This page will be used for Mr. Webber's P.R.S. students to complete assignments and to communicate with fellow students on issues surrounding our 10th grade Honors World History class.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Battle of the Somme
Research the Battle of the Somme and write a report on this important WWI battle. Be sure to include how the offensive was planned and executed, as well as the overall significant of the battle.
The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest and bloodiest battles in World War I. This British offensive began on July 1, 1916, where 58,000 British troops died in one day, a third of their army on that day. Even today, this number is the record for most deaths from a battle in one day. This failed attack on the German troops lasted for four and a half months, until it was finally called off on November 18 the same year. This battle took place north from the Somme river, between Arras and Albert. This battle began as an idea during the late 1915, originally intending to be a British-French joint attack. This battle was originally intended to be one of attrition; draining the German’s supplies and depleting their reserves. Territorial gain was only a secondary goal. Originally, the attack was meant to be led by a predominantly French army. However, as the time arose, it was the fearless British soldiers charging in the front lines of this bloody offensive. This major attack was preluded by an eight-day bombardment of the German lines, beginning on Saturday of June 24, 1916. The British thought that with the initially heavy bombardment, when the offensive began, the German troops would be so dazed and confused that they could virtually walk over “no-man’s land” and easily take over the German’s front lines. Then, the calvary troops would essentially “clean up” the rest of the German soldiers. Approximately 3,000 guns were used in this bombardment. In total, almost 750,000 men went into the offensive, and eighty percent of those were British. However, the bombardment failed; the munition used by the British were badly constructed, not exploding or failing to penetrate neither the barbed wire defenses nor the well-designed and built concrete bunkers of the German soldiers. Even today, many farmers on the Western Front continue to dig up munition from this attack, calling it the “Iron Harvest.” So as the British-French forces began to charge the German front lines, they were met with a barrage of grenades and machine gun fire, killing 58,000. Unfazed, the next few days, the offensive efforts continued, but made little progress. Constantly, the allied troops would push up their lines, and just as often, they would be repulsed. A stalemate ensued, albeit a stubborn one. Both sides thought that the other side was exhausted and that a breakthrough would be inevitable and come quickly. As a result, both sides of this tug-of-war battle continued to fight all throughout the summer into November. However, snow had caused the allied troops to finally pull out. The results of the battle were devastating: 420,000 British casualties, 200,000 French casualties, and 500,000 German casualties. This battle demonstrated the negative consequences to war. Intense battle and gunfire led to little territorial gain, but many human sacrifices. The battle also boosted the morale of the German troops, for winning a major and significant battle mid-way through the war. However, it most importantly highlighted the devastating conditions and unpleasantness of Trench Warfare.
Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .
On July 1, 1916 in France, the Battle of Somme began and it devastated the French, German and British troops fighting. A total of 1,300,000 casualties had occurred by the end of the battle. Germans attacked the French at Verdun and while French remained aggressive, they desperately needed support from the British. Therefore, while the battle was fought in France, the Germans and British mainly fought against one another. Generals of the Allies agreed that a successful victory could only be made if there was a war on the Western Front; therefore, British officials, wanting to help France, attacked German armies at the Somme River. For eight days prior to the official battle, the Allies attacked the Germans soldiers to deplete their resources hoping to leave German soldiers vulnerable and weaken their defense. British and French troops each used 1,500 guns to weaken the Germans. However, weapons failed to properly break the barbed wire the Germans used as a precaution when using trench warfare causing the goals of the preliminary bombardment to falter. When the war officially began, the British troops hoped to kill and capture Germans by destroying their trenches and fortified positions. Then the Calvary would step in and surround the German soldiers. The British truly believed that the war would end during this battle. To attack the Germans, the British brought all their artillery, but the Germans discovered their plan and prepared to overpower Britain. Also, British munitions did not go off because they weren’t properly built. The poorly built weapons made the British vulnerable. The Germans fought savagely and the British were not properly prepared, even though they had a huge amount of soldiers. The Battle of Somme became a huge setback and devastation amongst all countries involved. On November 14, the battle ended. The battle was unsuccessful for many reasons: the British soldier’s ammunition were poor quality, there was no element of surprise, the British troops had to fight uphill and sunlight made all the troops visible to the Germans. The officials also all had different plans to obtain victory and no one pointed out the flaws causing a confidence to form about their war plans. The confidence caused a deficiency in the soldier’s attacks because they were unprepared and uncertain of their roles. No countries have ever experienced so much destruction on the opening day of battle. About 50,000 British soldiers were killed. The war surged the Germans’ confidence because the victory during the middle of the war was very encouraging. Therefore, as the war proceeded the Germans felt strong about their fighting which left them vulnerable. The Battle of Somme was a significant battle during WWI because it describes the atrocities and extreme warfare used. Works Cited "The Battle of the Somme." Ramsdale Family Register: Genealogical Research of the Surname Ramsdale and Its Close Variants. 1 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
The Battle of the Somme occurred during World War 1 and was a battle fought between the British and French armies against the German army. The Battle of Somme was one of the largest and bloodiest battles fought during WWI. On the first day of battle, July 1st 1916 the British army lost 58,000 soldiers. The battle was fought north toward German territory between Arras and Albert. The French Commander in Chief, Joffre, conceived the idea as a joint attack with the British and the French armies with the objective to kill off much of the German forces and drain their reserves. Gaining territory was a secondary objective of the offensive. The battle was first going to be a British-French joint attack with the French forces making up most attacking army, but the plan was changed when at the beginning of 1916 the Germans attacked France with a major offensive at Verdun. This resulted in changing the objective of the attack to divert the German army from Verdun to Somme and forced them to attack a month earlier than planned. As a result of the attack at Verdun by the Germans, the British army was forced to take the lead at the battle of Somme and made up most of the forces during the attack. The attacks began with advance artillery bombardment on June 24th, 1916, for eight days and then the soldiers made their advances. Due to the lack of surprise and the continued frontal attacks into a well fortified German line the battle went on until November. Although by the end of the battle the French forces were making gains at Verdun, the British and French forces only gained 12 kilometers of ground throughout the offensive at Somme. The British and French lost a total of 600,000 soldiers while the Germans lost 500,000 soldiers during the offensive.
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme, fought near the Somme River in northern France, was a large and bloody battle planned by the British and the French to deplete the German’s reserves and supplies. However, the Allied forces faced a huge loss and failed to defeat the Germans. The plan to attack the Germans near the Somme River was agreed upon by the French and British commanders, Joffre and Sir Douglas Haig respectively, in late 1915. Though the attack was intended to contain both French and British forces, the offensive force was primarily comprised of British soldiers because of the German Chief of Staff’s (von Falkenhayn) threat against the French after their defeat at Verdun. The plan began with an eight-day artillery bombardment on German lines, executed on June 24. The Allies hoped that the severity and magnitude of the artillery would destroy much of the German defenses, leaving them defenseless against and infantry attack. The British intended to send a creeping barrage then the infantry and then finally a cavalry force to wipe out the Germans after the artillery attack. However, the artillery attack failed to destroy the German’s barbed wire front line and concrete bunkers, and thus the Germans, well protected, survived. Nevertheless, the British sent forces to attack the Germans on July 1 as was planned, but the Germans, alert and ready, were victorious on the first day causing 58,000 British casualties. While the British faced a huge loss, the French gained small victories at the southern portion of the line. The fighting continued, and both sides believed that the other side was at the point of exhaustion, which fueled the continuous fighting until November. Throughout the fighting, the British and French offensive continued to make small gains against the Germans, but the warring finally ceased on November 18 because of snow and poor weather. Overall, the Allies sent an offensive force of 750,000 to attack the Germans, but they lost a large amount of men and only gained 12 kilometers of land. While the German casualties were around 500,000, the British casualties were around 420,000 and the French lost about 200,000. This battle was almost marked the mid-point of the First World War, and it portrayed the negatives of war. The Allies lost hundreds of thousands of men, and only had a small territorial gain. The true consequences of war were revealed through this battle, and slowly the peoples’ vision of a noble and quick war filled with honor faded.
Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
In the Northeast of France, near the river Somme and the small town of Perdonne, the death of British troops exceeded 600,000 and the death of the Germans, over 400,00. One of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded. General Sir Douglas Haig took over the responsibility of the attack after the German offensive attack at Verdun. Haig decided to bombard the German’s forward defenses, for an eight-day preliminary bombardment. Haig believed that this would totally destroy the defenses of the Germans, after which the British and French would march in on Calvary and kill the Germans. Unfortunately, the General of the German Forces, General Fritz von Below, had planned for this kind of attack. For the eight-days of bombardment he ordered his troops to stay far underground. He told his troops that the British must eventually run out and at this time we will attack. So it happened, after eight days the British ceased fire thinking that all the German defensive forces had been destroyed. Haig sent 750,000 troops up against the German front-line. However, the bombardment failed to destroy either the bunkers or the barbed wire, that protected the German forces. So, under the command of General Fritz von Below, the Germans exploited their good defensive tactics on higher ground once the British forces attacked. On the morning of July 1st the British forces suffered 58,000 casualties, thus making it the worst day in the history of the British Army. However, Haig was not disheartened by these losses. Whenever the weather was appropriate, General Haig ordered further attacks on the German forces. Finally after almost 5 months of fighting the British gained the Fortress at Beaumont Hamel. However, heavy snow forced Haig to abandon his gains. With the weather worsening, Haig finally brought an end to the offensive efforts. Since July 1st, the British had suffered 420,000 and the French nearly 200,000. With the German forces losing 500,000 the allied forces had gained only 12 km at the widest point.
