Introduction
The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest conflicts during World War One. It took place between the 1st of July 1916 and 18th of November 1916 across the River Somme in Northern France. It was one of the of deadliest battles for New Zealand in World War One. It resulted in 2111 New Zealand Soldiers dying during the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front in Europe.
The Battle of the Somme was used to take pressure off the French who were suffering heavy losses at the Battle of Verdun. It was also a way for General Douglas Haig (British Commander in—chief during World War One) to make a key breakthrough onto the Western Front. It was thought by many British Generals the battle would be an easy victory.
The failure of the Battle of the Somme resulted in the loss of confidence in the English government and General Haig increasing pressure on his role as Commander in-chief of British forces.
The two perspectives that will be described will be from a New Zealand Soldiers who fought on the Western Front in the trenches of the Battle of the Somme, looking through the eyes of New Zealand soldiers who had been conscripted for the Battle of the Somme and a New Zealand nurse who served in World War One leading to the soldiers from the Battle of the Somme. The nurses were made to put up with large amounts of stress and horrifying injuries and in many cases amputation. There were also large amounts of death in hospitals with 18,058 deaths recorded during the entirety of World War One for New Zealand.
The Battle of the Somme had a major impact on New Zealand not only for casualties, but diseases, the impact on women/families and the economic impact the battle caused for New Zealand. The result of this war was large amounts of casualties for the allies with predictions of over 1 million casualties throughout the battle with many also falling ill will diseases such as shell shock, trench foot and influenza.
Causes
There were many causes of the Battle of the Somme, one of the deadliest battles for New Zealand in World War One. The causes of this battle however where largely due to General Douglas Haig who used the Battle of the Somme for many reasons.
Firstly, the battle was initiated in an effort to take pressure off the French at the Battle of Verdun with the French taking major losses at the hands of the axis (which consisted of the German forces and the Ottoman empire). This resulted in over 3 million soldiers being deployed for the Battle of the Somme who had been held in reserves for many months in an attempt to make a breakthrough on the Western Front.
General Douglas Haig was under a lot of pressure from the British government, for example Prime Minister Lloyd George who was public about his dissatisfaction of the general so he used to attack to gain faith from the British people however the attack was poorly planned, resulting in many major consequences that would heavily impact the progress of the Allied forces against the axis.
The axis powers was fully prepared and engaged for battle with a full week of shelling bombarding on the allies causing the Battle of the Somme to become as bloody as it did and have as many casualties as it did from the get go.
The Battle of Verdun was a major battle between the French and German forces over 9 months and suffered heavy losses predominantly on the French side. The Verdun was a pivotal battle and cause to the Battle of the Somme. This was due to the battle being initially used as a way to take large amounts of pressure off the French who were being heavily bombarded by the German forces. The Battle of Verdun was labelled as one of the costliest battles in human history with a total of over 714,000 casualties.
The casualty total of the Battle of the Somme which is roughly predicted by a number of sources is over 1 million casualties. This figure is in comparison to the population of New Zealand during World War One with the population being recorded at just over 1 million. This was the lead up for the Battle of the Somme due to the large amount of death and destruction and the need for the Allies to make up ground in France to defeat the Germans.
Consequences
The Consequences of the failure at the Battle of the Somme was the major loss of life and casualties from both sides with over 1 million casualties being recorded in total over the 141 days. This was pivotal for future battles in World War One due to the major drop in soldier numbers from the next 2 years.
However, conscription had come into full effect from many nations who fought in World War One after the Battle of the Somme had finished as many soldiers who were conscripted weren’t trained until 1917. The battles of Arras, Messines, Cambrai and Passchendaele were in full throttle by this point.
A result of the failure of the Battle of the Somme for the Allies, many lost their faith in the British Government and asked for change. This was public as the Prime Minister of Great Britain; Prime Minister Lloyd George was very harsh on General Douglas Haig. However, Prime Minister Lloyd George did nothing the remove him from his position and General Haig was labelled as a butcher.
According to a British politician, Alfred Duff Cooper, George did everything in his power to undermine Douglas Haig but did nothing to actually remove him.
A consequence of the Battle of the Somme and the war in general was the amount of diseases that came as a result of World War One. Some of these included shell shock which is now labelled as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD and results in the people who have been diagnosed with the disease to not being able to control their actions for example going to the toilet. The disease first became recognised in World War One and many people thought it was cowardice and people would be shot if they didn’t follow conduct of the officers because they thought people who had the disease were too scared.
Other diseases such as trench foot and gangrene also came to prominence during the war with many people having to get parts of their body amputated due to these disease because of the lack of medical knowledge and facilities available.
