General Fritz von Below: German Second Army & the Defence of the Somme
General der Infanterie Fritz von Below commanded the German Second Army when the Anglo-French Somme offensive opened on 1 July 1916. His army held a deeply prepared defensive system but faced an attack that grew into months of attritional fighting and forced repeated changes to German command, reserves and defensive methods.
Before the Somme
Born in Danzig in 1853, Below entered the Prussian Army and rose through staff and command appointments before the First World War. He commanded XXI Corps at the beginning of the conflict, serving first on the Western Front and later on the Eastern Front during the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes.
In April 1915 he took command of the German Second Army on the Western Front.
The German position in 1916
The front around the Somme had been developed over many months. German troops occupied trench systems, machine-gun positions, artillery sites and deep dugouts cut into the chalk. In many sectors those shelters allowed defenders to survive the Allied preliminary bombardment and re-emerge when the infantry attack began.
That defensive strength should not be confused with an easy position. The Second Army had to cover a long front while German strategy was already heavily committed at Verdun.
1 July 1916
The Anglo-French attack opened after a week-long bombardment. British forces suffered catastrophic losses in many northern and central sectors, while the French and the southern part of the British attack achieved greater progress.
From Below’s perspective the first day was therefore both a defensive success and the beginning of a much larger problem. The front had held across much of the sector, but the Allies had demonstrated that they were willing and able to continue feeding men, artillery and ammunition into the battle.
Command reorganisation
As the battle expanded, the German command structure on the Somme was reorganised. In July the northern portion of the front became a re-formed First Army under Below, while Max von Gallwitz took command of Second Army and later coordinated the armies in the sector.
The change reflected the scale of the battle. One army headquarters was no longer sufficient to control the growing number of formations and the constant movement of reserves required to hold the front.
Defence and counter-attack
German doctrine in 1916 still placed heavy emphasis on recovering lost ground through counter-attack. That could restore local positions, but it could also consume reserves and expose troops to Allied artillery without producing lasting advantage.
The Somme forced the German Army to confront the cost of rigidly defending every piece of forward ground. The experience contributed to later development of deeper, more elastic defensive methods.
Why Below matters
Below is less famous than Haig, Rawlinson or Foch, but the battle cannot be understood only from the attacking side. His command faced the opposite problem: preserve a coherent defensive system under months of bombardment, casualties, local penetration and repeated demands for reserves.
The German Army prevented the breakthrough the Allies had originally hoped for, but paid an enormous price in experienced manpower and material. Defensive success on the map did not mean the system was undamaged.
Later war
Below went on to command other German armies on the Western Front. He died in November 1918, shortly after the Armistice.
Related: Battle of the Somme field guide · Western Front campaign guide · Douglas Haig biography