Works Cited "The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. "Battle of the Somme." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Briana Silva 20 March 2011 Honors Modern World History Period 4 Webber
The Somme River is located in Northern France, and was once known for its beauty and surrealism. However after World War I, Somme is mostly known for being the location of one of the worst battles during World War I. The Battle of the Somme is known for being one of the bloodiest battles during the First World War. Approximately one third of the British troops were killed in the first day alone. The Battle of the Somme was comprised of the French and British armies banning together against the German forces. French Commander in Chief Joffre created the plan in order to tire out the Germans and make them use most of their resources, as well as gaining land. Originally, the majority of the troops were to be French however, British ended up becoming the bulk of the force. About a week prior to the Battle, Britain and France decided on a preliminary bombardment, in the hopes of wiping out the German troops. This did not work effectively, for the Germans had built excellent bunkers, as well as most of the British and French ammunition was ineffective. The actual battle began on July 1, 1916. The Germans were well aware of the attack coming up, as it was the talk in most French shops. As a result, the Germans were ready in almost full force, pushing the British back into their trenches, shocked. By the end of the first day, 58,000 British soldiers were killed. The British won only a few times during the entire five months of the battle. However, as do most wars, the Battle of the Somme brought on the invention and implementation of battle tanks by the British. Although they were not as effective as hoped, the battle tank was still a great step forward in war technology. November 13, 1916 was the final day of the Battle of the Somme, resulting in a great loss for all nations, Britain, France, and Germany. There were an estimated 1,120,000 casualties. To this day, the Battle of the Somme is one of the bloodiest battles in history.
Works Cited "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Madison Catchpole 3/20/11 Honors Modern World History Mr. Webber Period 6 Battle of Somme The battle of Somme took place on the Western front in 1916. On the first day of the battle, July 1, the British lost one third of their men (58,000 troops), which still today holds the world record of men lost in battle in one day. The attack began on a thirty-kilometer front that stretched along the Somme River, from Arras to Albert. The battle lasted from July 1st until November 18th, when it was called off. The offense part of the attack had been planned since late 1915’s and was supposed to be a joint attack between the British and French armies. The main point of the battle was to attempt to drain the German army’s reserves and territorial gain was not as important in this particular battle. It was assumed that the ferocity of the attack would destroy the entire German forward defense, allowing the British troops to move forward and take the No-man’s land along with the German front lines. There was a combined amount of about 3,000 guns used in this first attack. Following the guns would be a “creeping barrage” or troops that followed the guns in quick succession. The creeping barrage would be followed up with infantry. Twenty-seven divisions of men went into the attack (750,000 men), of which 80% were British. The advanced artillery bombardment did not destroy the German’s barbed wire or heavy concrete walls. When the bombardment ceased, the Germans manned their machine gun, which caused the most damage. There were seventeen mines that were supposed to go off, only some of them were “duds” and farmers still dig them up today. The first attack came as no surprise to the Germans, since the advanced bombardment warned them. The British made little progress that day, or even in the weeks that followed. The British were forced back from their trenches due to the effectiveness of the German’s machine guns. Later in the attack, the use of tanks was brought forth. Along with fifteen divisions of men, which led to the conquering of one kilometer of land for the allies. Fifty tanks were originally deployed, but due to technical difficulties only twenty-four were used. At the end of the battle the Allies gained only twelve kilometers of land and lost 620,000 men. The German’s lost approximately 500,000 men.
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .
The battle of Somme is considered to be the largest battle of World War I and the most bloody military operation ever to be recorded. The battle consisted of an offensive by the British and French forces against the German army, which occupied some parts of northern France. On the first day of the battle, 58,000 British troops died which to this day remains a one-day record. This battle took place from July 1st through November 18th, 1916 beside the Somme River in northern France. The offensive was planned late in 1915 and was intended as a joint- French British attack. The allies assumed that if they bombarded the German forces on the other side of the field with a massive amount of artillery and bombs, then they could practically walk across nomad's land and take possession of the German front line. 15,000 British guns, together with French guns, were employed in the bombardment. However, the bombardment failed to destroy the German front line barbed wire and the heavily-built concrete bunkers the Germans had carefully constructed. Also, much of the British ammunition proved to be mere duds which were badly constructed and ineffective. Many of these charges did not go off during the battle, and even today farmers still unearth many unexploded “iron harvests” each year (Duffy). Throughout the attempted bombardment, the German soldiers sought effective shelters within the bunkers, only appearing when the artillery bombardment ceased and using their machine guns with much advantage. As a consequence of the unsurprising response of the artillery bombardment from the German forces, the Allies made little to to progress in taking possession of the German front line in the first few days of the battle. At the end of the battle on November 18th , the French and British forces only obtained six miles into German occupied territory. In the process of penetrating two miles of German territory, the British forces lost nearly 420,000 soldiers including a lost of 200,000 French soldiers. Although many historians critique this battle as a disaster for the Entente, others thought that this battle was necessary in order to win the war. The historian Gary Sheffield, in response to the battle, said, “The battle of the Somme was not a victory in itself, but without it the Entente would not have emerged victories in 1918”.
Bobby Wright Mr. Webber Honors World History 20 March, 2011
The Battle of the Somme The battle of the Somme was one of the most important battles in the western front of WWI. It was fought by the French, English, and German forces on a thirty kilometer front, a few miles north of the Somme River in northern France, during 1916. The battle came to be because of the German Schlifer plan, in which the Germans would rush into France, quickly take Paris, force the French to surrender and then focus the entirety of their army on the eastern front. However the Schlifer plan failed, and the Germans were bogged down in Trench warfare in the French countryside. The battle of the Somme was originally intended to be a largely French assault with the goal of draining German’s resources, and territorial gain being only a secondary concern. However, this changed after the Germans launched their Verdun offensive. After the attack, the French were forced to reallocate all of their forces into the defense of Verdun. The French demanded that the British take command of the offensive and push the date off the attack forwards in an attempt to divert the Germans troops and resources away from the French line. The British plan of attack was to bombard the German line with artillery until the German defenses were destroyed and their troops were in disarray, after which they planned to send in cavalry as a coup de gras that would mop up whatever force was left standing. Then, the British infantry would walk across the no man’s land to the first set of German trenches unopposed. Afterwards they would begin what they called a creeping barrage, in which massive amounts of artillery shells are shot at the land just in front of the advancing troops, which would allow the allies to advance and take the German’s second and third lines of trenches. Of course, as with all plans, this one did not go as expected. The first problem the British encountered was with the massive initial bombardment. Many of the shells they lobbed at the Germans had defects in them from the manufacturing process and did not explode on impact. They instead bounced harmlessly off of the Germans hardened underground bunkers, and even failed to cut the barbed wire the Germans had placed to stop advancing forces. In fact all that the strike did was alert the Germans that an attack was imminent. When it came time for the 750 thousand British and French soldiers, all of whom were laden down with equipment and completely unprepared for combat, to attack; they were faced with strong defenses, and machineguns that were still very much intact. In the end 58,000 British men were cut down and the rest of the force was pushed back into their trenches. However, the day was not completely without victory, as the French army, which had started its barrage on the day of the attack and still had a small measure of surprise, was able to take most of its objectives. Afterwards, and even though they had taken massive casualties, the British commanders decided to persist with their attack and, while they were usually repulsed, they did have some victories. Eventually, the heavy fighting forced the Germans to bring in reinforcements from the Verdun front, which effectively doubled the men on the German line. After months of heavy fighting, both the British and the Germans were convinced that the other side was weak and near defeat. This led to months of push and pull fighting with neither side taking the lead.
. Even when the british first deployed tanks on the battlefield, which was a huge and revolutionary advancement in warfare, they were unable to break the months long stalemate. The offensive ended on the eighteenth of November in 1917. There were nearly 1.2 million casualties, 500 thousand Germans, 200 thousand Frenchmen, and 450 thousand British, in total during this battle, which had taken the better part of a year to grind to a halt. For all this pain and suffering, the allies had barely taken 12 kilometers of ground. While the allies did complete their objective of diverting German resources away from Verdun, the Germans received a moral boost from the battle, as they felt they had overcome the odds and stopped the assault. However, when one looks at the costs of this conflict, that one person was wounded or killed for each centimeter of ground gained over the course of this lengthy battle, this battle only highlights the horrors of trench warfare.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .
One of the battles in World War I that had the most soldiers killed on one day in battle was the Battle of the Somme. This battle occurred in 1916 when the Allies attacked the Western front. The section of the Western front in which this battle took place was 30 kilometers and was named Battle of the Somme because it was so close to the Somme river, the battle was only a little bit north of the river. This battle killed 58,000 British troops within the first day of the battle, that is one third of the entire British army that was there. The battle lasted from July first through November eighteenth, it could have gone on longer but eventually had to be called off. The attack was to be one with both British and French troops working together aiming to diminish the German’s resources. The offense was not concerned with gaining any land, although if a time arrived then action would be taken. The French commander that came up with this strategy was called by the name of Joffre, the Commander in Chief. The British Commander in Chief for the battle, Sir Douglas Haig, agreed to Joffre’s strategy. This battle was planned at the end of 1915 so there were some complications with planning. At first the French forces were supposed to be the majority of the troops for the offense, but this changed. In the beginning of 1916, the German army Chief of Staff got rid of the majority of France’s troops at Verdun. This resulted in the British now being the mass of the offensive troops. The battle was scheduled to start on the first of August that year but Joffre had the idea to start the battle a month earlier in July for the reason that the French wanted German resources to be brought to the Somme rather than being used at Verdun. After this, Haig took control of the planning and execution of the battle’s attack from Joffre. However, Joffre became impatient with Haig because Haig insisted that he partner with the General of the Fourth army, General Rawlinson, since that army would be the one leading the attack. This took time to do organize the ideas of both of these military officials to work together and come up with ideas for how to plan and execute the attack.
