This book is the 169th entry in Osprey Publishing’s in Campaign series.

It lays out, in the first 41 pages, the context of the Somme campaign: the events in World War One that preceded it, the state of the opposing armies, strategic objectives of the opposing sides, and looks at the opposing commanders.

The rest of the 96 pages look at the first day of the Battle of the Somme including the experiences of soldiers on both sides. The concluding pages look at the battlefield today.

It’s hardly my first exposure to the Battle of the Somme, a battle that looms as large as any in the memory of Englishmen for its greatest single day slaughter of the British Army.

The book has a couple of points that stuck out for me.

First is the “triumph” of the title. There were Allied successes on the first day. The British XIII Corps took its objectives including Montauban. The French army also got as far as second-line German positions.

Second is placing Douglas Haig’s decision to continue offensive operations on July 2nd in context. At the time, due to problems in communication and co-ordination, he thought the first day casualty figures were about 16,000 – not the over 57,000 they actually were. Robertshaw also notes that the infamous remark Haig made in his journal the evening of July 2nd, " … the total casualties are estimated at over 40,000 to date. This cannot be considered severe in view of the numbers engaged, and the length of front attacked",
shows he still didn’t know the cost of the first day of battle. Furthermore, he anticipated that the usual feature of trench warfare, offensive forces suffering more than defensive forces, would hold true for this battle and casualties would be heavy.

The book also takes a look at the many reasons for the failure of the first day of the Somme and lessons learned.

Recommended for those interested in World War One history and especially for the maps detailing one of the war’s most infamous events. ( )