Clay_Allison
Staff Sergeant
- 1,154
- Dec 24, 2008
I don't know if Haig was at fault, but who ever was stupid enough to walk 65,000 British soldiers into machine gun fire on a single day should have led the next charge solo.Sorry to thread hijack, but I have to differ with Maestro here. Haig was absolutely NOT an arrogant butcher, and 'lions led by donkeys' is an appalling piece of revisionism which has been raised to the level of dogma.
Haig and every other general on both sides of that war had entered on the war in 1914 expecting it to be like every recent European War - short, violent and decisive. What they got was a war which they had not learned to fight. WWI could not be fought by the art of warfare current in 1914 - commanders were forced to adapt, and they did this incredibly well. British, French, German and Russian commanders constantly refined their assault tactics, which led to some spectacular breakthroughs - the first week of Fall Gehricht at Verdun, the opening weeks of the Brusilov Offensive, and the opening weeks of the German Peace Offensive immediately spring to mind. In all of these cases, exploitation of the advance proved impossible because the technology simply did not exist at the time to keep supplies moving forward as fast as the assault troops. Nor did technology exist to allow either side to effectively flank the trench system, anchored as it was by the sea at one end and the Alps at the other.
Haig, and the other generals who fought that war, were writing the rules as they went along - they had no other choice. There were moments of exceptionally poor judgment, particularly around the Passchedaele campaign. I won't deny that, although I would say that Market Garden is just one example of equally poor judgment being exercised in another war. I believe it is grossly unfair though to characterise Haig, or any other WWI general as arrogant and insensitive to thier losses - Haig in particular, found himself unable to visit field hospitals because of the effect the sight of his wounded men had on him. The only exception I would make is Falkenhayn - his plan for Fall Gehricht was little short of a war crime and he should have been punished for it, IMHO.
So in conclusion, I think modern historians are too willing to put the boot into WWI generals who are not here to defend their choices, and are too willing to criticise without first understanding that the war which began in 1914 was one which simply had not been prepared for in the preceding years because no-one had foreseen it's coming.
Trained or not, I think I'd have the sense to stop murdering my own men for zero gains.