Before the attack actually started there was something called the preliminary bombardment. This started eight days before the battle began. It was intended to take out the forward German defenses, the British thought that then they could easily go up and take control of the German front lines. The same number of British guns went off as the Germans, although the British did not manage to break through the barriers that the Germans had made around the front lines, this included barbed wire and concrete bunkers. On top of this, many of the British guns failed to work resulting in less ammunition to strike down the lines with. The Germans clearly had an advantage in the weaponry. The Germans would seek shelter behind the bunkers they had created and wait there while the British troops fired at them, only until that stopped did the Germans fight back with their machine guns. This was only the beginning of the level of underestimation the British and French troops had for the Germans. On the official first day of the battle, July first, the British troops lost 58,00 men in that one day alone. However, this did not stop Haig from stopping the offensive on the Germans. Haig eventually gained the land that he wanted, the Fortress at Beaumont Hamel, but was unable to keep it due to the weather and was forced to retreat. The weather progressed to get worse and eventually the battle had to be called off in November. Six miles of the territory the Germans had was taken along with over 620,000 of the Allied soldiers killed and 500,000 German soldiers killed. This battle is still a controversial one to this day, some believe that Haig’s approach to how the offense should go about attacking was inflexible and therefor he repeated mistakes that cost many lives. Others argue that the battle was a necessity and it accomplished one of its main goals, that being a diversion from Verdun and from that helping the French.
Works Cited "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Bataille de la Somme The Battle of the Somme took place between July 1st and November 18th in 1916 near the Somme River. It was one of the largest battles of World War I, resulting in approximately 1.5 million casualties from both sides combined. The plan to take Somme was developed in Chantilly, Oise in the winter of 1915. It was a combined invasion using both French and British forces. The invasion was planned by General Sir Douglas Haig and Henry Rawlinson. The two commanders had very different ideas of how the invasion should be carried out. Sir Haig wanted to launch one million shells at German defenses and sweep in with 22 British and French divisions, securing a 7-mile corridor into France, while Rawlinson wanted to take a series of small “bites” out of German held territory, but Haig eventually convinced Rawlinson to use his plan. The offensive planned was very similar to the D-day invasion, but the two operations had very different results. While the soldiers in the D-day offensive stormed the beaches in amphibious landers, the British army went ashore slowly and clumsily in wooden rowboats, easy targets for the numerous snipers and machine gun nests dotting the battlefield. The British knew they couldn’t just storm the beach, they had to eliminate the German defenses first, so they planned for a prolonged artillery salvo that would crush the Germans. The German army knew the British would shell them, and so dug deep trenches that kept the number of casualties to a minimum. The Germans also knew that the British would have to stop their artillery salvos before their infantry could rush the German positions, so as soon as they heard the shells stop, they rushed out of their trenches and mowed down the British troops. The British Army recorded nearly 60,000 casualties on that first day of assault, the worst one-day combat losses in its history. The Battle of the Somme also saw the first use of the battle tank in combat. The Battle of the Somme was a near-total loss for the British. While the French gained only 7 miles at their deepest point and lost about 200,000 men, the British gained only 2 miles and lost 420,000 men – approximately 2 men per centimeter. Although the allied forces lost many men and the Germans only lost ~470,000 men, time revealed that the British losses could be replaced but the German’s could not.
Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2011.
The Battle of the Somme was fought during World War I and was considered to be one of the most crucial battles fought. It was revolved around trench warfare and military strategy. This bloody battle began to take place on July 1, 1916 in northern France near the Somme river and was fought mainly between the British Fourth army and the German army. The attack was intended to be a combined French-British attack with mainly French offensive forces, however, it was the British who were the majority of the offensive forces. The first objective of this battle was to weaken the German army, the second objective was to gain territory. It was planned to destroy all of the German defenses with a massive artillery bombardment which would last for eight days, hoping they would take possession of German front lines. Subsequent to this bombardment, a creeping barrage and calvary force were inflicted to finish off the German troops. In spite of that, the Germans were prepared with concrete underground bunkers and front line barbed wire. They had waited for the British artillery to end so they could emerge from the trenches and destroy the British army with their weapons. The battle was unsuccessful for the British due to the overconfidence they had and the very well planned German defensive positions of trenches and fortified villages. The British positions were also everywhere overlooked, so the Germans had plenty of time to range their artillery and site their machine gun emplacements. They used this to their most deadly advantage. This violent battle finally ended on November 18 1916 but the British, French, and Germans lost many troops during this battle. One third of the entire British army (56,000) troops were killed within the first day of the battle, but in total the British casualties were 420,000. The Germans had suffered 500,00 casualties and the French suffered 200,00 casualties. In the end, the allied forces had only gained 12 kilometers of land.
Works Cited Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
Ciara Corbeil 20 March 2011 Honors Modern World History Period 7 Webber The Battle of the Somme was a prolonged bloodbath lasting from July 1st to November 18th 1916 between mixed British and French troops and German soldiers. The main Allied attack on the Western Front, the battle took place in Northern France near the Somme River and the towns of Arras and Albert over a 30 kilometer front. French Commander in Chief Joffre planned the preliminary attack in July, but British General Douglas Haig made most of the decisions as the fighting continued (Duffy).
The Haig and Joffre’s primary goal was to drain the Germans’ resources, and, secondarily, gain territory. Joffre intended that the attack would be mostly French and later than it actually occurred. However, the French troops at Verdun were sustaining heavy losses at the time, meaning that they were unable to assist at Somme. Additionally, Joffre hoped that an earlier attack at Somme would divert German resources from Verdun and allow the French army fighting there some relief (Duffy).
On June 24, 1916, General Haig directed his troops to begin an eight-day bombardment of the German lines with the Allies’ 3,000 guns. He reasoned that the attack would destroy the German fortifications and disorient the soldiers, allowing the infantry and following cavalry to easily break their line using the creeping barrage technique. The Royal Artillery had set up a system of underground cables for this purpose and the Allies expected a decisive victory. However, the 750,000 soldiers who marched across No Man’s Land found the barbed wire and concrete bunkers intact and the Germans perfectly functional. In truth, many of the shells intended to break the line were defective. Thus, the infantrymen, laden down as they were with supplies, were annihilated by the deadly German machine guns. In that first day, 60,000 British soldiers died (Duffy).
Over the months that the battle lasted, the Allies gained only twelve kilometers at the cost of the lives of 400,000 British deaths, 200,000 French, and 400,000 German (Tompson). Individual battles were one by both armies and the tank was first used in battle, though unreliable. The longevity of the battle was due to both sides’ confidence in their imminent victory. However, the nearly five month long battle was concluded after the Allies took Beaumont Hamel at the Battle of Ancre (Duffy).
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011
Tompson, Richard S. "Battle of the Somme." Great Britain: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE53&iPin=GB1183&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 19, 2011).
The Battle of Somme Brian Haist Mr. Webber 10th Grade Honors Modern World History 3/21/11
The Battle of the Somme was started in July 1, 1916 and ended on November 16 1916 when the British forces decided to give up the fight. It is considered one of the most important fights in World War One mostly for the number of troops lost in one day. The battle even made a new record of soldier deaths in one day: 58,000 British troops were killed on the first day of the battle. This loss of British troops totalled to a third of the army, which will hinder the British forces in this and in future battles. The Battle of the Somme was planned to be a fight with French and British forces combined to attack the German fronts and take their reserves, take control of more land, and to aid the French that were being killed by the hundreds in Verdun. However, because so many French soldiers were killed in the war so far, the battle became predominately powered by the British. The two commander in chiefs were the British Sir Douglas Haig and the French Joffre, and they had to work around the shortage of troops. Their solution was to initiate an eight day preliminary bombardment of German lines as well as deploying about 3,000 combined British and French troops. Following the bombardment, the troops were to be sent to capture the second and third trench lines. After capturing the second and third lines, the Calvary was to proceed to Cambrai and Douai to disrupt the German forces altogether by taking the previously captured lines. When the battle was to finally start, 27 divisions of both British and French were to attack 16 divisions of German soldiers. The outcome of this battle seemed very predictable but the battle went horrible wrong for the British and French. 17 enormous and powerful mines were planted before the battle to be blown off in an attempt to wipe out some of the German soldiers. One detonated early, and the some of the others were known about; the French were not very secretive with their military plan. Because of the leaked information, the Germans were able to prepare accordingly to combat the oncoming alliance. The battle was devastating; the German front line was well prepared with sturdy concrete bunkers and barbed wire, none of which could the alliance break though. German soldiers would only emerge from their bunker to mow down the alliance with their machine guns. The charges that the alliance carried often didn’t detonate due to poor construction, which led to more British and French troops dying without making much difference in the battle. The most significant and fastest taking of land was by the French when they attacked from the south. The battle had to be ended because of unfavourable weather conditions as well as poor progress, ending an uphill fight. At the end of the battle, there were an estimated 420,000 British, 200,000 French, and 500,000 German casualties that seemed unnecessary; around 1,120,000 combined casualties were made all for about 12 kilometres of land. Though the German forces had the most casualties, they held their ground quite well and wiped out an extremely large portion of the British army as well as putting a large toll on France’s army.
