Battle of the Somme: Centenary

Lord Addington Excerpts

Monday 14th March 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, I was drawn to this debate having read much of what has recently been written about the Battle of the Somme and the First World War generally which tends to sit badly with some of the myths with which I was brought up—as the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, suggested, the idea of lions led by donkeys marching forward.

As in all modern wars in Europe and the American Civil War, ranked men marching forward across fields into rifle fire—and particularly fire from a rapid-firing weapon—led to massive casualties. Effectively, given the First World War’s structures, hideous casualties were inevitable. It was always going to be that type of war, regardless of what people thought. Indeed, looking at what our rifles and weapons had done to some of our opponents in colonial warfare before might have given us a hint. There was always going to be a dreadful carnage caused by intensive manoeuvres of infantry for an assault on a position which would be met by massive force. The noble Lord is quite right to hit that myth hard. We should remember the way in which the history has evolved.

When the commemorations for World War I were being held, in an attempt to educate my daughter I asked her, “What can we do that tells you about World War I?”, and I got a copy of “Oh! What a Lovely War”. If ever something looked incredibly dated and like something written by someone who had taken on board the lions and donkeys attitude, it is that document. I will not comment any more about it other than to say that, after an hour, my daughter said, “This is boring. They all seem to be saying the same thing all the time”.

I urge the Minister to ensure that everyone continues to study this subject and to look at its history again and again. World War I is different because it is the first war from which we have a good, first-hand record from the people who fought it on the ground in massed ranks. We should largely thank the BBC, for making those recordings a while ago. We should be studying it and reminding ourselves what a pan-European war looks like.