German Line example essay topic

The Battle of the Somme was a plan of attack on the German line in 1916 to relieve the French in Verdun, but it didn't go to plan. The original plan was to bombard the Germans with artillery for a week to weaken them and destroy barbed wire, then send men over the top to finish them off. This plan was devised by by General sir Douglas Haig but was rushed because French commander Joseph Joffre needed relief from Verdun. Also helping with the plan was sir Henry Rawlinson who had some different views to his associate (Haig). The plan incorporated the use of cavalry to break the German line easier but this was dismissed by Rawlinson as a precaution. The bombardment began a week prior to the 1st July with 1.7 million shells being fired.

When it finished on the 1st July Haig sent his army over the top to finish off the Germans and win the war. Haig was so convinced of his plan that he told his men to walk across No Man's Land, what a bad mistake that was. What Haig didn't know was that the Germans had dug deep down into the earth that they were barely effected by the shells. A third of the shells hadn't gone off due to bad manufacturing and this was just one of the problems.

After the bombardment Haig ordered his men to wait for 10 minutes to see if there was any action but this just gave the Germans time to set up their machine gun posts. The fact that the British were walking made it easy target practice for the German machine gunners. There were 26 divisions (about 750,000 men) sent over and were against 16 German divisions. When soldiers went over the top they found out that the Germans were not dead and that the barbed wire hadn't been destroyed.

Most of the men who went over died a small percent survived and didn't gain much land. So as you can see it was not a success and a lot was lost over foolish planning. Newfoundlanders at Beaumont Hamel The Newfoundland's fought the front of the Somme at Beaumont Hamel and were told of the battle plan and were fighting on the side of the allies. They were to be deployed after the bombardment in three successive waves so as to break the German line easier.

A rolling artillery barrage would then progress 100 yards every 2 minutes. The troops would only have to walk across No Man's Land, Seize the front line and go on to the 3rd German line 7 kilometres away. Signs told the Germans that the allies were preparing for an attack because of the arrival of more troops. One of these was the arrival of the 29th division which was made up of the Newfoundlanders. The soldiers had to prepare for the battle by memorizing key areas that were co-coordinated from recon balloons and planes.

There was a key skill of communicating with the pilots that needed to be learned for this to happen. Soldiers in the battle would be concerned over little stupid things and show how scared they were e.g. "The hardest problem we have to face is the tobacco, it is almost impossible to get a good tobacco in this country, a stick of Mayo is indeed a luxury". DELVILLE WOOD This wood was the scene of the bitterest and heaviest casualties during the battle of the Somme. Delville wood was near the village of Longueval and it was part of the German defences on the Somme. Men who fought here gave it the name of the Devil's Wood. On 15th July 1916 the task of taking it was handed over to the South African Brigade following the successful capture of Longueval village.

The attack began at dawn with artillery fire from both sides. By nightfall the South Africans had sent out all four of their Regiments and had gained all but the north-west corner of the wood. In the following five days of fighting there was a lot of hand to hand combat and the soldiers could not defeat the Germans who laid down an awesome artillery barrage with shells being fired at the rate of 400 per minute. Fighting was harder because each side couldn't protect their soldiers with artillery fire because they were in the woods. When the South Africans where relieved by other allied forces only 700 men of the original 3150 were found alive. After the war there was only one tree that survived, a hornbeam, but the forest was replanted.

Signs that the British used to navigate the trenches are shown, these signs were given names of real London streets e.g. Buchanan street and Princes street. Across the road from the wood is Delville Wood Cemetery. Of the 5,493 buried here, two-thirds are unknown. 152 South Africans have their final resting place here. Included amongst the dead are three soldiers whose bodies were found during the building of the new museum, many others still remain undiscovered and at peace amongst the new trees.

In Delville Wood - In Delville Wood The shattered trees are green with leaves And flowers bloom where cannons stood And rich the fields with golden sheaves - Sleep soft ye dead, for God is good - And peace has come to Delville Wood Lt. F.C. Cornell.