Works Cited "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Rochelle Dong Mr. Webber Modern World History Honors 21 March 2009 The Great War On the first of July in the year of 1916 through November 18th of the same year, the Battle of the Somme took place on both banks of the Somme River between British and French allied forces against the Germany army. Both sides suffered a tremendous amount of casualties, a total of about 1,120,000 lost. For many months before the Battle of Somme took place, the French were taking heavy losses at Verdun, a city east of Paris. To help relieve the French, the Allied forces decided to attack the Germans north of Verdun, thus requiring that the German forced would need to move some men there and away from Verdun, thus relieving the French. The plan then was to heavily bombard the German forces with artillery which would destroy the German trenches and barbed wire in front of them. Following the attacks, the Allied forces would then send troops across and storm the German line, hopefully ending with a victory on the Allied side. Alas, it did not go as planned. The Germans had dug deep trenches, and when the attack started, all the men had to do was to enter the trenches and wait until the bombardment was over. After the bombardment, they moved from the trenches to their machine guns and faced the Allied forces. The entire battle lasted several months, and ended up with many deaths on both sides. Ironically, General Foch, the head of the French army believed that battle of Somme would achieve close to nothing, and he was right. However, he was unable to stop the preceding battle as the high-up ranked officials ensured that fight would definitely take place. Around 88,000 Allied men were lost for every mile they gained in their advance against Germany. The battle finally came to a slow halt, as the snow brought a stop to the advance. They were able to gain about seven miles, and with those seven miles, more than 1,000,000 dead. The battle and the conduct of it caused much controversy. Critics argue that since Haig, the British Commander in Chief, was very inflexible with his plans, he repeated many flawed tactics, while others state that the Battle of the Somme was necessary to relieve the French at Verdun. My thoughts are that though they might have been able to relieve the French at Verdun, the Battle of the Somme balances out the French casualties, seeing that if the French did not lose them at Verdun, they certainly lost forces at the Battle of the Somme.
Works Cited Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .
Trueman, Chris. "The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. N.p., 2001. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
One of the most famous and important battles during World War One was the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was fought between the British and the French armies against the feared German army. The battle took place on July 1st, 1916. This battle was one of the most costly for the British because they lost about 16,000 men during this strategically important battle. This battle was fought on France’s soil. The Battle of the Somme was so vital and it changed the course of the first World War. The German’s were interested in taking Paris because if they could capture Paris, then they would have conquered much of France. The French initially held off the invading German army, but soon they were beginning to be overrun. The French called on the help of the British. The British also saw the importance of this battle and they quickly assisted the French. The Somme River is located in northern France on the border of France and Germany. On June 24, there was major artillery attacks on both sides. The plan of defense for the British and French was to push the German’s back as far as they could so that they were forced to retreat. The British fired artillery at the heavily bunkered Germans. Unfortunately for the British, the German’s were dug in so deep that the artillery did little in weakening the German forces. All the German’s had to do was wait out the artillery and then wait for the unprotected British troops to advance. The German’s easily picked off the advancing troops with their heavy machineguns. During the entire battle the British were only able to move the German’s back a few miles at the loss of 16,000 soldiers. This battle was one of the most significant battles in World War One because of the massive loss of troops, and the geographical importance that France played in WWI.
On the 1st of July 1916, the allies attacked the Germans on the western front, near the Somme River in northern France. French Commander in Chief Joffre, and the new British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, planned the attack in 1915, as an attempt to drain the German army of its troops and supplies. Planned as a predominately French joint French-British attack, the British troops ended up being the majority of the fighting force. At the start of 1916, the Germans had set into motion their own plan for attrition of the French forces at Verdun. Because of this, the French army was spread thin and Britain had to take over at Somme. When the French had realized that they were hard pressed at Verdun, the intent of the attack on the Somme was changed, causing it to take the role of a diversion, by attempting to draw German forces away from Verdun. With this, the date of the attack was changed from August 1st, to July 1st. Before the attack, an eight-day artillery bombardment of the German positions by the allies ensued. The allied commanders had believed that this extreme bombardment would wipe out all German defenses and allow the British troops to practically walk over to the Germans front line with almost no opposition. Just in case the eight-day bombardment was not enough, the allies had planned for a “creeping barrage” that would slowly make its way across German lines, just in front of the advancing allied infantry. In addition to the main attack, a cavalry charge was planned to sweep through the north and smash through the broken German lines, halving them. Following the bombardment, 27 divisions of allied soldiers moved in against only 16 German divisions. However, the artillery bombardment had failed, and the German defenses were relatively unscathed. As the troops advanced across no mans land, the Germans sprung out of hiding, expecting an attack. Using machine guns, the Germans slaughtered the un-expecting allied troops. On the first day of the battle, 58,000 British troops were killed, but the allied commanders were not dissuaded. The German defenses reorganized, and the battle continued through November 18th, only halting because of poor weather conditions. In the end, the British and French gained 12 kilometers of ground and suffered around 620,000 combined casualties. The German defenders were pushed back and suffered 500,000 casualties. This battle reminded the people of the world who had not see war for so long, of its atrocities, and demonstrated to the world what was to expect before the war’s end.
Works Cited Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
The Battle of Somme The Battle of Somme began in July in 1916 and ended the 18th of November. French and British forces clashed with a smaller German army on a 30 kilometer field north of the Somme River and between the cities Arras and Albert. Famously more than 58,000 British troops were killed on the first day of the battle. The Allies’ idea was to stage an aggressive offensive with a united British-French force to drain German troops of supplies and reserves. Their secondary objective was territorial gains. Commanders Joffre (French) and Sir Douglas Haig (British) agreed upon the offensive plan, although Haig was skeptical about the terrain of the battlefield. Originally, it was intended that French forces would make up the bulk of the Allies’ army, though the Germans’ invasion of Verdun prompted a significant rearrangement of French troops. German commander von Falkenhayn and his army promised to annihilate French forces, so the French apprehensively repositioned much of their army at Verdun to disable any possibility of genocide of French troops. French commanders demanded that the set date of the Allies’ attack at Somme be moved forward so that the Germans would prioritize the battle of Somme and resupply their troops at Somme, instead of their troops at Verdun. British commanders took control of the planning for the battle and began the execution of the offensive with extensive artillery bombardment of the Germans’ front lines. Surely a bombardment would destroy the German forces stationed at Somme and this battle would end as quickly as it began, reasoned Allie commanders. After the bombardment the Allies’ plan called for a creeping barrage to eliminate the remainder of German front line and advance toward the second and third lines. Nearly 800,000 Allie forces advanced toward the German trenches and a German army comprised of only 16 divisions. Allie forces had a great advantage in numbers. Surprisingly though, German forces, even the German front line remained intact; much of the Allies’ munitions proved faulty and failed to do much damage. German Forces were heavily sheltered in solidly built bunkers during the Allies’ bombardment. Primary attacks by the Allies after their artillery strike failed. British forces made little progress in the next weeks to come because the Germans were thoroughly protected. German machine guns warded off British troops and forced them into their trenches. Many British troops were immediately gunned down when they set foot on neutral land. Finally after a massacre of British and French troops, the Allie forces captured the front line of the Germans’ fort on July 11. The British continued with the offensive. They used the first tanks. The Germans’ position made them nearly invulnerable even to the 50 odd tanks the British army employed. In October, British forces made more progress but snow caused a termination of the battle. The British and French lost a combined 700,000 troops and the Germans 500,000. The battle was a disaster that only led to deaths.
