Haig's pyrrhic victories
From Mr Clive Wright Sir: In his review of My Father's Son: the Memoirs of Earl Haig (Books, S April), Philip Warner writes that the first Earl Haig won the battles of the Somme and of Passchendaele. Without wishing to replay old records or diminish in any way the courage of the soldiers involved, may one ask by what criteria these were judged vic- tories? In both cases only very small territo- rial gains were made and these in no way approached the strategic objectives that Haig had set. Furthermore, the enormous casualties suffered by the British troops exceeded those of the Germans (allowing for the difficulties of establishing definitive estimates). Passchenclaele left the army desperately weakened to face the German offensive the following spring And Haig's performance was certainly not unquestioned at the time. Writing about victories by the BEF, the prime min- ister, Lloyd George, wrote in November 1917 with some sarcasm, 'When I look at the appalling casualty list, I sometimes wish it had not been necessary to win so many.'
Clive Wright
82 St George's Square, London SW1
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