Stalemate, trench warfare and Haig

Source A

The three main objectives with which we had commenced our offensive in july had already been
achieved…Verdun had been releieved; the German forces had been held on the Western Front; and the
enemy’s strength had been very considerably worn down.

From the speech written by Haig after the Battle of the Somme.

Source B

Far from the German loss being the greater, the British army was being worn down – numerically – more
than twice as fast, and the loss is not just to be measured by the bare numbers. The troops who bore the
brunt of the Somme fighting were the cream of the British population – the new volunteer army… A
general who wears down 180,000 of his enemy by expending 400,000 men has something to answer.

From the official history of Australia in the War, by C.E.W. Bean

Source C

It is not too much to say that when the Great War broke out our Generals had the most important
lessons to learn. They knew nothing except by hearsay about the actual fighting of a battle under
modern conditions . Haig ordered many bloody battles in the war. He only took part in two. He never
even saw the grpund on which his greatest battles were fought, either before or during the fight.

From the War memoirs of David Lloyd George