Connor Asbill The battle of Somme was fought in northern France near the Somme River. The battle took place in late 1916 and was fought between the British and French armies against the Germans. The major purpose of this battle was not to gain land but instead to drain the German forces of their reserves. Gaining land was only the secondary aim to this battle. The battle was originally planned to be primarily French forces fighting against the Germans. However because of the destruction he Germans caused at Verdun many of these needed forces were diverted to help in that area. This left the British forces being the bulk of the offensive force. The battle began on Saturday the 24 of June. For eight days the British forces bombarded the German front lines. The allied forces had hoped that this extreme bombardment would severely weaken their defense. However the artillery failed and the Germans still maintained their defenses by hiding in bunkers. This was bad for the British forces because the main part of their plan had been resisted. Now when the British forces decided to finish the battle with a creeping barrage, which was consisted of sending in the infantry and then finally the cavalry to finish the job, they were met by heavy German forces. On July 1 there were approximately 58,000 British casualties. However the battle continued on. The French forces were a bit more successful in the southern end of the line. The battle finally came to an end on the 18th of November due to snow and terrible weather. This battle had many loses on both sides of the battle. Of the 750,000 allied troops deployed the British took 420,000 casualties while the French forces also took 200,000 casualties. On the other side the Germans took approximately 500,000 casualties. All this death and destruction only ended up giving a gain of about 12 kilometers of ground. This battle was a brutal battle that instilled the essence of World War One. People thought the war would be won very quickly however as seen in this battle, the war is not as simply won as people had thought.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
The Battle of the Somme was a joint British and French planned operation. It was the French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre, who originally had the idea, and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander and General to the British, Sir Douglas Haig, accepted the idea. Though Joffre was concerned with territorial gain, his main attempt was to destroy the German manpower. In the beginning Joffre wanted to use French soldiers as his main force, but the German attack on Verdun in February 1916 flipped the Somme offensive plan into a large-scale British attack. General Haig took over the operation with the help of General Sir Henry Rawlinson and came up with there own plan to attack. Haig’s strategy was an eight-day preliminary attack that he believed and assured himself would completely destroy the German defenses. General Rawlinson was in charge of the main attack and his Fourth Army advanced toward Bapaume. To the north, General Edmund Allenby and the British Third Army were expected to be in view of the German frontline. Further south, General Fayolle was advancing the French Sixth Army towards Combles. In Haig’s power were 750,000 men (in 27 divisions) against the Germans who had 16 divisions; however, the artillery attack failed to destroy any of the Germans concrete bunkers protecting them. This meant the Germans now had the advantage of the whole British and French army in the middle of the battleground, while the German were behind bunkers able to literally mow them down with machine guns and grenades. The BEF suffered 58,000 causalities (1/3 of them dead), therefore weakening the British and French’s forces. Being disheartened by the heavy losses the first day General Rawlinson ordered a continuation to attacks on the German frontline. On the 13th of July, they made a night attack that did work temporarily but German reinforcements arrived in time to close the gap. Haig believed that the Germans defenses were weakening again so he kept on attacking and further ordered attacks to try and breakthrough completely. On the 15th of September General Alfred Micheler and the Tenth Army joined in the battle at Flers-Courcelette. Despite his trial attempt with the new tanks, Micheler’s 12 divisions gained only a mile of territory. After many attacks, on the 13th November the BEF captured the fortress at Beaumont Hamel; however, the weather was not in Haig’s favor and it snowed heavily and forced him to abandon his gains. With the severe weather it weakened Haig’s forces to a point that brought an end to the Somme offense. Since the 1st of July, the British suffered 420,000 casualties. The French lost 200,000 and the German lost around 500,000. All of this bloodshed for 6 miles gain of territory.
Works Cited "Battle of the Somme." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
Once tranquil and beautiful, the landscape on the Somme River was forever changed into a dreary and somber graveyard in a matter of days. The battle of Somme occurred in 1916 in northern France. The battle was fought between the British and French against the Germans. The battlefront spanned thirty kilometers among the lush countryside of northern France, and the battle destroyed this landscape between July 1st and mid-November. This span of time proved to be one of the bloodiest military expeditions of all time. On the first days of the battle it is estimated that 58,000 British men were killed in the line of duty. After all of the battling it is estimated that over a million brave men were killed one each side. This fateful battle, referred to as the Battle of Somme, was one of the bloodiest and unforgettable battles of WWI and of all time.
It all began with the goal of weakening the German forces. The primary goal of the British and French’s operation was to deplete the Germans of valuable resources and to take a chunk out of the German’s considerable fighting force. The secondary goal was to take back some territory that had been lost. After the goals were set the plan arose. The plan was to bombard the German front line with heavy artillery. This was done in hopes of weakening the German resistance. The problem was that the German were commanded by General Fritz Von Below to stay underground during the bombardment. General Fritz Von Below anticipated the bombardment and as a result of his good judgment there were minimal German losses during the artillery strike. After the eight day bombardment the British and French forces charged the German defenses. General Haig who commanded the British forces, along with the British soldiers, anticipated minimal resistance. Contrary to their beliefs, there was actually an eager German force ready to fight back. As 750,000 troops descended on the fortified German positions all hell broke lose. The British and French battalions expected the German defenses to be in taters, but they soon found that the artillery barrage had failed and that they were sitting in a death trap. In fact, 58,000 courageous men died on the first day of battle. At the end of this day the men were forced back into their previous quarters. Over the next few weeks the allies still made little progress. Over the next few months of brutal battle the allies ended up advancing a total of about 6 miles. More shockingly over a million people were killed in this one incident in WWI. It is estimated that 500,000 Germans were killed and even more British and French were killed than that.
The over confidence of the allies paired with the failed artillery barrage led to massive allied losses. The Battle of Somme will never be forgotten as over a million men were tragically killed.
"The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
The Battle of Somme was an attack launched by the combined French-British forces on the Germans and lasted from July first to November 18th, when it was called off. On the first day of the attack, one third of the British troops were killed, making this battle definitively the bloodiest of World War I. The planning for the offensive began in 1915 by the French Commander in Chief, Joffre. The main goal of the battle was to deplete German resources, and the secondary goal was to gain territory. Joffre and Sir Douglas Haig, British Commander in Chief agreed on the plan which was an attack spanning across a 30 kilometer front, beginning north of the Somme river. Despite France intentions of supplying the bulk of the offensive troops for the attack, their manpower was needed at Verdun, where Germany had attacked them. In actuality, over 80% of the 750,000 men who launched the attack were from the British Expeditionary Force. Eventually, the offense was forced to cease due to snow conditions. The result for the British and French was 12 kilometers of gained land and around 500,000 German casualties. This war was extremely bloody, if not extremely significant in World War I. Although the French-British combined forces did achieve their goal of depleting German resources, namely killing an enormous amount of their soldiers, they also depleted their own resources. In fact, the combined British and French casualties where 620,000. They did, however also succeed in gaining territory, which fulfilled their secondary goals. Overall, this battle was both beneficial and destructive for the French-British, and very detrimental for the Germans.
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
The Battle of the Somme also known as the Somme Offensive was during World War One, between July 1st and November 18th, 1916. It is called the Battle of the Somme because it occurred in the Somme region of France, on either side of the Somme river. The battle began when the British and the French armies conducted an “offensive” against the German army in hopes to gain some of the French land back that had been largely under German control since 1914. The battle of the Somme is one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded and after the four full months of fighting there had been more than a million and a half casualties. The plan of the allied offensive was to create a rupture in the German line. Their confidence grew for this plan when the British Army took the lead on the Somme after the attack on Verdun in February 1916, however the French presence was still strong. Led by General Sir Douglas Haig, the English attempted to have an eight day preliminary bombardment of the Germans. This meant constant fire from their trenches without letting up. The theory being that after destroying them for the most part with this bombardment, the Allied cavalry would come in and finish the Germans off. The German General Fritz von Below however expected this. For these eight days he ordered his troops to stay far underground in their trenches to attempt to ware the Allied resources out. Which, is exactly what happened. Whilst the British thought they had demolished the German soldiers, Haig sent 750,000 soldiers to meet the Germans on their front line. However because the Germans nor their front lines with bunkers and barbed wire had been destroyed, the Germans destroyed the British. When the battle started on July 1st 1916 there were 60,000 casualties on the British side in that one day. Overall the casualties broke down to 500,000 Germans. 300,0000 British and 420,000 French. At the end of the five month battle, the Allies gained only about 12 kilometers in total at the widest point.
Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2011.
Ian Torbett Mr. Webber Honors World History Period 4
Battle of Somme
The Battle of the Somme, a famous British offensive, occurred during the Great War, better known as World War I, in July of 1916. The name of the battle comes from the famous river in France, the Somme, were the British and French coalition launched an attack on the German trenches to push them out of France, and back to Germany. In doing this daring offensive, the British had to carry out and execute a specific plan to carry out and execute, in order of the allies to obtain success. “The battle started with a weeklong artillery bombardment of the German lines, with a total of more than 1.7 million shells being fired. It was anticipated that such a pounding would destroy the Germans in their trenches and rip through the barbed wire that had been placed in front” (UK History). However, this tactic failed, as the Germans dug deep underground to protect themselves from the oncoming artillery barrage. As the British forces advanced closer to the German trenches, the Germans ambushed the British, mowing them down with machine guns, and grenades. The general of the British Expeditionary Force, Sir Douglas Hair, devised this tactic. The information regarding the Germans forces, and trenches were incorrect, leading to a massive loss of life for the British. “The British Army had suffered 60,000 casualties, with almost 20,000 dead: their largest single loss in one day. The killing was indiscriminate of race, religion and class with more than half of the officers involved losing their lives” (UK History). The British continued to perform their tactic, taking heavy casualties as they advanced, and pushed back the German lines. With making little progress, the allies decided to unleash the their secret weapon, the tank. The new war machine made its debut on September 19, 1916. The tank, however, was unreliable, constantly breaking down, and being stuck in the mud. Even with these faults, the tank still broke through the German lines. The allies advanced a total of eight miles, but lost over 600,000 soldiers.
