SOMME INTELLIGENCE: Fourth Army HQ, 1916

In 1914 the British army intelligence corps consisted of about 40 officers, a maverick crowd regarded with suspicion by their Commanding Officer who requested an early transfer. On arrival in France, they were attached to battalions and engaged in vital reconnaissance and interception, and in 1916, with the Somme in prospect, Intelligence was based at the Fourth Army HQ. This book takes the reader chronologically through intelligence intercepts relating to the battle, based largely on the handwritten reports of Sergeant Harry Platt of the 11th battalion, East Lancashire Regiment, the famous Accrington Pals. Harry died in August 1951 aged 56. As the author explains, much of the intelligence was over-optimistic and did not take account of the Germans' deep underground shelters and 15 miles of unbroken barbed wire. On 26 April a letter written in Nuremberg says "we have to fill out a form saying what provisions we have. But we have no stocks in these hard times." A soldier's wife in Munich describes how the local women smashed the shops and cafes in protest against the lack of food. On 28 June a German soldier writes home that all the dugouts are blown up and that letters are no longer being delivered. British shelling has been non-stop for 144 hours. The Allied attack started on 1 July, and a disheartened German diarist records "the whole of 10th company were taken prisoner". On 3 July a German order from above tells the soldiers "We must win the battle despite the enemy's momentary superiority in guns and infantry". But that is difficult in the face of "hostile aircraft flying only 100m metres high". In August the diary of Lieutenant Karl Bopp, written in the intense heat that doubled the hardship, records constant relentless bombardment by French aircraft. He hears of the death of an old friend and cries in his trench. "Our airmen are so inferior... their courage and daring cannot be compared to the English and French". In October a German observation balloon is tethered over the occupied and bloodily contested town of Bapaume. As the theatre of war moved to other areas, the German commanders in the Reichstag were still intent on victory. 160pp, black and white reproductions on most pages.