ABSTRACT
Edmonds began work on the first Somme volume in 1929 and completed it in 1932. This volume covered preparations, planning and the events of the first day of the battle, 1 July 1916. In 1929 alone Edmonds circulated drafts to 800 officers who had participated in the battle. Not surprisingly, given the import and the tragedy of the events of that single day in British history, the drafts of the first volume attracted considerable comment. A number of senior figures, like Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd, Chief of Staff Fourth Army, and his GSO1, Maj.-Gen. Russel Luckock, objected to the tone of the volume and requested that key sections be toned down. Sir Launcelot Kiggell, Haig’s Chief of Staff, expressed the same concerns and was anxious to seek omissions and amendments to sections which specifically reflected poorly on Haig himself. The War Office also intervened on a number of occasions for similar reasons. These interferences reflected not simply personal sensitivities but the grappling that was taking place in the late 1920s and early 1930s to shape the foundations on which the reputations of leading figures such as Haig, Lloyd George or Churchill were to be based.
