Background information
The Battle of the Somme, which lasted from July to November 1916,is one of the best-known of all WWI battles. What made it stand out was the huge casualty rate. British military planners had expected 10,000 casualties. Overall there were 400,000 Allied casualties and 450,000 German casualties. On the first day alone, British casualties were over 57,000 with deaths totalling around 20,000 men. The medical consequences of this unexpectedly high number of casualties were enormous. The British attack on the Somme aimed to take ground from the Germans. The British tried 2 new strategies which would both eventually contribute to increased casualty rates. |
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Source A:
An extract from the memoirs of George Coppard, published in 1969
“We gunners looked at the dreadful scene in front of our trench. Immediately in front, and spreading left and right until hidden from view, was clear evidence that the attack at been brutally repulsed. Hundreds of dead many of the 37th Brigade, was strung out like wreckage washed up to a high water mark. Quite as many died on the enemy wire as on the ground, like fish caught in the net. They hung there in grotesque postures. Some looked as though they were praying; they had died on their knees and the wire had prevented the fall. It was clear that there were no gaps in the German wire at the time of the attack. It was so dense the daylight could barely be seen through it. How did our planners imagine that Tommies, having survived all the other hazards, would get through the German wire? Any Tommy could have told them that shell fire lifts wire up and drops it down often in a worse tangle then before.”
1 Describe key features.
One key feature of fighting and conditions at the Somme was the first significant use of tanks in warfare. The use of tanks had many technical problems and were not very successful. As well as this, the tanks churned up the mud, making it more difficult for transportation within the battle.
Another key feature of conditions and fighting at the Somme was that the terrain was deep in mud and extremely wet due to the low lying land and nearby river. This, combined with the particularly cold weather of 1916, made conditions of the Somme unpleasant and the experience of human remains trapped within the mud made the experience of the fighting traumatising.
2a Utility: How useful is Source A for an enquiry into the impact of fighting and conditions on soldiers on the Western Front?
Source A is useful because it provides evidence about the view of no mans’ land and the scale of loss of life; It says “Hundreds of dead” This shows the sheer amount of men dying at the Somme. It gives significant insights into the extreme experiences of soldiers and the emotional impact of what they witnessed; [the dead] “hung there in grotesque postures” This appears to be accurate because it is a first-hand account from George Coppard, a gunner from the 37th Brigade, who has witnessed and experienced the impact fighting had on soldiers in WW1. It provides specific details because he gives a focused account of one particular episode, a full paragraph of the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
However, it does not provide a breadth picture of across the War, it is a very specific account of one man’s experiences on one day. Being a memoir it has the potential of being exaggerated, as memoirs are made to be sold to the public and, therefore, need to be as exciting as possible so that they are purchased. It may also be exaggerated by the author in order to convey the significance of their own role in events to make themselves appear more heroic or through the effect of extreme emotions and trauma on memory.
Furthermore because Source A is from the view point of a gunner, it does not reflect view points from other roles within WWI. This means that it is not fully representative of everyone who fought in the war. For example it says“ We gunners…” ,this is narrow focused because not every gunner would have experienced the same conditions and fighting in every battle of the war. Also, the source was written in 1969, meaning that the war would have been over 50 years ago. This means that the information could have been obtained from their own memory so some information and statistics could be wrong, over exaggerated and also under exaggerated.
Overall, Source A provides an engaging, and emotive insight, which is susceptible to having been exaggerated to a point.