to beat, they are the more highly disciplined

From the diary of Billy Congreve.

Which of the illustrations in Sources41 and 42 gives the more realistic impression of life for the soldiers?

SOURCE 41

CH E LL'S6 6

GOLDEN DAA cigarette advertisement from 1915.

SOURCE 43We are the guns, and your masters! Saw ye our flashes?Heard ye the scream of our shells in the night, and the shuddering crashes?Saw ye our work by the roadside, the shrouded things lying,Moaning to God that he made them — the maimed and the dying?Husbands or sons, fathers or lovers, we break them.We are the guns!

From The Guns by Siegfried Sassoon.

2 Read Source 44. Choose one of the underlined phrases and write anexplanation of what it means.

The view from BritainIn the early stages of the war, it was difficult for people in Britain to get an accurate impression o. what life in the trenches was really like. Letters from soldiers to their families were usuallycensored. No photographers were allowed in the trenches (except official photographers who had strict rules about what they could photograph). Even official war artists were forbidden fromshowing dead bodies in their paintings. Newspaper reports in Britain were heavily censored. People back home in Britain were therefore sheltered from the realities of trench warfare.

Sometimes this situation resulted in a gulf between a soldier and his family. No war like this had ever beet). fought. How could a soldier explain the horrors to a family who were still being fed a daily diet of glorious victories by the magazines and newspapers at home?

As the conflict continued, the realities of war began to sink in. War artists began to produce more sombre paintings. With huge casualties such as those at the Somme (see page 33), it was clear that this was not a glorious war, but a grim life or death struggle. Even so, the public in Britain had little idea of what trench warfare was like. The men in the trenches knew howinaccurate much of the reporting was, but they were caught between their knowledge of the truth and their reluctance to upset their families.

SOURCE 42

The Kensingtons at Laventie by Eric

Kennington. The artist painted thiswhile recovering

from his wounds in 1915. When it was

put on display in 1916 it caused a sensation because

there was no hint of glory or optimism in it, unlike all previous

paintings.

SOURCE 44You love us when we're heroes, home on leave, Or wounded in a mentionable place.You worship decorations; you believeThat chivalry redeems the war's disgrace.You make us shells. You listen with delight; By tales of dirt and danger fondly thrilledYou crow our distant ardours while we fight,And mourn our laurelled memories when we're killed.You can't believe that troops retireWhen hell's last horror breaks them and they run, trampling the terrible corpses — blind with blood.0 German mother dreaming by the fire, while you are knitting socks to send your son His face is trodden deeper in the mud.

Written by Siegfried Sassoon, who volunteered for the war in 1914 and was wounded seriously enough to be sent home. He was so disgusted by the war that he wrote to his

commanders that he was unwilling to fight any more (see page 75).

SOURCE 45 B

1)4,11our

11.A ,00 tolf•hour

ITI 311..1 I. )(it (I);” thc ir,oehc, for 111c 24311. 1;mc

In and 01.1 ( i i )

•fIrr "corning nul" *1MC (rumba

`Well, if you knows of a Better 'ale, go to it!'

Cartoons by Bruce Bairnsfather, an officer serving on the Western Front. His light-hearted portrayal of trench life was immensely

popular with soldiers, and his cartoons were regularly published inthe British press. Yet even these were disapproved of by many

officials in Britain.

3 Study Source 45. Why do you think officials in Britain might disapprove ofthese cartoons?

ACTIVITY

Look back at your diary entries from page 27.

Imagine you are going to show your diary to a family member at home. Edit your diary so that they will not be

I FOCUS TASK

How was the war portrayed?

1 a) Look back over pages 26-29 and find examples of each of the following kinds of source about the war:• poem • cartoon• advertisement • diary• painting • novel• newspaper article • any others you can think of.

b) Fill in a chart like this:

Kind of source Example How does it portray the war?

2 Choose the two sources which you think are most realistic. Explain your choice.3 Choose two which are unrealistic. Explain your choice.4 From what you now know about the war, explain why representations of it vary so

shocked by it. greatly.29

Breaking the stalemate Stalemate is a term borrowed from chess. It means that, however hard they try, neither player can make a winning move. It is a very good term to describe the situation on the Western Front from December 1914 right through to 1918. However hard they tried (and they did try very hard indeed!), neither side could make a breakthrough. The reasons were simple. The techniques and the weapons were better suited to defence than to attack. It was much easier to defend a position than to attack one.

• Barbed wirer trenches and mud made cavalry charges ineffective. • Machine guns could mow down charging infantry. • The colossal new guns of the artillery could kill the enemy in their trenches, could wear down the troops and sap their morale and could disrupt enemy supplies, but they couldn't make a breakthrough. • Artillery could also destroy enemy guns but the supply of weapons to both sides quickly

became inexhaustible. Factories back home in each country were soon geared up to produce all the extra munitions needed.

In hindsight, it is easy to see how impossible it was to make a breakthrough. At the time, it must have been much harder, so on the Western Front the same basic pattern of barrage and infantry attack continued through 1915, 1916 and 1917.

SOURCE 460

Passchendaele 1917

Ypres BELGIUM1915

,limy 1917

e\1916

Nivelle)000 Offensiv1917 6 •

Champagne Verdun1915 1916

•Paris

A N C E

KeyLine of trenches

Hindenburg Line

C1.11► Main Allied attacks O

m *. Main German attacks

Major battles on the Western Front, 1915-17.

0

1915: the stalemate continuesIn 1915 the French, British and Germans all tried and failed to break the deadlock. Early in 1915 the French lost many thousands in an unsuccessful offensive in Champagne (arrow 1 in Source 46). The British gained some ground at Neuve Chapelle in March but at a heavy cost. TheGermans were driven back from Ypres in April (arrow 2) with heavy losses and the British suffered a setback at Loos in September

1916: the year of attrition - Verdun and the SommeIn February 1916 the Germans began a determined battle to capture strategic French forts surrounding Verdun (arrow 4). The Germans recognised that the French were leading the Allied effort at this stage of the war. The German commander, Falkenhayn, came up with a strategy of attrition. His tactic was to 'bleed France white'. The tactic failed, in that both sides suffered roughly equal losses. For six months both sides poured men and resources into this battle. Attacks were followed by counter-attacks and by July 1916 some 700,000 men had fallen. The French, led by General Main, held out, but by the summer of 1916 they were close to breaking. The huge losses had weakened both sides, but the Germans had greater resources. The French army was near breaking point.

To relieve the pressure, the British led by Field Marshal Douglas Haig launched their long-planned offensive at the Somme (arrow 5). After a week-long artillery bombardment of German trenches, British troops advanced. On the first day there were 57,000 British casualties. Thefighting continued until November 1916 with the loss of 1.25 million men (see pages 33-36).

Back in Britain, politicians and public were horrified at the losses. But to the military leaders the nature of the exercise was clear. The war was a contest to see which side could last out the long and dreadful war of attrition. Douglas Haig briefed the government that 'the nation must be

taught to bear losses'. The nation did accept them and in doing so played a key role in victory.For British history, the Somme is one of the most important stories of the war. It tells you a lot

about the war in general and reactions to it, so you will study the Battle of the Somme in detail on pages 33-36.