BATTLE OF THE SOMME: JULY 1916

Battle of the Somme

1st July - 13th November

The battle plan for the Summer 1916 Allied offensive had been agreed in december the previous year. In the early months of 1916 the remnants of the BEF and the influx of new recruits (a mixture of volunteers and conscripts) known as Kitchener's New Army became invovled with the 'big push'. It was believed that with a decisive offensive the German army could be crushed and the war would be over.

The plan was for the British to attack between Serre in the nouth and Curlu to the south, a 15 mile portion of the Western Front. The French would attack a smaller 8 mile portion between Curlu and Peronne south of the Somme.

In common with other similar offensives the allies undertook a week of heavy shelling of the German lines to obliterate the German trenches - the intention being to allow the advancing British troops to walk over no-man’s land and take the German trenches unopposed. During the course of the week British gunners fired over 1.6 million shells. The Allies were so confident that the plan was going work that they ordered the men attacking to carry full kit and to walk over no-man’s land, any man seen running were to be shot.

Unfortunately the bombardment gave the Germans clear indication that an attack was imminent and in addition to this the chalk soil of this part of the lines made digging trenches and bunkers very easy compared to elsewhere along the front. Subsequently the trenches were not destroyed by the barrage and some shells did not explode at all. However the Allied forces were not aware of this and so at around 7:30am on 1st July 1916 British and French officers blew their whistles, having ordered their troops to walk towards the German lines.

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Along the German lines Maxim machine guns started firing mowing down thousands of slowly advancing Allied troops. It is said that about 90% of casualties were caused by German machine guns and the injuries they inflicted. By the end of day the British had sustained over 60,000 casualties of whom 20,000 lay dead, this still to this day is the single greatest loss of life by the British army in a single day.

The effect on the new volunteer armies was significant with whole battalions being wiped of the face of the earth. Initial press reports sought to manage the outcome of the offensive recording many to have been captured and not killed. It was not long until the truth came out and the British public are exposed to the true horror of the Battle of the Somme. At the end of the Somme offensive total casualties amounted to over 600,000 casualties including the dead and the missing. Many of the missing that still have not been found have their names inscribed on the walls of the Thiepval memorial, on the memorial there are over 70,000 names

Real footage from the Battle of the Somme.