Let's not lose sight of the undeniable fact that the Somme was a spectacular British victory and forced the Germans back 40 miles.
Edit- If you wish to find a battle which illustrates the indifference of British generals to the lives of their men, the Somme is not your example.
You should look at operations where British commanded forces almost entirely composed of dominion troops. Gallipoli and Salonika, 3rd Ypres, the campaigns in Africa and the like.
British generals didn't throw away British lives lightly. But they felt no remorse in sending Canadians, Australians and colonials into slaughter.
[Edited by Dhampy, 2/21/2010 9:34:14 PM]
Since you edited there, The Australians and Canadians had their own forces and generals.
The Australians fighting near Turkey.
The Canadians in France, and it was a Canadian who shot down and killed the Red Baron :P
They commanded their own divisions, but the only dominion general to advance beyond that was Arthur Currie.
The ANZAC was commanded by Birdwood, I believe, and he was a Brit.
All other dominion units were single divisions for the most part, or doled out by the company or battalion like the ghurkas were.
Edit- Re: the Somme as a victory. It also forced the Germans to reorganize their division structure, from around 10k to around 8k--but with more heavy weapons--to keep the illusion of having superior numbers. This structure would come back to haunt them in late 1918, once they had the huge French and American divisions (around 20k each) maneuvering against them in the open. By comparison, I seem to recall that British divisions numbered around 12k throughout.
[Edited by Dhampy, 2/21/2010 9:52:09 PM]