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The First Day on the Somme 1 July 1916 (Penguin History)

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This is a very detailed account of the first day of the Somme offensive in 1916. In one day, the British Army suffered over 57,000 casualties (including 21,000 dead) - a 50% loss rate. Middlebrook chronicles how Kitchener's New Army was raised and trained in 1914-1915, with high hopes for achieving a decisive success in 1916. While the Germans knew the date and location of the offensive, they failed to move up adequate reserves because they underestimated the length of front that was to be attacked. General Rawlinson, Commander of 4th Army, bears much of the blame for the disaster in Middlebrook's account, due to his insistence on slow, clumsy "wave" infantry attacks, inflexible artillery support and non-use of cavalry for exploitation. Faulty British tactics led to total repulse on most of the front with heavy casualties, but in the one place where success was achieved with three divisions, Rawlinson forbade further advance. Attacking in broad daylight, at a walking pace into dug-in machine guns behind extensive barbed wire was found to be a very bad idea. Rawlinson had no concentration of effort; all infantry and artillery was spread evenly along the front. Nevertheless, British numbers (a 7-1 advantage) and courage could have scored a major success according to Middlebrook if the New Army had been properly used. The author stops to review the battle at set periods and he concludes with a very well-done analysis chapter. Excellent appendices cover both sides Orders of Battle, senior officer casualties, battalions that lost more than 500 men on 1 July and Victoria Cross winners. Although the maps could be a bit better, this is military history that is thoroughly researched and well written.

If you read only one book ever on the First World War, this should be it. When written some thirty years ago Middlebrook was not only taking the opportunity of interviewing still-lucid but fast-ageing survivors, but establishing a whole genre - one that he himself was to remain master of in a whole series of later books, all splendid. "The Somme" does however remain his best, partly because of the sheer pathos and epic grandeur of the theme and the simple dignity with which the survivors describe the sacrifice of a generation. I have read and reread this book over a twenty year period, and my children in turn have been as moved as myself, and it has been the inspiration for an emotionally wrenching family visit to the battlefield and its memorials. Like few books I have ever read this tells of the dignity, valour and heights of virtue to which ordinary men can rise. It tells of misery and suffering on an epic scale, but the underlying memory of generosity and of the soaring grandeur of the human spirit. This book achieves in prose what Sassoon and Owen did in poetry. It is truly inspirational. Don't just read it - give it to your children too.

The battle of the Somme has gained such notoriety for what it has "managed" to stand for: thousands of corpses littered one on top the other in a huge battlefield while thousands of men are charging over them while machine gun fire is mowing them down systematically and shelling is tearing them furthermore to pieces.
Being possibly the last battle in modern history where "old tactics" were used against modern werfare, the battle of the Somme has been a very brutal antiwar message. A message not learned of course.
The British army suffered its doomiest 3 days in its history as it sent waves of 1000's of men to charge withoout any cover against trenches defended by machine guns. The results might seem to you (even if you dont know the story) predictable, but for the British generals of the time things were apparently not as clear.
While the author makes his approach primarily from the British point of view (for the respective German view try the classic "All quiet in the the Western Front) he still manages to capture the overall atmosphere of that surreal bloodbath. He does so by providing countless first hand accounts by the people who -miraculously- survived. These accounts bring forth a picture of trully hard to imagine dimensions. One of unparallel death toll, carnage, pointlessness, human idiocy, vanity, and in short a picture only humans in this world are capable of "painting".
As over 60.000 British soldiers literally became "food for the cannons" (a german euphemism) in less than a day, they turned an otherwise dull landscape in France into a place of remembrance and somber thought. And, contemplation for future generations one would think. This would of course presuppose that future generations are aware of such dark pages in history which i very much doubt.
The author walks a tight rope as he tries to first give you a historical overview of what had happened up to that point of the war, what the balances were (sociologically) and he moves on to the logistics and military analysis of the war without tiring the reader as he becomes more concerned with the human aspect of the people who were actually there. Those that lived and more importantly those that died.
He doesnt overpush his case, he hardly needs to, as you will also find out. Some of what he describes is so hard to stomach that there is obviously no need to overstate it in order to drive the point home. The more you read on the more you acquire the reality that death isnt notable only when it's brutal. In the end what makes war one of the most pointless human "expressions" is that the termination of life always comes down to the ancient conflict between the question "why" and the reasons for war themselves. The answers should be obvious. Emphasis on the "should"..
Overall,this book is one of the very best accounts on the battle of the Somme. Keeping in mind the time this book was written it has extra value as it contributed in setting new standards for writting history. It lets the people themselves narrate compared to the "old school" history books where an author would go on a monolithic account that would tire and illuminate only marginally.
Stunning...

