Page 51 - History of War - Issue 30-16

THE SOMME: 1916–2016

“EVEN THOUGH NOT OFFICIALLY AUTHORISED, GERMAN DIVISIONS

BEGAN TO FORM PERMANENT STURM COMPANIES”

made the ability to launch rapid counterattacks On the Somme, the German Army had lost
even more important. more than 430,000 men – a terrible loss
To achieve this, companies were broken of manpower that it would never be able to
down into four platoons instead of the usual replace. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that
three. The fourth platoon was made up of the the German Army emerged from the battles of
most experienced troops, those able to act 1916 as an even more powerful foe than it had
and operate on their own initiative and without been before it. In this, the Allied offensive failed
orders. Even though not ofi cially authorised, to achieve what it had set out to do.
German divisions began to form permanent The German lines and German morale
Sturm companies and battalions. These elite remained unbroken. Though losses had been
all-arms units were made up from the most severe, there were still enough reserves to
reliable, i ttest and most experienced men, send a number of divisions to the Eastern
and were tasked with the most challenging and Front, where they effectively defeated the
difi cult offensive missions. Romanians, who had joined the war against
In recent years, it has often been stated that Germany in August 1916.
the British gained more as a direct result of the The Somme had indeed been, as Captain
battle and that the collective experience of it von Hentig said, “a muddy i eld-grave of the
A German cannon
had been a necessary step in the development German Army.” Yet it was also the birth place of buried under trees,
of Kitchener’s citizen army. It is often forgotten, a new German Army – one that would be able to Louage Wood, 10
though, that lessons learned at the Somme, continue the i ght effectively against all odds for October 1916
also allowed the Germans to repel and counter another two years and which still managed to
Allied attacks in 1916, and prepared them well i ght the British Army to the brink of the defeat
for the coming battles of 1917-18. in the Spring of 1918. The Somme. Everything we had
anticipated, now stretches before
us in all its awe inspiring, shocking
Machine-gun
platoon of the and almost fairy-tale-like beauty.
125th Infantry As far as the eyes could see, in a
Regiment in wide arc from the left to the right.
August 1916
The eyes start analysing, trying
to link the apparitions of light to
corresponding detonations. A huge
GSRI SJ ¿VI [LMGL MW EGGSQTERMIH
by a terrible cacophony of exploding
shells of the heaviest calibres, seems
to be pointing directly at us and a
WIE SJ ÀEQI MW WTSYXMRK JVSQ MX
It is impossible to tell from which
WMHI XLI TVSNIGXMPIW LEZI FIIR ¿VIH
Everywhere, absolutely everywhere,
and in quick succession there are

ÀEWLIW SJ PMKLX ERH HIXSREXMSRW MR EPP
tone pitches imaginable. Whole salvos
detonate, crash down and rebound.
Like a gigantic natural spectacle:
Mountains crashing down, deadly
avalanches, erupting volcanoes. Mixed
into it there is the rattle of machine
guns and the cones of searchlights,
which are probing the terrain for prey.
Our men mingle with comrades who We are right in the middle of In its regularity and inexorability,
have only just returned from the front a wasteland of shell craters. XLI FEXXPI¿IPH LEW XLI ETTIEVERGI
line. They tell them of the horrors of Everywhere around me the men of a huge bone grinder, its massive
battle, of trenches that don't deserve are taking shelter in holes and pestles grinding into a huge mortar
to be called by that name anymore, craters and I can only wonder ruthlessly squashing the human bodies
of having to survive in the hellish how many of them are going to contained in it. The terrible sight,
MRJIVRS SJ WLIPP ¿ VI WLIPP ¿ VI SJ E see the next day. For the last 90 and the immense roar accompanying
kind that can't be described by words. days the enemy has tried to force it, appeared to be too much for some
They speak of collapsing dugouts, of a a breakthrough, but we did not let of the men to bear. Interestingly, it
rain of shards, shrapnel and splinters, him pass. He may push us back, but seemed to affect those who appeared
of horrible and utter carnage and the he will never break us! If Tommy to be strongest, the most cheerful
wailing and screaming of wounded and thinks he has eliminated all signs ones, those who seemed to have the
dying comrades (...) Here on the Somme of life, then he will come and WXVSRKIWX RIVZIW ¿VWX 7SQI SJ XLIQ
everything happens on a grand scale, attack. And if he does, we will be passed out with a shock of the nerves
even the dying! ready for him. and had to be sent to the rear.
Lieutenant Kurt Trautner Lieutenant Werner Seebeck LieutenantKurtTrautner, Images: Alamy, Getty
Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr 102 Infanterie-Regiment Nr 24 Reserve-Infanterie-RegimentNr102

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