The First Day on the Somme: 1 July 1916

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Автор: Martin Middlebrook

Название: The First Day on the Somme: 1 July 1916

Издательство: W. W. Norton & Company

Год: 1972

Формат: PDF

Страниц: 376

Язык: English

Размер: 58.8 MB

This is a very detailed account of the first day of the Somme offensive in 1916. In one day, the British Army suffered over 57,000 casualties (including 21,000 dead) - a 50% loss rate. Middlebrook chronicles how Kitchener's New Army was raised and trained in 1914-1915, with high hopes for achieving a decisive success in 1916. While the Germans knew the date and location of the offensive, they failed to move up adequate reserves because they underestimated the length of front that was to be attacked. General Rawlinson, Commander of 4th Army, bears much of the blame for the disaster in Middlebrook's account, due to his insistence on slow, clumsy "wave" infantry attacks, inflexible artillery support and non-use of cavalry for exploitation.