Douglas Haig
...eved the Somme to be a success, his reasoning being that the three original objectives had been achieved – pressure had been alleviated of the French in Verdun, German troops were prevented from transferring to the east to fight the Russians and the German forces in the west were worn down. Later however, it was discovered the diary entries were changed by Haig himself for future publication as a cover up of the enormous failure. Historian B. Liddell Hart called it “…one of the most elaborate perversions of historical truth…” This also brought to light that Haig was not trying to break through German barriers, but start a war of attrition. Haig and the other commanding officers held an unrealistic view that after heavy bombardment, the army would be able to just march over and take the German trenches. They did not foresee the “artillery bombardment [being] totally ineffective” and, viewing the recruits as lower class, thought nothing of ordering them all to march calmly to their deaths. Even after seeing the abysmal results of the battle preparation, Haig was not deterred; for five months he pressed on with the offensive. Historian Marc Ferro writes that the Somme was “almost useless from the military point of view and merely revealed the vainglory of the general”. Similarly, the Passchendaele campaign was also carried out by Haig. He insisted the advances continue, even though the men had to drag themselves through a “slimy, corpse-filled swamp so dreadful that infantry units took five hours to cover one mile, even without having to fight… up to a dozen bearers were needed to get one stretcher case to the rear.” (J Laffin – British Butchers and Bunglers of WWI) Despite the successful use of German machine guns and tanks against the allies, Haig held stead fast in his belief that “the value of horses and the opportunity for the horse in the future are likely to be as great as ever…aeroplanes and tanks are merely accessories to the man and the horse, and I feel sure that as time goes on you will find just as much use for th...