Meet the Butcher of the Somme

Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, is quite possibly one of the most delusional military officers of all time.

Haig’s Leadership and Tactics

Douglas Haig was the Commander of the British Expeditionary forces during WW1 and is one of the major reasons the British Army suffered such horrific losses during the war.

Despite being a high-ranking officer in the British Army, the man genuinely believed that the same tactics used in previous conflicts would work just as well. He genuinely believed that waves of men would be able to overwhelm the Imperial German Forces, despite the fact that machine guns now existed and such attacks would be ineffective. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would know charging even one machine gun nest would be a bad idea, but not Mr. Haig here.

To him, the machine gun was “overrated” and would have no effect against traditional tactics. So thanks to this yahoo, thousands of men were needlessly slaughtered because he was too dense to realize mass charges were a bad idea. Worse still, he did not seem to be phased by the terrible losses the army took, as he saw them as “acceptable.” During the Battle of the Somme, 20,000 men were killed in a single day and many more suffered terrible wounds, but Haig did not seem to care. As he would continue to order charges again and again, which would ultimately give him his title as a Butcher.

The Battle of Passchendaele

But this was nothing compared to what came next… In 1917, the French army was barely hanging on, and the U.S. had now joined the war. Common sense would dictate that it would have been best to wait for the Americans to arrive to relieve some units and reinforce the front lines. But guess who lacked that??

Instead of waiting, Haig was somehow able to organize another offensive. Still believing numbers would win out over the German machine guns, Haig launched an offensive that would be known as “The Battle of Passchendaele.” Long story short, it was another Somme but worse. As thousands of troops were forced to march into a swamp bog that was the terrain which heavily favored the German defenders. In total, 250,000 British soldiers would either be killed or wounded in that battle. It was only with the arrival of US forces that the front lines did not break. That’s how bad the battle went.

Haig’s Legacy

Somehow, Haig was not fired or shot for his actions and would remain in command until the war’s end. But his standing within the military had indeed dropped significantly as a result of his leadership. Though after leaving the military, he did devote his life to the welfare of ex-servicemen.

Still, it is recognized by many that Sir Haig was one of the worst commanders in military history.

~NC