Many of the Allied commanders in charge were over confident and told their battalions to walk slowly through the mud as they thought there was little German force waiting for them however it ended up turning into a massacre and this resulted in 20,000 allied lives being lost on the first day. This was also the first war that used the ‘citizen army’ which often contained soldiers who were classed as the fittest, strongest and best trained. They had been trained for over 2 years and they were deployed into action on one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war.
The conditions were terrible with there being mud commonly knee high and people sometimes drowned. There was no cover from the conditions and results in tough places to fight in.
1st Perspective- New Zealand Soldier
The introduction of conscription was made in mid-1916 just before the Battle of the Somme was due to start. Just under 20,000 New Zealand soldiers were conscripted into the New Zealand Army throughout the entirety of World War One. This was due to the increasing need for soldiers to fight on the Western Front in France. Many soldiers however volunteered for the army however due to the want to ‘die a sweet and honourable death’.
The diaries of the soldier who fought the bloody battle of the Somme are real indicators of what conditions were like during the Battle of the Somme. People were tired from fighting on the Western Front for 6 months beforehand in the Battle of Verdun. Many soldier’s diaries were filled up with names of their dead comrades that had either been killed by wounds or in action throughout the Battle of the Somme. This showing a lack of morale within soldiers with many developing signs of depression and anxiety. The soldier’s opinions started to change on war due to many believing that the soldiers who were wounded laying in the hospital were lucky compared to them as they didn’t have to worry about the constant fear of death, not only at the hands of the Germans but to their own comrades if signs of cowardice were shown. They were surrounded by their dead comrades in the trenches waiting to be removed.
The development of trench foot had started to occur at the start of the war and there were a reported 20,000 cases reported in the first 2 years of the war alone. This was treated with soldiers wearing 3 pairs of socks along with each battalion using 10 gallons of whale oil per day. This was however not what the New Zealand people initially thought. They were positive and full of morale as many had been hidden away from the reality of war and being exposed to the propaganda from the British Government. This was also however the time conscription was introduced and there were 20,000 soldiers conscripted into the New Zealand army to train in the later stages of the Battle of the Somme and future battle.
A diary entry from Corporal Edward Duthie who was wounded on the 15th of September at the Battle of the Somme. He describes how he woke up almost frozen showing the conditions they were living in during their time in France. He states that people around him were dying by machine gun fire.
Many New Zealand soldier’s experiences during their times at the Somme were very similar as in a number of files (held by NZ Archives) describe the putrid smells of dead bodies being infested by rats and other creatures. But also, the continuous need to be on edge as surprise bombardments were a usual occurrence during the Battle of the Somme. Many New Zealand soldiers also expressed their inability to make permanent friends as many died while fighting in the trenches dipping their morale massively.
2nd Perspective- New Zealand Nurse
New Zealand nurses saw some of the hardest and gruesome scenes despite many not being on the frontline. The medical qualifications of many were low compared to the doctors and nurses of today. Many nurses who attended the Battle of the Somme were convinced the same way as many of the New Zealand soldier’s that enrolled, as many were jingoists towards their country and wanted to help in any way they could. There were over 550 New Zealand nurses that served for the Allies over the course of World War One. The nurses were continuously faced with horrifying injuries and diseases such as blown limbs and heavily wounded bodies. There was also gangrene and trench foot which resulted in the need for amputation of limbs. They were constantly faced with death almost daily but their morale stayed high for the large portion of the war. The nurses weren’t necessarily always on the front line of battle helping the immediate wounded soldiers but in fact helping in places such as mental asylums which were hidden from society as people were ashamed of having these people in our country.
Many nurses were required to follow where ever the soldiers travelled whether this was on the beaches of Gallipoli or the deserts of Egypt. Many nurses were tired with shifts sometimes lasting up to 36 hours straight. Long working hours occurred often throughout the entirety of the war however through the Winter with the wards continuously crowded with wounded soldiers. This was due to sickness and disease that’s occurred such as trench foot and occurred more often during this season. After the Battle of the Somme many of the Allied nurses were relocated to a large 1040 bed ward on the Messines. If soldiers became sick or injured many would be moved away from the front and shipped to England or back to their home nation if their injuries were too severe to fight again. This is where the large proportion of New Zealand Nurses were deployed.
The ability to find public diaries of New Zealand nurses were linked due to the small amounts of nurses from New Zealand serving in the army compared to the large number of nurses that provided service from Britain. This made it difficult to find an accurate representation of the thoughts of the New Zealand nurses. However, the diary entries from a British nurse like Violet Gossett provides an insight into what the experiences of the nurses were like with quotes such as “We had a fearful lot of head cases about this time as the tin helmets were not in use.” And “Imagine a ward full of men with their brains oozing out of bad head wounds”. She also relays information that the wards were overcrowded and may amputation had to be made during her time as a nurse for the British Military in World War One.
