All goes well on Somme battle front says Haig

“All goes well on the British front” reported the Herald as the offensive on the Somme continued. “These were the opening words of a report from General Sir Douglas Haig at mid-day on Saturday.

“He also announced the capture of over 2000 more prisoners in the preceding 24 hours, together with large quantities of war material, and also a regimental commander of the 3rd Guards Brigade, and the total number of prisoners taken by the British now exceeds 10,000.”

It was reported that the Germans had suffered severe losses in the battle.“An idea of the crushing losses sustained by the enemy on the first day of the British offensive on the Somme on July 1 is obtained from a captured diary belonging to a German commanding officer.

“The 6th Bavarian Reserve Regiment, which opposed our troops at the attack on Montauban suffered 3000 casualties out of a strength of 3500.

“In another document there is shown that one battalion of the 190th regiment lost 980 men out of 1100, while the two other battalions of that regiment lost more than half of their effective strength.”

Conversely, British losses were still being down-played. “A correspondent, reflecting on the opinions of wounded men who have arrived home since the commencement of the great offensive on the Somme, emphasises the fact that a very large proportion of the cases are slight, and that before long many of the wounded will be again in the firing line.”