Simple Somber Example of Applying an Idea

The following is a somber example of a simple invention applied to create a deadly effect at the Battle of the Somme.

Early in 1916 the Allied Forces on the Western Front decided on a major offensive - to break through German lines in the summer of that same year. By the end of November when the offensive was called to a halt, the Allies had gained approximately 6 miles of territory at a cost of over 600,000 causalities.

Prelude to the Battle

The opening round of the battle was a week long barrage in which a million shells were reigned down on the German defenses; however, and this appears to be a major factor, two thirds of the shells were shrapnel.

So confident were the British generals on the effectiveness of this opening round that Rawlinson is reported to have commented:

"the infantry would only have to walk over to take possession."

It turned out that the opposite was true. A lot of frontline German defenses were left intact including the barbed wire fortifications, and the infantry advanced on what were in some cases fully fortified positions.

The First Day

When the barrage stopped, as was the style of war, the British troops went over the top and advanced on the German positions. The result was decimation. At the end of the first day 20% of the British army had been killed, injured or were MIA.

Root Causes

The failure of the attack can be laid at the feet of many causes but principal among them was the failure of the British artillery to destroy the German emplacements and to clear the “no man's land” of barbed wire.

Two significant factors contributing to this failure were:

1. Shrapnel was ineffective at clearing the barbed wire. Why is this the case? Because barbed wire is mostly space and the flying particles will pass through the space and leave the wire intact.
2. The British artillery was not accurate enough to bombard the frontline German positions. In some places only 300 yards separated the German and British front lines. The “tolerance” of the British artillery was 300 yards and so in places where the opposing front lines were close, the artillery could not fire on the German front lines for fear of hitting their own troops.

The Effectiveness of Barbed Wire

The solders going over the top and advancing across no man's land were faced with barbed wire and heavy machine gun fire coming from the German trenches. To pause and cut through the wire was to present yourself as an even better target and so solders would instinctively move towards apparent gaps in the wire that the Germans had created. As a result, they were funneled into areas where the machine fire was concentrated.

Dark and somber as this observation may be, it highlights how something as simple as the thoughtful of the use of barbed wire can produce dramatic results.

Personal Note: I’m excited by the idea of creativity and innovation. I see the creative process as expansionist, uplifting and something that contributes to the well being of people on many levels. With this background it may seem counter-productive to quote this example of innovation; nevertheless when my attention was first drawn to the barbed wire example, I was struck with the effectiveness of this very simple tool.

In order not to reduce this piece of writing to the level of an abstraction, something that frequently seems to happen when we write about war, I would note that the Battle of the Somme cost 1.5 million casualties. That’s 1.5 million mothers who would see their children killed or seriously injured.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_somme

Primary Reference Source