The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916

by Martin Middlebrook

Hardcover, 1972

Status

Available

Genres

Collection

Steven Clifford Collection

Publication

New York, Norton [1972]

Description

After an immense but useless bombardment, at 7.30 am. On 1 July 1916 the British Army went over the top and attacked the German trenches. It was the first day of the battle of the Somme, and on that day the British suffered nearly 60,000 casualties, two for every yard of their front. With more than fifty times the daily losses at El Alamein and fifteen times the British casualties on D-day, 1 July 1916 was the blackest day in the history of the British Army. But, more than that, as Lloyd George recognised, it was a watershed in the history of the First World War. The Army that attacked on that day was the volunteer Army that had answered Kitchener's call. It had gone into action confident of a decisive victory. But by sunset on the first day on the Somme, no one could any longer think of a war that might be won. Martin Middlebrook's research has covered not just official and regimental histories and tours of the battlefields, but interviews with hundreds of survivors, both British and German. As to the action itself, he conveys the overall strategic view and the terrifying reality that it was for front-line soldiers.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Miro

A very good book about the failure of the British Imperial generals to adapt to WWI trench warfare and the enormous loss of life that this entailed.

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LibraryThing member gommecourt

Middlebrook's seminal work on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Based on his own interviews with dozens of survivors of the fighting it is informative, emotional, gripping, exhausting and an essential read to anyone interested in the Great War and the Somme. This is a classic of military

history.

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LibraryThing member Schmerguls

1157 The First Day on the Somme: 1 July 1916, by Martin Middlebrook (read 8 Apr 1972) This is an account of July 1, 1916, surely one of Britain's most dreadful days. 19,240 died, 35,493 were wounded, and 2,152 were missing. Really quite a well-put-together book, though it is designed for Englishmen

who had relatives on the Somme. I would like to visit the battlefield and vicariously experience the sensations of those who were there. The author says live shells are still found in the area, after all these years, even though the woods are completely re-grown. [I read Martin Gilbert's The Somme on 28 Apr 2007, and have reviewed it on LibraryThing. It tells the story of the whole battle, whereas this book just does the first day.]

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LibraryThing member ksmyth

I picked up this book at Munroe's in downtown Victoria B.C. a couple. Though on vacation, I was deathly ill at the time, and locked myself up in my room with this book for a couple of days. I found this a fascinating book, with many first hand observations of that first day, across the Somme front.

Perhaps it was more most meaningful because the quality of the disaster was spread so uniformly across the all of the units participating. It is also significant knowing that the second day, and third day were a lot like the first, and so on for a period of months.

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LibraryThing member Whiskey3pa

Excellent book. Well written and full of first person accounts. The courage of the troops was remarkable and the mediocrity of the leadership sad.

LibraryThing member markm2315

An excellent history of the first day of this 1916 battle first published in 1971. The author discusses the formation of Kitchener's New Army in detail. He picks 10 British combatants and follows their contributions and adventures through the battle and after it. The book is divided into chapters

based on the time of day as the battle progressed. The book is almost entirely about the British component of the battle. The French activity on the British right is mentioned only when necessary, and there are a few diary excerpts and comments from within the German line. The author's analysis of the battle is relatively conservative and level-headed, with tempering statements about what was known and expected at the time. General (later Field Marshall) Haig gets off pretty easy with General Rawlinson and Lieutenant General R. C. Maxwell in the Quartermaster General's department taking the brunt of criticism (now, not then). I was not aware that General Allenby, the hero of the Near East, later High Commissioner for Egypt, and for whom the West Bank bridge is named, was considered a screw-up in Europe and was sent to the Middle East essentially as punishment.
Mr. Middlebrook takes care to tally British casualties (on July 1, 1916 only) at about 57,000, more than all British loses in the Crimean, Boer, and Korean Wars combined. He discusses the history of the British war cemeteries there, and he has an appendix that is an outline of a modern motor tour of the area.

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