THE SOMME OFFENSIVE
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sta;—May I venture a small historical correction of a point raised in Mr. H. Wilson Harris's review of Vol. III of Mr. Lloyd George's War Memoirs? The review suggests that our attack on the Somme in 1916 came as a surprise to the Germans, saying " The Germans ought to know whether they were surprised or not, and Ludendorff . . . declares specifically that they were."
Considering the haste in which they were written just after the War, Ludendorff 's memoirs have withstood the test of time fairly well ; their main bias is, naturally, against Falkenhayn's regime, which his own replaced. But Ludendorff cannot be regarded as an authoritative witness as to the opening of the Somme offensive, since he was still on the Eastern Front at the time.
There is now ample evidence from German sources that our offensive was fully expected by the Army Command on that front, and by all the subordinate headquarters. The sole important unbeliever was Falkenhay-n himself, and he was only surprised to the extent that he viewed the impending attack as a preliminary to the main blow which he expected to come in the north. Hence. despite the abundant warning he received, any large reinforcements were withheld.
It would seem that Falkenhayn's hesitation to credit these warnings was due to his feeling that the British preparations on the Somme were too blatant to, be true. Ludendorff naturally made the most of Falkenhayn's personal mis- apprehension, reasonable as this was. But it does. nbt justify the suggestion that our attack was a surprise " to the Germans." The publication of the British Official History two years ago decisively settled this question.
Passing to.a broader question that is raised by the review, I agree with Mr. Wilson Harris that the generals were quite honest in their disbelief in any alternative to their own dcctrine and plan of concentration in the West. But Mr. Lloyd .George's memoirs. as I read them, do not. suggestotherwise. What he ' impugns, with Concrete examples to support his accusation, is the dishonesty of the steps they took to obtain the rejection of other plans and the adoption of their own.—Yours truly,
B. H. LIDDELL HART.
The Athenaeum, Pall Mall, S.TV .1. • [Mr. Wilson Harris writes : If Captain Liddell Hart makes me a present of Falkenhas-n as well as Ludendorff I am not doing so badly. But I readily defer to Captain Liddell Hart's own verdict.]
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