Fighting the Somme

[Robert Dunlop]

Subtitled: 'German challenges, dilemmas and solutions'. By Jack Sheldon (ISBN 1473881994 and available in Kindle version).

 

This book is another outstanding contribution from Jack Sheldon. It covers the build-up to and then the battles throughout the Somme campaign of 1916. The perspective is very different though. Jack has provided details of how the German command system processed and then attempted to come to terms with the continuous Anglo-French pressure. He has drawn on primary sources that have not been published in English before. As usual, the translations are beautifully done and fit neatly into a broader coherent narrative. The focus shifts seamlessly across the highest levels of command and down through the army group, army, division, brigade, and regiment tiers. The first chapter covers the background to German military thinking at that time, along with the origins of the Great German General Staff as a parallel system of command and control. The German army on the Somme was well aware of the impending British and French assault. The second chapter deals with the huge problems that the local commanders had with General von Falkenhayn, who remained fixated on the attritional Battle of Verdun. Jack illustrates the problems this caused within the German Supreme Army Headquarters, as well as the way that General von Below reorganised what few resources he did have available before July 1st, 1916. The next two chapters examine how these decisions played out during the first two weeks of the attack. The lower levels of command feature more prominently in these chapters, as the Germans sought to defend the high ground around Thièpval and to react to the gains made around Montauban and south of the Somme river. 

 

The Somme campaign exerted relentless pressure on the German command structures. This continued to pose major challenges, particularly through the lack of adequate support from General von Falkenhayn while he was still in post. Jack deals with the attempts to shore up the local German command by introducing a new commander, General der Artillerie von Gallwitz. Meanwhile, the reactive and inadequate flow of reinforcements caused huge problems. The fighting around Pozières, for example, is used to illustrate the frontline command problems. General von Loßberg is introduced and his contribution to coordinating the defensive response is examined in some detail. The sacking of von Falkenhayn is dealt with, along with the appointment and then the contributions from Generals von Hindenburg and Ludendorff. Throughout the latter weeks of the campaign, Jack paints a picture of the stresses and strains that continued despite the closing down of the Verdun battle. Far from being a well-oiled defensive machine, the German command structure was under huge strain from within as well as from without. Even through the darkest crises, the army never broke but the costs were terrible. Jack concludes with a chapter on the 'lessons learned' that were circulated throughout the German army. This information formed the basis for the next round of major defensive battles on the Western Front.

 

Loßberg went on to praise the 'sacrificial, indestructible courage and faithfulness of our army', which caused the 'Allied plans to founder'. Praise was warranted but Jack draws together quotes and comments from several German commanders that draw attention to very important contemporary insights. The losses in manpower were obvious, even at the time. More fundamental, however, was the realisation that the quality of the army had been affected, specifically through the irreplaceable experience of the officers and NCOs who had been killed. Even more profound was the recognition, by some at least, that the German army was no longer invincible. Many other historians have argued that the Somme was the beginning of the end as a justification for the grinding attritional battles in the campaign. The arguments have seemed hollow when viewed from the British perspective of the fighting, leading to these historians being branded negatively as 'Revisionists'. The whole of Jack's book leads up to this conclusion but from a German perspective. This is what marks 'Fighting the Somme' out as a seminal work. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

 

Robert