The continuous shelling for five days and five nights gave the British officers and men blind optimism, and they walked towards the German positions like an outing, lined up in a neat formation, stepping on drums and singing, which did not look like a battle at all.

The German machine gunners were ecstatic, they just had to pull the trigger.

The British did attack like a "wave" and then fell apart like a wave on a cliff, and a German soldier recalled after the war: We watched them advance in amazement, we had never seen anything like this - we just had to shoot, load, shoot again, reload, they fell in hundreds, we didn't need to aim, we just shot at them.

The British had so many troops that in some areas the troops could not be deployed at all, the soldiers were crowded together, unable to advance or retreat in the gaps in the barbed wire fence in front of the German positions, and three British cavalry divisions did not have time to enter the battlefield, and the battle ended in a haste.

On the first day of the attack, the German shooters were finally reluctant to shoot, allowing the lost British soldiers to drag the wounded out of the battlefield, and the seriously wounded could not be evacuated, and continued to shoot at the Germans.

The Germans were forced to return fire, leaving more than 20,000 corpses in the "no man's land" in the middle of the battlefield.

The offensive at the Battle of the Somme was divided into three parts, with the British in the center and the French troops under Foch on the right flank.

The center and the left flank made little progress in the first day of the offensive, but the right flank broke through, unlike the dogmatism of Foxi and Henry Rawlinson, the French army absorbed enough experience in the previous battles with the German army, and with the destructive power of artillery, the French army broke through the two German lines of defense one after another, but because of the lack of troops, no strategic breakthrough was formed.

That evening, German reserves caught up to fill the gap, and the front stabilized again.

On the third day of the Battle of the Somme, Roque received a telegram from Kitchener, demanding that Roque return to London immediately.

Although Roque did not know Kitchener's purpose, Roque had a vague sense that Kitchener's summons must have something to do with the casualties of the British Expeditionary Force on the first day.

Although Britain had colonies all over the world and its war potential was far greater than that of Germany, it could not afford to consume it at the rate of the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

When Roque came to London, it was already June 17th, and in just ten days, the war had made new progress, not on the Western Front, Verdun and the Somme on the Western Front were still meat grinders, the Anglo-French forces and the German army were struggling in the flesh mill, and the breakthrough was the English Channel and Galicia, just as the Battle of the Somme was launched, the Battle of Jutland broke out, and Russia also launched an attack on Austria-Hungary in Galicia, both of which achieved satisfactory results.

The Battle of Jutland was the only large-scale naval battle during World War I, and after the outbreak of World War, the German High Seas Fleet hid in a military port and did not dare to go out, and the Germans were very disappointed.

Under pressure from Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German Navy took the initiative to go out of port to look for an opportunity to fight the British Navy.

The commander of the British Home Fleet, John Jellico, had been looking forward to this day for a long time, but the German Navy showed extraordinary combat effectiveness, and the British Royal Navy lost three battle cruisers, three cruisers, and eight destroyers in the Battle of Jutland, and the Royal Navy suffered 62,000 casualties.

In contrast, the German High Seas Fleet lost one battleship, one battle cruiser, four light cruisers, and five destroyers, suffering only 2,500 casualties.

Although the losses of the German Navy were relatively small, the German Navy lost the courage and confidence to fight the British Navy, and there was no large-scale naval battle until the end of the World War.

Compared to the Battle of Jutland, the Russian Empire's victory in Galicia was even more brilliant.

Alexei Brusinov was indeed a genius commander, and the two defeats at the Battle of Lake Narach did not stop Nicholas II, who demanded that Alexei Brusinov continue the offensive and must go to a victory similar to that of Constantinople.

Nicholas II seems to have forgotten that the victory of Constantinople was not won by the Russian Imperial forces, and the 11th Army of the Russian Empire also suffered heavy losses in Constantinople, and the reason why Constantine was obtained was entirely because of the blackmail of the Russian Empire against Britain.

Alexei Brusinov was not stupid enough to launch a third campaign at Lake Narakhi, but placed the breakthrough in Galicia, and the campaign he organized was not only imaginative, but also aggressive, the Russian Imperial forces launched an offensive on a wide front, Alexei Brusinov placed the reserves in a very high position, and once he found a weak link in the Austro-Hungarian forces, Alexei Brusinov did not hesitate to throw himself into the reserves.

