Quote Originally Posted by Chris1959
A sobering thought on friendly fire. In WW1 it's estimated 10% of British/ Commonwealth casualties were caused by there own side. Working that out means 95,000 KIA and 300,000 WIA by there own side, and carry that to other armies of the time, ouch!
Is indeed an impressive number. But don't forget that the British had an other way of using their artillery then the Germans and French. The British believed more in an all-out bombardment with overwhelming numbers of artillery, while the French and Germans believed more in precision-strikes. So i think that their numbers of friendly fire casualties could be lower.

And the way of attacking of the British: The infantry had to follow the barrage close to prevent the germans from leaving their bunkers to soon. Did the infantry follow to close-> casualties, did they stay away to much, the germans got enough time to prepare the defences -> slaughter .
The French and Germans used the radio to ask for artillery-support when they needed it.

British still fought in lines, while the rest smaller groups who had more tactical flexibility. The commenwealt had much more manpower then the Germans so they would win the war whatever the costs, just ask Douglas Haig