1915 pencil sketch by Alois Gruber of a German soldier with his rifle crawling through grass.
Geschreiben den . . . 1915Alois Gruber1915
"Allied intelligence assessed German casualties in July as between 130,000 and 175,000. By the end of August, that figure had risen to 200,000, which was actually a significant underestimate: after the war the German official history acknowledged 243,129 casualties in the first two months. The heart seemed to be being torn out of the old army, while its material and human resources were also stretched. G.H.Q. analysts noted a dispiriting report from one soldier's home town: 'You should have seen the recruits who were mustered this week; it was like the boys coming out of school, but they have all become soldiers; it hardly seems possible.' Older untrained men, 'until now unfit for active service, and those who have become unfit during the war,' were also to be mustered, 'Germany's last hope.'"
German casualties in the first two months of the Battle of the Somme exceeded those of the first six months in the Battle of Verdun.
Three Armies on the Somme by William Philpott, page 272, copyright © 2009 by William Philpott, publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, publication date: 2009
1916-08-30, 1916, August, Somme, casualty, casualties
