Who fought in the battle of somme in 1916?

Answer 1

The British forces were commanded by General Haig his plan was to use artillery fire on the German trenches and completely destroy them once they were destroyed the British soldiers would walk over to the German trenches and meet little Resistance The shells that were fired at the Germans were of poor condition and the German soldiers had been in their trench for over a year and a half so they had dugouts many of which were reinforced with concrete. The British soldiers walked over because they were told no Germans would be fighting back. There was in fact many German soldiers who were more experienced and more trained than the British and the Haigs artillery acted as more of an alarm bell for the Germans. Many people claim it is general Haigs fault because he seemed to think that barbed wire would be destroyed by explosives ( it just lifts it a few feet and drops it having a negative effect) and that walking over no mans land with unloaded rifles is a good idea. The casualties were so high because Haig just threw more lives at the problem as he was stubborn and didnt want to be seen as a failure. The British did win although over 1,000,000 lives were lost in this one Battle