Page 50 - History of War - Issue 30-16

SOMME
1916 2016
code to ‘hold at all costs’ and to re-take any lost The pressure applied by the Allies superiority
terrain at any price, did most to help the British in manpower and material forced German
to achieve that goal. commanders and units to make use of new
“The irst principle in positional warfare must defensive tactics and command structures.
be not to yield one foot of ground, and should it Superior Allied i repower levelled and destroyed
be lost, to retake it by immediate counter-attack, German trench lines and dugouts such that
even to the use of the last man,” wrote Captain many soldiers felt that being out in open
Wilfrid Miles. terrain was actually safer. Even though they
Enforcing this doctrine, even without any made command and control more difi cult, the
tactical necessity, sealed the fate of thousands so called Trichterstellungen, or shell-crater
of experienced German troops, who were killed positions, were soon seen as an effective
or wounded in desperate attempts to hold means to counter Allied superiority. These
and take ground of little or no importance. gave room for a more l exible, different kind of
Reinforcements were thrown into the line defensive doctrine. When subjected to shelli re,
Grave markers
to suffer catastrophic losses for virtually no in the Fricourt troops would leave their shell holes to fall back
purpose. Divisional strengths diminished at an German Cemetery to other Trichterstellungen towards the rear,
alarming rate until November, with a total of 90 and could quickly reoccupy their foremost lines
German divisions fed into the Knochenmühle, when enemy troops started their advance.
the bone grinder, of the Somme. On average a From this, the Germans began to embrace
division could hope to last three weeks before ; L I R I Z I V ] S Y W I I E ¿ K L X I V [ L S [ E W a new kind of defence-in-depth. Front sizes
having to be withdrawn for reit. X L I V I E X X L I 7 S Q Q I F S [ H S [ R P S [ X S were drastically reduced, while units were given
In the relentless storm of artillery ire, more room for manoeuvre. When deployed,
and the continuous low of attacks and XLI KVSYRH FIGEYWI ]SY WMQTP] HS a German division would have two regiments
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counterattacks in the raging battles over the in the front line, with the third held back as a
shell-torn wasteland, names such as Thiepval, LieutenantOttoAhrends reserve. Individual regiments were broken down
Teufelswald, Hochwald, Guillemont and Pozières Infanterie-RegimentNr76 and deployed in-depth as combat (Kampf),
became forever scorched into the memories of immediate reserve (Bereitschafts) and reserve
both German and British consciences. (Ruhe) battalions. Weakened forward lines
German i eld-graves on the
battlei eld near Guillemont

LEGACY 8LIVI MR RSVXLIVR *VERGI GSQVEHIW SJ XLI XL

6IWIVZI (MZMWMSR WERO MRXS XLIMV KVEZIW MR XLIMV
HOW THE GERMAN TROOPS RETAINED THEIR POWERFUL IMAGE XLSYWERHW 7SRW SJ &EHIR SYV ,IMQEX XSVR XS
AFTER SUFFERING A LARGE LOSS OF PERSONNEL
TMIGIW F] WLIPP ¿ VI XLIMV VIQEMRW TPSYKLIH MRXS
Following their army’s withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in 1917, the ‘Schlacht XLI IEVXL SJ ZEPPI]W ERH LMPPW 3XLIVW VIWX MR [EV
an der Somme’ slowly became a portent of war for the Germans. Thousands of GIQIXIVMIW ERH SRP] E JI[ SJ XLSWI [LS VIGIMZIH XLI
their soldiers, who had been killed and buried in that area since 1914, had to RSFPI WEGVEQIRX SJ HIEXL JSYRH XLIMV ¿ REP VIWXMRK
be left behind in ‘enemy territory’ without any noteworthy and lasting memorial TPEGI MR XLI WSMP SJ +IVQER ,IMQEX -R VIZIVIRGI [I
to commemorate them. Their fallen had sacriiced their lives during the ‘Watch FS[ SYV LIEHW FIJSVI XLI KVIEXRIWW SJ XLI WEGVM¿ GI
on the Somme’, a ‘heroic’ battle in defence of the Fatherland. Holding out in the 7SQQI E WEGVIH REQI JSV EPP XLSWI XLEX WYVZMZIH
tremendous volume of shell ire, against a numerically superior and better supplied
enemy, turned the battle into a topos of the German experience of war on the SergeantKarlEisler,Reserve-Feldartillerie-RegimentNr29
Western Front. The ‘wall of iron and i re’ had not been broken – it had become the
equivalent of the French maxim ‘Ils ne passeront pas’ – They shall not pass!

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