1st July 1916 saw Britain and her Allies started an extensive offensive along a 25 mile part of the Western Front. The offensive happened to the north of the River Somme in rural France. Little villages are dotted all over the area along with the town of Albert. It was to be the battle that for lots of people, defined the horrors of the trench warfare of The First World War.
The Battle of the Somme lasted roughly four months with very little reward for Allied forces. The casualties endured by either side were terrible; the British Army endured 420,000 killed and wounded, the French Army 200,000 and the Germans practically half a million.
The Germans were dug in deep and strategically held the high ground thus it was clear a major effort would be essential to make inroads into German defences. The plan was to lay down an artillery barrage for 7 days before the attack. Furthermore, many mines were laid beneath the German lines. It was felt that the mines and artillery would bring about such destruction, Britain and her Allies would just simply need to move over no mans land and occupy the trenches. Sadly, this was far from the situation.
For 7 days prior to the attack, a fearsome barrage was laid down by Allied Forces firing 1.7m shells. Even so, the German trenches were dug deep into the earth delivering them with relative protection from the barrage. The mines did contribute to deaths as intended but in general, the Germans had enough time to make ready their defences once the artillery ceased and Britain and her Allies went over the top.
All along the line, the scenario was repeated. Brave men went over the top and were cut down before getting anywhere close to their objectives. At Beaumont Hamel, only 68 of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, ended the day unharmed out of about 800 men. At La Boisselle, the Tyneside Irish was almost destroyed as it attempted to advance more than 1 mile across open ground in full sight of German machine guns.
Even so, there were some positive results. The French Army had made advances in the north and south of the lines. The 36th Ulster advanced on and took the Schwaben Redoubt as a result becoming certainly one of the few to attain their main objective. Sadly, running out of ammo, German counter attacks forced the Ulstermen to pull back later that evening.
The 1st day of the Somme had cost Britain about 54,000 casualties, 21,000 of those being killed. Now, the site of the Schwaben Redoubt is marked by the Ulster Tower and close by at Thiepval, the Memorial to the Missing commemorates the names of about 70,000 men who fought at the Battle of the Somme.
The Battle of the Somme lasted roughly four months with very little reward for Allied forces. The casualties endured by either side were terrible; the British Army endured 420,000 killed and wounded, the French Army 200,000 and the Germans practically half a million.
The Germans were dug in deep and strategically held the high ground thus it was clear a major effort would be essential to make inroads into German defences. The plan was to lay down an artillery barrage for 7 days before the attack. Furthermore, many mines were laid beneath the German lines. It was felt that the mines and artillery would bring about such destruction, Britain and her Allies would just simply need to move over no mans land and occupy the trenches. Sadly, this was far from the situation.
For 7 days prior to the attack, a fearsome barrage was laid down by Allied Forces firing 1.7m shells. Even so, the German trenches were dug deep into the earth delivering them with relative protection from the barrage. The mines did contribute to deaths as intended but in general, the Germans had enough time to make ready their defences once the artillery ceased and Britain and her Allies went over the top.
All along the line, the scenario was repeated. Brave men went over the top and were cut down before getting anywhere close to their objectives. At Beaumont Hamel, only 68 of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, ended the day unharmed out of about 800 men. At La Boisselle, the Tyneside Irish was almost destroyed as it attempted to advance more than 1 mile across open ground in full sight of German machine guns.
Even so, there were some positive results. The French Army had made advances in the north and south of the lines. The 36th Ulster advanced on and took the Schwaben Redoubt as a result becoming certainly one of the few to attain their main objective. Sadly, running out of ammo, German counter attacks forced the Ulstermen to pull back later that evening.
The 1st day of the Somme had cost Britain about 54,000 casualties, 21,000 of those being killed. Now, the site of the Schwaben Redoubt is marked by the Ulster Tower and close by at Thiepval, the Memorial to the Missing commemorates the names of about 70,000 men who fought at the Battle of the Somme.
About the Author:
The horrors of trench warfare in World War I are summed up by the first day of the Somme. Battle tactics had been left behind by the progress in weapons technology and the result was the deaths of countless men.
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