Works Cited:
"The Somme 1916." Historic UK - Heritage Accommodation in Castles,cottages,hotels,bed and Breakfast,boats,dream Weddings, Living History and History Magazine. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
Sean July 1st, 1916 marked the beginning of the Somme Offensive, a concentrated British and French effort to push through German defenses to regain land lost earlier in the war. Originally conceived as a joint force between France and Britain, the French began to withdraw troops and supplies to defend a heavy attack on Verdun, leaving Haig commanding the British and Rawlinson commanding the French. Between the two commanders multiple discussion were held discussing different possible strategies. Rawlinson wanted to use a slow movement strategy, taking small sections at a time and holding before moving again, citing experience in a previous battle. Haig, however, nagged Rawlinson, the superior commander, until his strategy was adopted. As a result, the British prepared to bomb German defenses with approximately a million shells in a week, until the British could waltz through the stunned Germans, “while smoking their pipes.” As the British and French troops relaxed for an easy fight, the Germans dug even deeper into a very heavy defense. This defense stood strong against the bombing shells, made easy by the poor caliber of the British shells and abysmal accuracy, and a week later, the Germans surprised the British and French troops, who suffered massive casualties. After just a day of fighting, totals amounted to just under 20,000 dead, over 35,000 wounded, and 2,000 MIA or prisoners for just the British side, giving the Battle of Somme a somber mood for the allies. Ultimately, the Allies only made progress of 7 miles, and did little besides spend troops and resources. Through the battle, Britain began to gain more military respect in the Allies while also draining Germany of its experienced troops. Works Cited "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Jaclyn Hirbawi Webber Modern World History Period 7 20 March 2011 The Battle of Somme is considered one of the most crucial battles fought in the western front of World War I. This large, bloody battle began on July 1st 1916 and lasted through November 18th of the same year and took place along the banks of the Somme River in Northern France. The Battle of Somme revolved around much military strategy and was planned by Britain and France to deplete Germany of its reserves and supplies. The allied forces, however, faced a huge loss and failed to defeat the Germans.
Months before the Battle of Somme occurred, the French were taking big blows at a city east of Paris named Verdun. To help relieve the French, allied forces attacked the Germans north of Verdun by dividing up German forces. The plan to heavily bombard the Germans’ trenches with artillery and barbed wire ultimately failed. In actuality, German forces maintained their defenses by hiding in bunkers. This was not particularly good for the British because their plans were well resisted. Even machine gun weaponry was unsuccessful. In fact, head of the French army, General Foch, believed that battle of Somme would achieve nearly nothing. He was right. Both sides sought to exhaust the other and thought that breakthrough would be quick or inevitable. As a result, both sides continued to fight for a long period of time. Yet history has its ways of repeating itself: snow had caused the allied troops to finally pull out. The results of the Battle of Somme were shocking: 420,000 British casualties, 200,000 French casualties, and 500,000 German casualties; this totaled to approximately 1,120,000 deaths!
This battle is significant in that it demonstrated the awful ramifications of war. Many humans were sacrificed, and still generals continued flawed military tactics that included intense gunfire and combat battle in order to gain little territory. In my opinion, winning this major battle in what was the middle of WWI helped the strength and confidence of the German army. While researching this battle, I was surprised by the great deal of tenacity in those involved. The Battle of Somme highlights the horrible conditions of Trench warfare as well as stands as a perfect depiction of how WWI was not a simple, easily won war.
Works Cited Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. Trueman, Chris. "The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. N.p., 2001. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Isaac Ahn Mr. Webber Honors World History 20 Mar. 2011 The Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme was battle in World War I that lasted from the July 1, 1916 to November 18, 1916. Initially designed to be a joint operation between France and Britain, it instead became a British-led fight against the Germans. The original Allied strategy for the battle was the engage German forces in a battle of attrition. However, the primary objective for the Allies later became to divert German military manpower from attacking French forces at Verdun, where a large and vicious battle was already taking place. British General Douglas Haig organized the battle plan, and decided that a weeklong, relentless artillery barrage would be employed against German forces. It was thought this would destroy German morale and combat effectiveness across the front, allowing Allied infantry and cavalry to easily take German positions. This did not happen. The Germans had well-established defenses that were capable of withstanding artillery, and already had prior knowledge of the Allied attack. When the Allies finally attacked on July 1, the Germans were ready to fight and caused many casualties. What followed on the first day of the Battle of Somme became known as the “single worst day in deaths and casualties in British military history” (PBS). 20,000 British soldiers were killed and 40,000 were wounded out of a total of 100,000. British forces would continue to assault German positions in the following days, with little success. This continued up to mid-September, when tanks were used for the first time in WWI. The tanks, however, failed to provide any meaningful support. Ground was slowly gained by the Allies, but at a huge cost of life. Overall, there was little change in strategy, as Allied forces continued to assault enemy positions. In November, the Allied advances were stopped by poor weather conditions, and it was found that only about 7 and a half miles were gained by Allied forces during the entire Battle of the Somme. Allied casualties mounted to more than 600,000, and German casualties were around 500,000 men.
Alex Ryan Mr. Webber Modern World History Honors, Period 7 21 March, 2011 The Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of World War I, fought in the Somme region of northern France between the advancing (predominantly French and British) Allied forces and the entrenched German forces. With over 1.5 million casualties throughout the four-month course of the battle, many historians have argued that it was one of the most unnecessary losses of life during the war - especially in light of the fact that the Allies gained only six miles of territory (a loss of almost 250,000 lives per mile!) This battle also saw the debut of the first tank, a major use of airplanes, and some of the fighting most characteristic of the Western Front. The battle was first conceived of at a meeting between the French and British military commands at the end of 1915, and was to be the central Allied offensive on the Western front in 1916. Although the fighting force was originally planned to consist primarily of French soldiers, the onset of the German offensive in Verdun meant that the British soldiers would now be driving the main offensive, and contributed to the early start of the battle. The hope of the Allies for this battle was to quickly create a hole in the German western lines, and exploit it to attack other German positions from behind; however, their primary goal was not the gaining of territory, but rather the attrition of German troops and resources and the diversion of troops from Verdun in the south. Prior to the beginning of the battle, 3,000 French and British heavy artillery shelled the German positions for eight days. The incredible scale of the bombardment led the commanders (and by extension, their troops) to assume that they would simply be able to walk up to the ravaged German defenses and walk right through them. In fact, they couldn't have been more wrong - the Germans had had months to prepare their defenses, and had used their time effectively. Massive, well-constructed trenches (up to 30 feet wide in some places) and concrete underground bunkers characterized the entirety of the German line, and, when the bombardment ceased, most of the German troops promptly exited the bunkers and took up still-intact defensive positions. Adding another failure to the list, the artillery bombardment did not simply cut the barbed wire, as it was supposed to - instead, it merely tangled it, making the advance of the Allied troops even more dangerous. Even today, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st, 1916, still holds the all-time record for number of casualties in a single day: from the British forces alone, almost 60,000 soldiers died.
The day of July 1st, 1916 was a sad one. 58000 troops (approximately one third) were either fatally injured or killed on this day in the Battle Of The Somme, making it the most troops ever demolished in a single day. This day was preceded by an eight-day artillery bombardment of the German defenses. After eight days of constant heavy fire, the German defenses would then be thoroughly destroyed. The British were so sure their plan would work perfectly, one British commandeer even boasted that the British “could advance with sloped arms, smoking their pipes, and come to no harm.” However, things were nowhere near that easy. As it turned out, much of the munitions the British used were “duds,” or they never exploded. As such, the British artillery bombardment generally failed to destroy the barbed wire fences and concrete bunkers the German’s had constructed. With a combination of over-confidence and false intel, the British did not bode well in the battle, losing a devastating third of their troops. After realizing they couldn’t make any progress against the German machine gunners, the British were forced back into their trenches. Finally, after 10 more days of hard fighting, the British finally overtook the first line of German trenches, but the battle wasn’t over yet. The Battle Of The Somme waged on for another four months until November 18th when the British were forced to stop due to harsh weather. Throughout the hard-fought four months, the British faced 420,000 casualties, the French 200,000, and the Germans faced 500,000. However, despite these awesome numbers, the French and British only managed to take an embarrassing 12 kilometers of German soil, making The Battle Of The Somme one of the most devastating and humiliating battles in history.
The battle of Somme is mostly remembered for the loss of British troops. The British had 58,000 casualties, one third of their army, on the first day of battle, which today remains a one- day record. The attack was launched just north of the Somme River on July 1, 1916. The offensive, which was meant to be a joint French- British attack, was planned in 1915 by French Commander in Chief, Joffre. The first main objective of the plan was to drain the German forces of reserves. Territorial gain was the secondary aim. British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, agreed to this plan. British forces made up most of the offensive forces even though Joffre and Haig intended for the attack to be predominantly French offensive. The attack was preceded by an eight day preliminary bombardment of the German lines, starting on June 24. They hoped the ferocity of this preliminary attack would entirely destroy the forward German defenses, to allow the attacking British troops easier access to the German front lines. Almost 3,000 British and French guns were used in the attack. Following the artillery bombardment, it was determined that a creeping barrage would precede the advancing infantry to the German front line, and onwards to the second and third trench lines. Haig then planed to have the cavalry troops finish braking through the German lines. However the advance bombardment failed to destroy the German front line. Much of the British munitions failed, they were badly constructive, ineffective and didn’t go off. The first wave of attack was not a surprise to the Germans. This with the lack of success in cutting German barbed wire and in damaging their underground bunkers, led to the British having very little progress on July 1. However the French had more success because the Germans believed the French would not attack at all due to their heavy loss at Verdun. The British were forced back into their trenches by German machine guns. In September, tanks were used for the first time by the British. These first tanks surprised the Germans but proved to be highly unreliable. Not much progress was made. On 18 November the offensive was brought to a halt by poor weather- snow. During the attack the British and French had gained 12 kilometers of ground, the taking of which resulted in 420,000 estimated British casualties, including many of the volunteer 'pal's' battalions, plus a further 200,000 French casualties. German casualties were estimated to run at around 500,000.