Martin Middlebrook gives the best account of one of the blodiest days in the history of the British Empire, July 1, 1916. He interviewed the survivors of that day, reconstructing the battle hour by hour. These old men who were once the "Flower of England's Manhood" reconstruct the day hour by hourfrom the pre dawn barrage to the end of the day when the shattered remnants of proud regiments and Pals' battalions crawled and limped back to their own trenches. Even knowing the outcome does not lessen the tension when one reads this. The World War One generation will soon pass from our world and into our memory. The youngest veterans of that war are nearing 100 years old. This book is a tribute to their humanity and spirit.

I'm surprised that there was no readers review on this great book. I have read nearly all of Martin Middlebrook's books and this was the book that got me started. It was and still is the best account you'll have the pleasure to read covering the first day on the Somme. It's graphic, touching, sad and horrific, you can see the images of the men walking into the machine gun fire and being mown down. If you think that all WWI histories are boring accounts of figures and strategic movements this book will change your mind. Find a copy!

One of the nicest researches on WW I: Middlebrook put an advert in a paper and started to correspond with survivors. This eventually lead to a classic work in military history.

The Western Front got into a deadlock from 1914. The British thought that a very heavy bombardment could force a breach in the German line, through which the infantry would simply walk through. After days of shelling, the Tommies got up from their trenches and marched, heavily packed towards the German lines. There, the Germans had sheltered through the artillery bombardment and now manned their machine-guns. The result was a massacre as the British Army had it blackest day.

The perpectives range from soldier-level to the main picture. The feelings of hopelessness, duty and courage are compelling. And so is the description of the genius behind this useless operation, Field Marshall Haig.

The Somme saw 60,000 casualties in its first days. An entire generation of English youth was whipped out as they charged into a hail of led. This definitive account of the first day of the battle gives a wonderful introduction into the horrors of trench warefare in World War One and will make you understand why the war created so many pacisifists since the battles were full of meaningless slaughter. A very scholaraly account which includes much military detail and many maps and figures that makes one feel like they are an arm chair general at the Somme. A wonderful account of the epic battle.

A brilliant account on how British soldiers were lead to believe that war was an easy game, only to find out they were being used as pawns by those in command. Not one British family came through it all without loosing a son or two.

The battle of the Somme should never be forgot, as it illustrates, on how the military can make judgements without taking into account the loose of life.

I have just read The Bottom Five by Benson S. Forbes which incorporates facts described in this book and I am pleased the author has given Martin Middleton's 'Somme' full credit.

This is a fantastic book, and absolutely essential for anyone interested in the First World War, or in English society in the early 20th century. Middlebrook is a fabulous writer: no pyrotechnics, just an elegant, clean style. He gets out of the way and allows the events to convey the power of this story.

HOWEVER, the Kindle edition suffers from absolutely terrible copy editing. It is painfully evident that Penguin simply scanned the paper version and did not bother to have an editor review the text for errors. A spell check would have picked up 90% of them ("S" for the number 5 is a common one). Shame on Penguin. Quality control continues to be an issue for Kindle books.

A very good book about the failure of the British Imperial generals to adapt to WWI trench warfare and the enormous loss of life that this entailed.