The Ninetieth Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme
Ninety years ago on Saturday the
Battle of the Somme began. On that first day there were nearly
60,000 casualties; almost 20,000 died. By the end, there would be
600,000 casualties, of whom more than 120,000 died. In a few
months an entire generation fell. Practises such as Pals’
Brigades
(military units formed of men from the same town, or
school, or place of business—a good idea in earlier wars) meant
that a few sweeps of a machine gun could cut down all men of fighting
age from a village. The terrible new weapons of warfare had never been
tested against civilised foes, and tactical doctrine couldn’t find
a solution.
And of course the great cost paid by the Allies demanded an equal price be paid by the vanquished Central Powers—and the vindictive Treaty of Versailles led directly the Second World War.