In late 1915, the Battle of the Somme was planned as a joint French-British attack. The main goal of the battle was to drain the German forces of its reforms; the second goal was to gain territory. The main planner was French Commander in Chief, Joffre, and the new British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, agreed upon the plan. Originally, Joffre and Haif intended for the attack to be a predominantly French offensive, but the German onslaught at Verdun at the start of 1916 severely hindered French manpower and efforts. During the actual battle, British forces made up the large majority of the offensive forces. After the German Verdun attack, the French demanded a change of date for the attack. It was moved from 1 August 1916 to the 1 July to divert German resources from Verdun. Haig made most plans and preparations for the attack.
On Saturday, June 24, an eight-day preliminary bombardment of the German lines began, with the expectation that the bombardment would destroy all forward German defenses. After this, the British-French force expected to be able to easily move across the land and take possession of the German front lines. It was planned that a creeping barrage would take place to combat the advancing infantry to the German front line, and then second and third trench lines. For the attack, twenty-seven divisions of 750,000 men were made. The German forces were comprised of sixteen divisions of the German Second Army.
The odds were in favor of the British-French force. However, the advance artillery bombardment failed to destroy the barbed-wire German front line or the German concrete bunkers. Much of the British munitions were badly constructed and proved to be ineffective. Charges did not go off. Also, the Germans were protected by their concrete shelter and only emerged to man very effective machine guns.
The attack also lacked the element of surprise. It was freely discussed in French coffee shops and in letters home from the front, but also the eight-day preliminary bombardment just warned the German army of an imminent attack.
Because of the powerful German machine gun response, many British troops were forced back into their trenches. Many were killed or wounded the moment they advanced past the front lines. Other men underestimated the preparation of the opposition, and walked slowly towards the German lines, becoming incredibly easy targets for the German machine-gunners.
Eventually, the British-French forces employed the use of tanks for the first time. These tanks had many mechanical and other failures, but they did achieve a large measure of shock and surprise when sprung upon the German opposition.
The British advanced slowly during the Battle of the Somme, but eventually the battle was brought to a halt because poor weather. During the battle, the British and French gained 12 kilometers of ground and lost 420,000 British men, and 200,000 French men. The German casualties were estimated around 500,000. The battle held significant negative consequences for the manpower of the allied troops. It was almost the mid-point of the war, and there was enormous loss of life for little territorial gain. This huge loss in human life that far outweighed the military advantages gained during the battle was a clear sign that new developments in war technology had by that time out-classed military techniques. This concept was very characteristic of the First World War.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest and bloodiest battles in World War I. This British offensive began on July 1, 1916, where 58,000 British troops died in one day, a third of their army on that day. Even today, this number is the record for most deaths from a battle in one day. This failed attack on the German troops lasted for four and a half months, until it was finally called off on November 18 the same year. This battle took place north from the Somme river, between Arras and Albert. This battle began as an idea during the late 1915, originally intending to be a British-French joint attack. This battle was originally intended to be one of attrition; draining the German’s supplies and depleting their reserves. Territorial gain was only a secondary goal. Originally, the attack was meant to be led by a predominantly French army. However, as the time arose, it was the fearless British soldiers charging in the front lines of this bloody offensive. This major attack was preluded by an eight-day bombardment of the German lines, beginning on Saturday of June 24, 1916. The British thought that with the initially heavy bombardment, when the offensive began, the German troops would be so dazed and confused that they could virtually walk over “no-man’s land” and easily take over the German’s front lines. Then, the calvary troops would essentially “clean up” the rest of the German soldiers. Approximately 3,000 guns were used in this bombardment.
ReplyDeleteIn total, almost 750,000 men went into the offensive, and eighty percent of those were British. However, the bombardment failed; the munition used by the British were badly constructed, not exploding or failing to penetrate neither the barbed wire defenses nor the well-designed and built concrete bunkers of the German soldiers. Even today, many farmers on the Western Front continue to dig up munition from this attack, calling it the “Iron Harvest.” So as the British-French forces began to charge the German front lines, they were met with a barrage of grenades and machine gun fire, killing 58,000. Unfazed, the next few days, the offensive efforts continued, but made little progress. Constantly, the allied troops would push up their lines, and just as often, they would be repulsed. A stalemate ensued, albeit a stubborn one. Both sides thought that the other side was exhausted and that a breakthrough would be inevitable and come quickly. As a result, both sides of this tug-of-war battle continued to fight all throughout the summer into November. However, snow had caused the allied troops to finally pull out. The results of the battle were devastating: 420,000 British casualties, 200,000 French casualties, and 500,000 German casualties.
This battle demonstrated the negative consequences to war. Intense battle and gunfire led to little territorial gain, but many human sacrifices. The battle also boosted the morale of the German troops, for winning a major and significant battle mid-way through the war. However, it most importantly highlighted the devastating conditions and unpleasantness of Trench Warfare.
Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2011. .
On July 1, 1916 in France, the Battle of Somme began and it devastated the French, German and British troops fighting. A total of 1,300,000 casualties had occurred by the end of the battle. Germans attacked the French at Verdun and while French remained aggressive, they desperately needed support from the British. Therefore, while the battle was fought in France, the Germans and British mainly fought against one another. Generals of the Allies agreed that a successful victory could only be made if there was a war on the Western Front; therefore, British officials, wanting to help France, attacked German armies at the Somme River. For eight days prior to the official battle, the Allies attacked the Germans soldiers to deplete their resources hoping to leave German soldiers vulnerable and weaken their defense. British and French troops each used 1,500 guns to weaken the Germans. However, weapons failed to properly break the barbed wire the Germans used as a precaution when using trench warfare causing the goals of the preliminary bombardment to falter. When the war officially began, the British troops hoped to kill and capture Germans by destroying their trenches and fortified positions. Then the Calvary would step in and surround the German soldiers. The British truly believed that the war would end during this battle. To attack the Germans, the British brought all their artillery, but the Germans discovered their plan and prepared to overpower Britain. Also, British munitions did not go off because they weren’t properly built. The poorly built weapons made the British vulnerable. The Germans fought savagely and the British were not properly prepared, even though they had a huge amount of soldiers. The Battle of Somme became a huge setback and devastation amongst all countries involved. On November 14, the battle ended.
ReplyDeleteThe battle was unsuccessful for many reasons: the British soldier’s ammunition were poor quality, there was no element of surprise, the British troops had to fight uphill and sunlight made all the troops visible to the Germans. The officials also all had different plans to obtain victory and no one pointed out the flaws causing a confidence to form about their war plans. The confidence caused a deficiency in the soldier’s attacks because they were unprepared and uncertain of their roles. No countries have ever experienced so much destruction on the opening day of battle. About 50,000 British soldiers were killed. The war surged the Germans’ confidence because the victory during the middle of the war was very encouraging. Therefore, as the war proceeded the Germans felt strong about their fighting which left them vulnerable. The Battle of Somme was a significant battle during WWI because it describes the atrocities and extreme warfare used.
Works Cited
"The Battle of the Somme." Ramsdale Family Register: Genealogical Research of the Surname Ramsdale and Its Close Variants. 1 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
Battle of the Somme
ReplyDeleteWebber Pd. 4
Emily Leposky
The Battle of the Somme occurred during World War 1 and was a battle fought between the British and French armies against the German army. The Battle of Somme was one of the largest and bloodiest battles fought during WWI. On the first day of battle, July 1st 1916 the British army lost 58,000 soldiers. The battle was fought north toward German territory between Arras and Albert.
The French Commander in Chief, Joffre, conceived the idea as a joint attack with the British and the French armies with the objective to kill off much of the German forces and drain their reserves. Gaining territory was a secondary objective of the offensive.
The battle was first going to be a British-French joint attack with the French forces making up most attacking army, but the plan was changed when at the beginning of 1916 the Germans attacked France with a major offensive at Verdun. This resulted in changing the objective of the attack to divert the German army from Verdun to Somme and forced them to attack a month earlier than planned. As a result of the attack at Verdun by the Germans, the British army was forced to take the lead at the battle of Somme and made up most of the forces during the attack.
The attacks began with advance artillery bombardment on June 24th, 1916, for eight days and then the soldiers made their advances. Due to the lack of surprise and the continued frontal attacks into a well fortified German line the battle went on until November. Although by the end of the battle the French forces were making gains at Verdun, the British and French forces only gained 12 kilometers of ground throughout the offensive at Somme. The British and French lost a total of 600,000 soldiers while the Germans lost 500,000 soldiers during the offensive.
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
Battle of the Somme
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of the Somme, fought near the Somme River in northern France, was a large and bloody battle planned by the British and the French to deplete the German’s reserves and supplies. However, the Allied forces faced a huge loss and failed to defeat the Germans.
The plan to attack the Germans near the Somme River was agreed upon by the French and British commanders, Joffre and Sir Douglas Haig respectively, in late 1915. Though the attack was intended to contain both French and British forces, the offensive force was primarily comprised of British soldiers because of the German Chief of Staff’s (von Falkenhayn) threat against the French after their defeat at Verdun.