New Zealand Nurse Winifred Scott was deployed to serve with the Australian army in the 2nd General Australian Hospital in Cairo to help to wounded from the tail end of the Gallipoli campaign and the entirety of the battles in France at the Somme and Verdun until her service finished late 1918. The diaries kept of the hospital describe that the food was often terrible but during the entire war the average beds that were taken from the facility were 1000 at all times, meaning the nurses had to be able to take care of large amounts of patients at a time putting them under large amounts of stress.
The sinking of the Marquette in October 23rd of 1915 brought about a large amount of propaganda from the British and New Zealand government with one poster reading ’10 New Zealand nurses drowned when proceeding to Serbia, Men are wanted now to avenge them’. The Marquette sinking was the largest New Zealand nurse casualty rate by one attack and brought for many soldiers to enlist and fight against the axis forces due to the patriotism by many during the time.
New Zealand nurses saw everything, even more than soldiers and all their roles were purely voluntary
Impact on New Zealand
Some important dates have come of the war such as ANZAC Day with recognises all the soldiers who fought during World War One. This is celebrated on the 25th of April as an annual tradition. This is commonly lead by dawn ceremonies and parades lead by ex-soldiers of the army. Another important date in the New Zealand calendar is the 11th of November every year known as Remembrance Day. This is due to being the date that World War One ended and the armistice being signed. This date is still relevant as in a number of countries on the 11th of November at 11am there is a minute of silence to recognise the signing of the armistice. The Battle of the Somme and World War One had a major impact on New Zealand. The ANZAC legend left by the soldier had a major impact on the rest of New Zealand as there is a famous dawn service on the beaches of Turkey to recognise the diggers who fought for the allies. The ANZAC legend describes qualities such as courage, endurance, ingenuity, initiative, mateship and discipline.
The impact on New Zealand at the time was the fact that so many lives had been lost as a result of the Battle of the Somme with xxx number of soldiers being killed in the battle. This number of casualties was a major loss to the New Zealand Army resulting in a reduction in the total number of soldiers deployed from the New Zealand battalions for the remainder of World War One. This amount of losses from battles such as the Somme and Gallipoli impacted the morale of the people of New Zealand with over 4900 soldiers not returning home from their duties overseas. This was only a small portion of the over 18,000 soldiers who died as a direct result of World War One.
The New Zealand economy took a major hit as a result of World War One as there were many tariffs on materials such as sugar among other products. This was due to the high amount of war debt that the British had gained throughout the entirety of the war. Revenue was still being made however with a good amount of New Zealand’s produced resources to be transported to the front during the war. The New Zealand took a brief spike after the war with products such as meat and dairy (which made up 35% of New Zealand’s economy) as the British tried to buy as much as they could. New Zealand were still heavily reliant on the United Kingdom for resources and also economic growth but in the mid 1920’s the British started to take a large portion of the New Zealand exports with in 1928, 41 million pounds out of the 56 million pounds had been taken from the New Zealand exports profit.
The impact on New Zealand families was huge as it was left up to the women and children who weren’t eligible to apply for war to look after each other as many of the men almost 100,000 went off to war to fight for the British empire. If the men returned home they were quite often affected mentally with illnesses such as shell shock. Some of these soldiers were moved to a mental asylum the families would not be able to go see them as they were secluded from society. This meant they would never be able to gain the same connection with their families ever again. These families would basically lose husbands, dads, sons and any father or mother figure due to the Battle of the Somme and World War One
Many people who came back from war had contracted diseases and illnesses due to the war such as gangrene which often resulted in amputations and possible death this affected them in their later work life as they weren’t able to find a job back home meaning they weren’t able to look after and support their family. Gangrene is a disease where something such as gas in particular mustard gas gets into the skin and kills it. This resulted in the amputations required however now the disease is now curable.
In conclusion, the Battle of the Somme and World War One was the war to end all war and there were major perspectives from the side of New Zealand soldiers as well as the nurses who served alongside them. Both these parties provided very different experiences however both shared similar ideas that the Battle of the Somme as well as World War One was terrible for humanity and a massive waste of human life. There was also a major impact on New Zealand as a result of the Battle of the Somme as well as the Battle of Verdun which was a major reason the Battle of the Somme even happened causing for the major loss in life. In summary, a quote about ANZAC Day. “This is a day not of celebration but of national memory. It’s a day when we learn, and learn again, of the horror of purposeless war. It is a day for looking after your mates, cherishing your home, your neighbourhood and family. It’s a day for realising how rare this wonderful country of ours is and how precious it is.”