I strongly agree that the first day of the Battle of the Somme was a disaster for the British army. This is because they had 59,000 casualties with almost 20,000 deaths on that first day. It was the worst day in British army history. They also made little to no ground. They lost too many men for so little gain. Their artillery failed even though it had been going on for a week and over 1.7 million shells were aimed towards the German trenches. So as soon as the artillery stopped the German knew what was coming and as a British journalist put it "they were cut down like grass by German machine-gunners" showing a complete failure of tactics. There is no doubt that this day (1st July 1916) was a complete disaster for the British army. But source B suggests that it was not a complete disaster for the British army saying "The village of Mametz was taken and ground near Thiepval was captured" This shows that the British did achieve some of there objectives and used these grounds to great effect. Source C also suggests that the "British commanders did learn important lessons for later fighting on the western front" showing that the fighting was valuable insight and potentially helped them turn the tide on the western front. Source A says that the British casualties "have not been heavy" and that "many prisoners have already been captured by British forces" These both show that they didn't lose many men and they took valuable prisoners that could've been useful for the Germans. However there is no doubt that they didn't do well and as source B says "got nowhere on the first day" showing how tough it was and for nothing. Source C says bluntly that it was a "disaster" and that they "failed to achieve there objectives" showing the miscalculation of the manoeuvre. Source C also says that "Its artillery failed to destroy the German defenses" This supports the reason that they weren't able to break through was down to poor planning and tactics. Also, Source B says that the casualties were "shocking" showing the lack of insight that they put into the operation. There is reason to suggest that it wasn't a disaster. Overall, the main objective wasn't to gain ground but to relieve pressure on Verdun which they did. Verdun did turn the tide of the war, so you could say that was down to the Somme. But overall, the evidence clearly points to the First day being a massacre with 54,000 casualties and no progress made.