What were the tactics used in the battle of the somme 1916?
It’s difficult to summarise, it was a period of tactical flux & both the offensive tactics of allies & the German response evolved rapidly over the 100 odd days of the battle. Very basic themes for each major participant are as follows: The French entered the battle in a having learned a great deal since the fighting of 1914; small unit infantry tactics utilising numerous grenadiers & LMG teams. They had enjoyed relative success from the word go and had only to refine their tactical approach as the battle progressed. The British story is a less happy one infantry tactics were crude and relatively inflexible, placing an onous on keeping schedule and large unit, extended line formations. This was a real misuse of the new armies, who had had a fairly thorough & tactically sound training regime (rememeber how tactically advanced the pre-1914 British infantry was) and were far from the haplss dupes they are often portrayed as. Their abilities were demonstrated as the battle progressed, they
