Field Marshall Haig: “The Donkey who Led the Lions?”
Haig is often called “The donkey who led the lions”. In many ways this can be argued as the truth but I to some extent disagree with this (unfair) title. It is true that Haig’s men were “lions”. They battled so bravely in the hellish trenches and were shot down in thousands on the Somme.
General Haig was in many ways described as a “donkey”. He ate in the comfort of a chateau and slept in a comfy bed, while his men lay in mud and water, eating their boiled meat. But the real reason many call him the “donkey” is from the British massacre of the battle of the Somme.
Field Marshal Haig took command of the British army in the middle of the First World War. He held the objective of simply winning the war. But this was no simple task, the allies, his king, and the British people realised on him to win.
At this time there was a complete stalemate in the Western front and it was a waste of time (and food). Haig had to break the deadlock, as there was so much pressure on him to do so. Therefore he came up with a plan, which resulted in the deaths of 60,000 men.
Along with planning out the attack with Haig, Sir Henry Rawlinson was commander of the British 4th army. He thought that the British heavy guns were able to destroy the barbed wire. Then he suggested that the men would attack by walking towards the enemy with the support of cavalry.
General Haig agreed with much of Rawlinson’s plan but not entirely. Haig had respect for his army and trusted that his plan would break the deadlock to win the war. He was totally responsible for the British success and he was under so much pressure, the deadlock had to be broken.
But Haig was not a general who led his men into battle. No, he remained behind in safety while his men lived and fought as “lions”. (Alternative view here.) Haig was a religious man, a Christian and felt it was his duty as God’s chosen instrument to win the war. If Haig made mistakes the Germans could end up winning the war.
For two years now the western front had been stuck in trenches. Now there were two lines of British trenches. Haig decided to use Rawlinson’s plan of an utter bombardment, then sending the men from both lines into battle.
For five days a bombardment began on the German trenches and barbed wire. The aim was to destroy as much of the German trenches as possible and wire. However the German dugouts in the sides of the trenches were 40 feet deep. Therefore the bombardment barely killed any men. The first aim was to destruct the German trenches as much as possible. By the end of the bombardment the trenches were blasted to pieces and broken down, but the men were safe in their dugouts. The British had succeeded in their first aim but not weakened the German army very much. The second aim was to destroy the barbed wire. When shells hit the wire they simply made it worse and this was a big mistake that Haig made. Haig should have known this and stopped shelling the wire, but he didn’t. In the bombardment hundreds of shells were fired. Because women had moved into the production factories and were working long hours, many percussion caps had not been fitted onto the shells properly. As a result many of the shells fired didn’t explode making the bombardment far less effective.
Once the bombardment had ceased the Germans came out of their dugouts and prepared for the next stage of the British plan. In the front trench officers began to prepare themselves to “go over the top” leading their men. In the second line of trenches the men began to walk slowly from their cover into the open, to supply a second wave of troops for the front trenches. Haig had said “any man who looks for cover or begins to run is a coward and will be accused of disobeying orders!”
Therefore on that fateful morning machine guns began to fire and then another until the whole German army was firing at a slow moving easy target. Then the front trench was left by its men and they began to “walk” towards the enemy. Men fell in hundreds as they walked forwards.
By the end of the morning about 20,000 men were dead. The Germans had repelled three British assaults. Only two objectives had been completed, but the troops that had completed their objective were now cut off from the rest of the army. The afternoon was much the same slaughter and the troops tried their best to complete their orders, only to be slaughtered. By the end of the first day 60,000 men were killed or wounded and the positions were struggling to hold. Had Haig realised his mistakes and his murderous orders maybe the end of that day would have been different.
In the battle of the Somme Haig had made many mistakes especially in his plans. He had to make a break in the stalemate as there was so much pressure on him to win the war. His mistakes resulted in the slaughter of the Somme. But he cannot take all the blame. Sir Henry Rawlinson also came up with the plan and therefore mistakes. The worst order of all was to make the men “walk”. Percussion caps were not fitted properly and therefore his bombardment was not as effective as he hoped.
I don’t think Haig deserves the name the “donkey”. His plan looked good on paper. Although he made mistakes it was not his fault that his plan failed. As the Schlieffen plan had looked good and failed so did Haig’s plan for the Somme. He may be still called a “donkey” for his careless mistakes, but it is clear that Sir Douglas Haig was not the only “donkey who led the lions” in the battle of the Somme.
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Just
noticed the article on the website's This Week page and thought you might be interested to know that E's Great Great Grandfather
was in fact Field Marshall Haig! The Field Marshall's son (the current
Earl Haig) lives in a lovely house in Scotland called Bemersyde and we
all went to see him at Easter. He still has a gun that his
father brought back from France! He was actually captured during the Second World War and spent most of it in Colditz.