Under the command of Alexei Brusinov, the Russian Empire, which was losing after the outbreak of the world war, performed like a god, the Austro-Khalinarian Fourth Army collapsed on all fronts, more than half of its soldiers were killed, and the death toll exceeded 71,000, and three days later, Alexei Brusinov captured more than 300,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners, and after another three days, the number of Austro-Hungarian casualties reached nearly half of the total force.

Compared with the Battle of Jutland and the performance of the Russian Imperial Army, the performance of the Anglo-French army was clumsy and stupid, the French army has suffered more than 300,000 casualties since the outbreak of the Battle of Verdun, and the British Expeditionary Force has suffered more than 60,000 casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Upon arriving in London, Kitchener summoned Roque and asked him bluntly what he thought of the Battle of the Somme.

"Clumsy command, dogmatic offense, Britain has soldiers like lions, but led by a pack of monkeys—" Roque was unceremoniously referring to Roque, a description that did not come from Roque, blurted out when asked by a Times reporter about Prime Minister Asquith's opinion on the Battle of the Somme.

The heavy losses in the Battle of the Somme put great pressure on Asquith.

In all fairness, the performance of the British army in the Battle of the Somme was not directly related to Asquith, but Haig was the commander-in-chief appointed by Asquith, so Haig did not perform well, and Asquith was responsible for Haig.

Now that it has been proposed in Parliament that Asquith must be held responsible for the Battle of the Somme, the British had the opportunity to avoid this, but because of the stubbornness of some people, the expeditionary force had to suffer heavy casualties.

The "opportunity" here refers to Roque.

"I'm not asking you to say this, I'm asking you, what would you do if you were asked to command the Battle of the Somme?" Kitchener didn't hide it in the slightest, Roque could feel Kitchener's feelings, Haig and Henry Rawlinson were not disappointed by one person.

"I will concentrate my forces on key areas to break through the German positions, and even if I can't break through the German positions, I will draw the nearby German troops to the key offensive areas, so that opportunities will arise in other areas - and I will not let the soldiers sing in a neat formation to the death, this is a battle, not a banquet - I heard that the War Department sent new weapons to the Somme, but went to the battle, why? Just because the new weapon is not liked by the commander? It's ridiculous! "Roque gushes endlessly, to complain about Haig, Roque can talk about a day and a night.

Kitchener's brow furrowed, his fingers rhythmically tapping on the table, his eyes full of worry, the war breaking his heart.

"Locke, don't leave London during this time, you go back and rest first-" Kitchener didn't say much, which is understandable, after all, every decision Kitchener made was related to the fate of the British Empire.

What's more, on the question of whether to replace the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, or the new commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Kitchener may not have a say now.

"Okay, take care—" Roque looked at Kitchener a little flustered as he took his leave, but didn't know why.

Leaving the War Department, Roque turned around and went to the Quartermaster Department, Winston had just escaped, and the shells in the Battle of the Somme were not Winston's responsibility, and the current shells were all orders placed by Lloyd George during his tenure.

Winston's topic, of course, is also inseparable from munitions, especially the quality of the shells.

"I know, I know, when did there ever be a problem with the shells produced in Nyasaland? If you tell me this, you might as well go to the British arms dealers. Roque also escaped, as the size of the Nyasaland Arsenal quadrupled after the outbreak of the World War, and the new recruits were inexperienced newcomers.

"Don't be complacent, I can suppress this time, and it won't be so easy next time." Winston still did the job, otherwise he and Roque wouldn't have been able to get out easily.

"The main problem now is not shells, but how to contain some uncontrolled guys." Roque's attention is not at all on the shells, and Haig is at the heart of all the contradictions.

"Heg's question later, do you know that someone in Congress has proposed to give the order to the Americans? That is, the German submarines are too arrogant, otherwise Nyasaland can get so many orders? Winston waved his chubby hand disapprehantly, and Roque suddenly remembered why he was flustered when he said goodbye to Kitchin.

In another time and space, Kitchener was on a warship heading to Russia when the ship sank, and Kitchener died unexpectedly.

"Does Marshal Kitchener have any plans to go to Russia in the near future?" Roque asked casually.

"Of course, Secretary Kitchener is going to Russia next week for a joint ministerial meeting, and what does that have to do with you—" Winston had no idea what was coming.

Roque didn't talk nonsense, stood up, picked up his hat and left.

"Locke, I'm not done yet!" Winston jumped to his feet and shouted.

"I'll talk about it when I get back!" Roque didn't look back, and Kitchener's life was more important than the quality of the shells.