One of the most important battles of the First World War was the Battle of the Somme. Douglas Haig was the British General who planned and executed the campaign, which began on July 1, 1915.

Visiting the battlefield on March 31, 1917, Haig reflected (De Groot, 1989) upon the hundreds of thousands of British casualties:

Credit must be paid to the splendid young officers who were able time and time again to attack these tremendous positions…To many it meant certain death, and all must have known that before they started.

CERTAIN DEATH: the British soldiers of the First World War were no different than Islamic Suicide Bombers. Except that the British were much more generous in their willingness to gift young men: 908,000 dead and two-million wounded (see table below).

Best regards,

Richard Koenigsberg

PS: For additional discussion, see my essay  Suicide Warriors.