Battle of Somme

Team should know best

just more men and more guns" Unaware of the strength of the enemy, the offending party marched
blindly to the death. However, it's
the failure of the generals but the success of the soldiers. As the Divisional Commander related, the
assault of Newfounders "was a
magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour, and its assault failed of success because dead
men can advance no further." And I
absolutely agree with him. A soldier has no choice. But this won't work in a software project. In war top
officers know things best(they
should, at least). In software project the TEAM knows things best. There is no point that the whole team
marches towards failure blindly.
The article demonstrates that sometimes people can really do that, which is a miracle by itself. The team
need to be able to decide.
Glorious newfounders in a software team won't succeed.

For what it teaches us

The Battle of Somme was a battle fought during World War I between Allied Forces (in particular the
British and French) against the Germans. The battle was one of the bloodiest ever, resulting in over 1
million casualties. The battle was characterized by an attempt on the part of the Allied forces to force
their way through German lines that had formed on various sides of the Somme River. While planning
for the offensive was still in its infancy, the Germans preemptively attacked the French at Verdun
leading to another deadly battle of the war (Battle of Verdun). This attack prevented the French from
fulfilling their role at Somme and forced the British to battle the Germans on their own, resulting in
numerous British casualities.

The Battle of Somme is a classic example of mismanagement, poor planning, lack of vision and lack of
capability to adapt to evolving circumstances, and ineffective communication between various levels.
These are all problems that can and do plague software development projects.

Although extensive planning often hinders software development projects, some degree of planning is
necessary. A better term than planning is actually probably vision. The military strategists who planned
the Battle of Somme did not plan effectively and had no vision of how they wanted to acheive their goal.
They went in haphazardly and suffered the consequences. Another analogy between this battle and
software development is the fact that although on the first day of the battle itself the British suffered a
high number of casualties, they continued to send more and more troops to their certain death. This can
be likened to dumping more funding and adding more people to a software project that is already failing.
Just as the British suffered even greater casualities through this course of action, a software project is
doomed to fail under a similar course of action. Another interesting comparsion that can be drawn
concerns the military tactics employed by the British at the Battle of Somme (or more appropriately the
lack thereof). Soldiers were forced to march in battle lines and were not allowed to deviate at all from
their formations. This is similar to when software projects continue along a particular path regardless of
the changinig environment in which they are operating. When software project developers and/or
managers fail to adapt to changing circumstances they will inevitably fail.

Further, the lack of communication that characterized the Battle of Somme is a problem that plagues
software projects. When team leaders are incapable of developing a rapport and communicating
effectively with their team members, disaster awaits. High level commanders were often unaware of the
terrible losses that their military was suffering during the battle, and as a result, continued with their
strategy and sent more and more troops into battle. Similarly, when communciation channels do not
exist between software developers and those that manage them a project will likely fail. The manager(s)
will not be able to gauge the morale and productivity of his team and consequently, will not be able to
modify team objectives accordingly.

In summation, the Battle of Somme can teach of many lessons about how to carry on a successful
software project. It teaches us that communication, adaptability, and vision are essential to the success
of such projects.
 Total Killed &
Nationality Prisoners
casualties missing

Great Britain 360,000+ - -

Canada 24,029 - -

Australia 23,000 < 200

New Zealand 7,408 - -

Ireland 25,000 - -

South Africa 3,000+ - -

Newfoundland 2,000+ - -

Total British Empire 419,654 95,675 -

French 204,253 50,756 -

Total Allied 623,907 146,431 -

Germany 465,000 164,055 31,000

Strategic effects

Prior to the battle, Germany had regarded Britain as a naval power and
discounted her as a military force to be reckoned with, believing Germany's
major enemies were France and Russia. According to some historians, [who?]
starting with the Somme, Britain began to gain influence in the coalition. In
recognition of the growing threat she posed, on 31 January 1917, Germany
adopted the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to starve
the island nation of supplies. Other historians would argue Britain's growing
influence in the war had nothing to do with the battle and everything to do with
her great financial and industrial strength, which inevitably increased in
importance in a stalemate war.
At the start of 1916, the British Army had been a largely inexperienced, but
well trained mass of volunteers. The Somme was the first real test of this
newly raised "citizen army" created following Lord Kitchener's call for recruits
at the start of the war. It is accurate to observe that many British soldiers who
were killed on the Somme lacked experience, but unwise to conclude, as
some historians may have done, that their loss was of little military
significance.[citation needed] These soldiers had been the first to volunteer and so
were often the fittest, most enthusiastic and best educated citizen soldiers.
For Germany, which had entered the war with a trained force of regulars and
reservists, each casualty was sapping the experience and effectiveness of the
German army. The German Army Group Commander Crown Prince
Rupprecht of Bavaria stated: "What remained of the old first-class peace-
trained German infantry had been expended on the battlefield." Despite being
promoted to Field-Marshal, Rupprecht infuriated the new German High
Command (Hindenburg and Ludendorff) by advising them to make peace. A
war of attrition was better for Britain with her population of some fifty million
than Germany whose population of some seventy million also had to sustain
operations against the French and Russians.
Some historians [who?] hold the Battle of the Somme damaged the German
Army beyond repair, after which it was never able to adequately replace
casualties with the same calibre of soldier that doggedly held its ground
during most of the battle, the implication being that by the end of the battle,
the Allied and German armies were closer to being equally matched.
However, the German Army not only maintained its line unbroken throughout,
but actually drew a few divisions away from the Western Front at the height of
the offensive for use in its concurrent invasion of Romania. In 1917, the
Germans were still able to defend effectively against British and French
attacks at Arras, Champagne (the Nivelle Offensive), and Passchendaele.
On 24 February 1917, the German army made a strategic scorched earth
withdrawal from the Somme battlefield to the prepared fortifications of the
Hindenburg Line, thereby shortening the front line they had to occupy. The
purpose of military commanders is not to test their army to destruction, and it
has been suggested German commanders did not believe the army could
endure continual battles of attrition like the Somme. Loss of German territory
was repaid many times over in the strengthening of defensive lines, an option
which was not open to the Allies because of the political impossibility of
surrendering French or Belgian territory (despite Napoleon's commonsense
dictum about the advantages of sacrificing ground).
The strategic effects of the Battle of the Somme cannot obscure the fact it
was one of the costliest battles of the First World War. A German officer,
Friedrich Steinbrecher, wrote:

Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly
“ word. ”
—Friedrich Steinbrecher

Another, Captain von Hentig, described the Battle of the Somme as "the
muddy grave of the German Field Army".