That's a really tough question. I would like to make clear that I do acknowledge the genius of the commanders, but it was a genius from another era.

I'm going to answer your question specifically about the somme, using it as an example.

A few thoughts;

I would've combined the end of the artillery assault with the infantry "over-the-tops." One of the big issues was once the (I think) 18lb heavy artillery blew out the barbed wire, they didn't begin the assault. The fortifications were reset before the infantry raids. I remember reading a journal from an infantryman where, in both a retreat and an initial assault, he was snagged down by the wire. I also would've focused on the light artillery, riflemen, and snipers in terms of artillery targeting. Sniping both limited artillery ability and if you removed riflemen your infantry would have an easier time capturing the trenches. I would've focused on taking the village fortress in serre to establish a foothold. I would've concealed troops better rather than entrenchment, as you could essentially fight a downhill battle, especially on the northern flank. Drawing out German troops would've made it less running at machine guns and more fighting inside an actually tench. In terms of artillery fire, I believe that the commanders focused on the light machine gunners rather than shrapnel and High explosive shells, and I believe this was a mistake. Again, a light machine gun can't do much about snipers, nor can it do much about heavy artillery.

In general, I feel like the british priorities were out of order. They focused quite a bit on taking long sections of territory, that were rather slim. A 3-4 Km advancement in the front lines wasn't exactly a monumentous gain. Again, I feel it'd be better to take the fort at ser.

Timetable?

1. Use heavy artillery on german supply and communication routes
2. Use light artillery (mounted machine guns) as an initial assault to get snipers to reveal their positions, then use heavy art. to hit the snipers.

3. Weaken the north flank, to draw out the german infantry, use light infantry on them.

4. Starve out the Germans, leaving them haggard.

5. use heavy artillery to take out

• light anti-infantry guns
• Fortifications such as barbed wire and caltrops

1. Cease the artillery fire and begin the infantry assault on the trenches. Once they're controlled....

2. Hit the fort hard with heavy artillery fire.

The british couldn't keep their gains the made because theyleft open german com lines and didn't dig their heels in.