28 Aug 03

Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, PA on 3 July 1863 and Rawlinson's Charge at the Battle of the Somme River in France, 1 July 1916. Same tactics. Same result. The two catastrophes separated by only fifty-three years, almost to the day!

Lee had attempted to roll up Union lines on Cemetery Ridge south of Gettysburg from both ends. Unfortunately, his best generals were nearly all dead by the summer of 1863 (most notably, Tom "Stonewall" Jackson, killed at Chancellorsville), and both attempts had failed by mere inches, but failed nonetheless. Now, he had no choice but to attack the Union center, or withdraw from the battlefield in disgrace. It would be a long and desperate rush over open ground, but he had the best artillery in the business, and his chief of artillery had graduated at the top of his West Point class. Lee convinced himself that his artillery would dislodge and disorganize Union lines, paving the way for a decisive and crushing bayonet charge. With his army thus conclusively routed in their own territory, the latest in a long and dreary litany of thrashings at Lee"s hands, President Lincoln would have no choice but to negotiate. Murderous fighting, that so characterized this conflict, would finally come to an end!

Fifty-three years later in France, British General Rawlinson was also a man under pressure. The "Great War," that had been welcomed by so many as a "great patriotic adventure," had, since 1914, deteriorated into a stagnant, self-perpetuating, pitiless massacre that showed no signs of ending. Trenches in Western Europe had stagnated. Commanders repeatedly persuaded themselves that, with just "one more push," German lines could be broken, a breakthrough could be established, and they could then rush to the rear. Months came and went, and no breakthrough happened, despite innumerable attempts. But, Rawlinson had artillery, lots of it, and lots of shells, many made in America. Like Lee, he was convinced that his artillery could not only drive Germans from their trenches, but that it could also cut through and blow away the endless layers of barbed wire that protected them. German barbed wire was so thick, it was said light could not shine through it. With Germans all killed or driven away and barbed wire gone, his infantry could then casually walk across no-man's land and drive to the German rear. The long-awaited breakthrough would finally be at hand!

Both charges failed catastrophically! Both wars would go on for two more murderous years. Both generals could not bring themselves to confront the fact that their vaunted artillery bombardment had failed to do what it was intended to do.

At Gettysburg, exhausted Confederate artillerymen sent most of their projectiles over front line Union trenches. Rear areas were thus decimated, but the front lines came through the barrage largely intact. Confederate infantry, along a two-mile front, were subsequently wiped out. The few that made it to Union lines were killed or captured there. The Union line held, and the remnants of Lee's infantry staggered all the way back to their starting point on Seminary Ridge. Lee was forced to withdraw from Gettysburg and salvage what remained of his army. George Meade, the opposing Union commander, failed to pursue, and Lee escaped to fight once more, but the outcome of the war was now certain.

Rawlinson"s artillery also did not deliver the miracle he had been assured it would. One-third of the 1.5 million shells fired over the five-day artillery preparation never went off at impact. German infantry positions were far deeper and stouter than anyone thought, and German barbed wire was unscathed by the bombardment. Rawlinson"s own patrols had told him this, but, since that is not what he wanted to hear, the information was brushed aside.

German machine gunners quickly manned their Maxim Guns as soon as the bombardment shifted to the rear. British infantry units, on a fifteen-mile front, snaked through gaps in their own barbed wire and reassembled on the opposite side in smart ranks, facing no-man's land. They were then scythed down like so much wheat by German machine guns. The slaughter went on all day, with few British soldiers advanced more than a few hundred meters. The Battle of the Somme was to last 140 days, but the first day alone would see the deaths of 20,000 young British soldiers. Three times that number were wounded. An entire generation of British youth were wiped out. It was to be the largest loss of life ever in a single day of fighting, before or since.

Lesson: Any time you are told of miracles, miracle weapons, miracle ammunition, miracle fighting techniques, etc, never allow yourself to be taken in. Never be reluctant to face facts. The enemy may not be impressed with your "superior technology." When your bluff is called, you had better not be bluffing!

/John