Initially public support for the Battle of the Somme offensive was tremendous.  The newspapers spoke in terms of ‘advances’, ‘leaps forward’ and ‘captures’. 

It was not until the offensive had been underway for some weeks that it became obvious a very high price was being paid. 

Haig’s confidence before the Battle of the Somme was misplaced.  At zero hour the Allied troops climbed out of their trenches and started to advance at a steady walking pace towards the German lines. 

As they did they were cut down in thousands under a hail of machine-gun fire. 

The Battle of the Somme itself was preceded by an eight day Allied artillery battery using 1,573 guns. 

The guns started on June 24 and continued without break until the start of the offensive.  At its peak they were sending over 150,000 shells an hour.  It was assumed this would have destroyed the German lines, though this was not the case. 

General Sir Douglas Haig spent the first six months of 1916 planning a major onslaught on the German lines. He proposed to use about 700,000 men which would give him a seven to one superiority over the Germans in the chosen sector north of the River Somme. 

He believed that his offensive – known to his staff as ‘The Big Push’ – would surely end the war.  It was destined to be the largest and longest continuous engagement fought since the beginning of recorded history.

General Sir Douglas Haig – known as ‘Butcher Haig’ was born in 1861 and died in 1928.

The Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force was the recently appointed General Sir Douglas Haig.

In many quarters he has come to be regarded as both incompetent and a butcher – indeed at the time he was sometimes referred to as ‘Butcher Haig’.

The Battle of the Somme was originally planned as a joint British/French operation to ease massive pressure on the French at Verdun.

However, the Battle of the Somme became an overwhelmingly British operation with some French support at the southern (Somme) end of the line.  

The Battle of the Somme was the initiative of General (Later Earl) Sir Douglas Haig.