Why was the Battle of the Somme doomed from the start?

Answer 1

because the English shelled the Germans for 7 days straight then walked their men across no mans land thinking all the Germans where dead, but they weren't they had concreat bunkers underground which protected them and they where able to get out and set up their machine guns before the English reached them.

Basically because the Germans didn't die and killed 20,000 English soldiers in the 1st 10 mins with their machine guns.

Answer 2

The idea was that the artillery barrage would be so devastating as to render the German defenders helpless. The barbed wire would be breached and all the soldiers had to do was advance & it would all work out fine. It didn't. The barrage, though extensive, did not disable the Germans or breach the wire significantly.

Answer 3

Your fault.....your just like me you know...you dont really care about whose fault it was but you wanna find out the answer to this question becasue you have got a history essay....tell me about it.....

Answer 4

History has been a bit kinder than it was originally thought. From the British/French side, the casualty count was horrendous, with little territorial gains (and none of it militarily significant) to show for the losses. However, German losses were also significant, including heavy losses in un-replaceable experienced reservists. Population differences meant German losses were much less able to be made up for than British or French. It also changed German strategic thinking, as they had considered only the French a major strategic threat - now, the British Army had shown it could play a major role.

Tactically, the Somme was a failure for the British for several reasons:

• The British Army now consisted almost exclusively of new recruits, with only drill-field experience. While they were well-trained, there was no practical tactical experience. They were opposed (for the most part) by German pre-War reservists, who had years of training and significant experience from the 1914-15 campaigns.
• Similarly, the rapid growth of the British Army due to the massive influx of recruits meant a significant drop in the quality of Officers throughout the entire army, including at key leadership roles. Several very significant command blunders during the campaign can be placed at the door of rapidly-promoted officers, who were either too inexperienced, or simply incompetent.
• Tactical doctrine of the British was outmoded. The basic maneuver unit was still the company (of 200-300 men), which was much too large to cope with the very fluid and fast-changing tactical situation when attacking. In addition, most were still using the mass frontal assault method, which presented excellent targets for German machine guns.
• Artillery support was insufficient - there was a noticeable lack of heavy (10cm+) guns, which were unable to affect the deeply dug-in Germans. In additional, artillery coordination with the attack was poor, leaving far too much space between the line of artillery bombardment and the attacking British soldiers (ideally, the artillery should lift attack just prior to the soldiers arriving; instead, 5-10 minutes would pass, giving the Germans plenty of time to recover and organize a defense).
• Major problem with communications still had not been solved by the British. Tactical control of units was spotty by the leadership, as very significant amounts of time were required to pass messages back and forth across the battlefield.

Note that the French involvement in the Somme was much more successful, due to several factors: better artillery support and coordination, they were attacking a less well defended section, and their local commanders were generally more competent.

Still, overall, the price was ghastly. The British paid a price of almost 5 casualties for each INCH of front that was advanced. Overall, while historians no longer consider the Somme a British defeat, it still stands as a horrendous loss of life, for minimal tactical (and only marginal strategic) gains.

Answer 5

Because British army used 19th century military tactics (Frontal assaults) against 20th century weapons (Machine guns), so British army suffered more than 57,000 casualties on the first day of the battle of the Somme.

Answer 6

So many people died.