The plan began with an eight-day artillery bombardment on German lines, executed on June 24. The Allies hoped that the severity and magnitude of the artillery would destroy much of the German defenses, leaving them defenseless against and infantry attack. The British intended to send a creeping barrage then the infantry and then finally a cavalry force to wipe out the Germans after the artillery attack. However, the artillery attack failed to destroy the German’s barbed wire front line and concrete bunkers, and thus the Germans, well protected, survived. Nevertheless, the British sent forces to attack the Germans on July 1 as was planned, but the Germans, alert and ready, were victorious on the first day causing 58,000 British casualties. While the British faced a huge loss, the French gained small victories at the southern portion of the line. The fighting continued, and both sides believed that the other side was at the point of exhaustion, which fueled the continuous fighting until November. Throughout the fighting, the British and French offensive continued to make small gains against the Germans, but the warring finally ceased on November 18 because of snow and poor weather.
Overall, the Allies sent an offensive force of 750,000 to attack the Germans, but they lost a large amount of men and only gained 12 kilometers of land. While the German casualties were around 500,000, the British casualties were around 420,000 and the French lost about 200,000. This battle was almost marked the mid-point of the First World War, and it portrayed the negatives of war. The Allies lost hundreds of thousands of men, and only had a small territorial gain. The true consequences of war were revealed through this battle, and slowly the peoples’ vision of a noble and quick war filled with honor faded.
Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
In the Northeast of France, near the river Somme and the small town of Perdonne, the death of British troops exceeded 600,000 and the death of the Germans, over 400,00. One of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded.
ReplyDeleteGeneral Sir Douglas Haig took over the responsibility of the attack after the German offensive attack at Verdun. Haig decided to bombard the German’s forward defenses, for an eight-day preliminary bombardment. Haig believed that this would totally destroy the defenses of the Germans, after which the British and French would march in on Calvary and kill the Germans. Unfortunately, the General of the German Forces, General Fritz von Below, had planned for this kind of attack. For the eight-days of bombardment he ordered his troops to stay far underground. He told his troops that the British must eventually run out and at this time we will attack. So it happened, after eight days the British ceased fire thinking that all the German defensive forces had been destroyed. Haig sent 750,000 troops up against the German front-line. However, the bombardment failed to destroy either the bunkers or the barbed wire, that protected the German forces. So, under the command of General Fritz von Below, the Germans exploited their good defensive tactics on higher ground once the British forces attacked. On the morning of July 1st the British forces suffered 58,000 casualties, thus making it the worst day in the history of the British Army.
However, Haig was not disheartened by these losses. Whenever the weather was appropriate, General Haig ordered further attacks on the German forces. Finally after almost 5 months of fighting the British gained the Fortress at Beaumont Hamel. However, heavy snow forced Haig to abandon his gains. With the weather worsening, Haig finally brought an end to the offensive efforts. Since July 1st, the British had suffered 420,000 and the French nearly 200,000. With the German forces losing 500,000 the allied forces had gained only 12 km at the widest point.
Works Cited
"The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
"Battle of the Somme." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
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ReplyDeleteBriana Silva
ReplyDelete20 March 2011
Honors Modern World History
Period 4 Webber
The Somme River is located in Northern France, and was once known for its beauty and surrealism. However after World War I, Somme is mostly known for being the location of one of the worst battles during World War I. The Battle of the Somme is known for being one of the bloodiest battles during the First World War. Approximately one third of the British troops were killed in the first day alone. The Battle of the Somme was comprised of the French and British armies banning together against the German forces. French Commander in Chief Joffre created the plan in order to tire out the Germans and make them use most of their resources, as well as gaining land. Originally, the majority of the troops were to be French however, British ended up becoming the bulk of the force. About a week prior to the Battle, Britain and France decided on a preliminary bombardment, in the hopes of wiping out the German troops. This did not work effectively, for the Germans had built excellent bunkers, as well as most of the British and French ammunition was ineffective.
The actual battle began on July 1, 1916. The Germans were well aware of the attack coming up, as it was the talk in most French shops. As a result, the Germans were ready in almost full force, pushing the British back into their trenches, shocked. By the end of the first day, 58,000 British soldiers were killed. The British won only a few times during the entire five months of the battle. However, as do most wars, the Battle of the Somme brought on the invention and implementation of battle tanks by the British. Although they were not as effective as hoped, the battle tank was still a great step forward in war technology.
November 13, 1916 was the final day of the Battle of the Somme, resulting in a great loss for all nations, Britain, France, and Germany. There were an estimated 1,120,000 casualties. To this day, the Battle of the Somme is one of the bloodiest battles in history.
Works Cited
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Madison Catchpole
ReplyDelete3/20/11
Honors Modern World History
Mr. Webber Period 6
Battle of Somme
The battle of Somme took place on the Western front in 1916. On the first day of the battle, July 1, the British lost one third of their men (58,000 troops), which still today holds the world record of men lost in battle in one day. The attack began on a thirty-kilometer front that stretched along the Somme River, from Arras to Albert. The battle lasted from July 1st until November 18th, when it was called off. The offense part of the attack had been planned since late 1915’s and was supposed to be a joint attack between the British and French armies. The main point of the battle was to attempt to drain the German army’s reserves and territorial gain was not as important in this particular battle.
It was assumed that the ferocity of the attack would destroy the entire German forward defense, allowing the British troops to move forward and take the No-man’s land along with the German front lines. There was a combined amount of about 3,000 guns used in this first attack. Following the guns would be a “creeping barrage” or troops that followed the guns in quick succession. The creeping barrage would be followed up with infantry.
Twenty-seven divisions of men went into the attack (750,000 men), of which 80% were British. The advanced artillery bombardment did not destroy the German’s barbed wire or heavy concrete walls. When the bombardment ceased, the Germans manned their machine gun, which caused the most damage. There were seventeen mines that were supposed to go off, only some of them were “duds” and farmers still dig them up today. The first attack came as no surprise to the Germans, since the advanced bombardment warned them. The British made little progress that day, or even in the weeks that followed. The British were forced back from their trenches due to the effectiveness of the German’s machine guns.
Later in the attack, the use of tanks was brought forth. Along with fifteen divisions of men, which led to the conquering of one kilometer of land for the allies. Fifty tanks were originally deployed, but due to technical difficulties only twenty-four were used.
At the end of the battle the Allies gained only twelve kilometers of land and lost 620,000 men. The German’s lost approximately 500,000 men.
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .
The battle of Somme is considered to be the largest battle of World War I and the most bloody military operation ever to be recorded. The battle consisted of an offensive by the British and French forces against the German army, which occupied some parts of northern France. On the first day of the battle, 58,000 British troops died which to this day remains a one-day record. This battle took place from July 1st through November 18th, 1916 beside the Somme River in northern France. The offensive was planned late in 1915 and was intended as a joint- French British attack. The allies assumed that if they bombarded the German forces on the other side of the field with a massive amount of artillery and bombs, then they could practically walk across nomad's land and take possession of the German front line. 15,000 British guns, together with French guns, were employed in the bombardment. However, the bombardment failed to destroy the German front line barbed wire and the heavily-built concrete bunkers the Germans had carefully constructed. Also, much of the British ammunition proved to be mere duds which were badly constructed and ineffective. Many of these charges did not go off during the battle, and even today farmers still unearth many unexploded “iron harvests” each year (Duffy). Throughout the attempted bombardment, the German soldiers sought effective shelters within the bunkers, only appearing when the artillery bombardment ceased and using their machine guns with much advantage. As a consequence of the unsurprising response of the artillery bombardment from the German forces, the Allies made little to to progress in taking possession of the German front line in the first few days of the battle. At the end of the battle on November 18th , the French and British forces only obtained six miles into German occupied territory. In the process of penetrating two miles of German territory, the British forces lost nearly 420,000 soldiers including a lost of 200,000 French soldiers. Although many historians critique this battle as a disaster for the Entente, others thought that this battle was necessary in order to win the war. The historian Gary Sheffield, in response to the battle, said, “The battle of the Somme was not a victory in itself, but without it the Entente would not have emerged victories in 1918”.
ReplyDeleteBobby Wright
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World History
20 March, 2011
The Battle of the Somme
The battle of the Somme was one of the most important battles in the western front of WWI. It was fought by the French, English, and German forces on a thirty kilometer front, a few miles north of the Somme River in northern France, during 1916. The battle came to be because of the German Schlifer plan, in which the Germans would rush into France, quickly take Paris, force the French to surrender and then focus the entirety of their army on the eastern front. However the Schlifer plan failed, and the Germans were bogged down in Trench warfare in the French countryside.
The battle of the Somme was originally intended to be a largely French assault with the goal of draining German’s resources, and territorial gain being only a secondary concern. However, this changed after the Germans launched their Verdun offensive. After the attack, the French were forced to reallocate all of their forces into the defense of Verdun. The French demanded that the British take command of the offensive and push the date off the attack forwards in an attempt to divert the Germans troops and resources away from the French line. The British plan of attack was to bombard the German line with artillery until the German defenses were destroyed and their troops were in disarray, after which they planned to send in cavalry as a coup de gras that would mop up whatever force was left standing. Then, the British infantry would walk across the no man’s land to the first set of German trenches unopposed. Afterwards they would begin what they called a creeping barrage, in which massive amounts of artillery shells are shot at the land just in front of the advancing troops, which would allow the allies to advance and take the German’s second and third lines of trenches.
Of course, as with all plans, this one did not go as expected. The first problem the British encountered was with the massive initial bombardment. Many of the shells they lobbed at the Germans had defects in them from the manufacturing process and did not explode on impact. They instead bounced harmlessly off of the Germans hardened underground bunkers, and even failed to cut the barbed wire the Germans had placed to stop advancing forces. In fact all that the strike did was alert the Germans that an attack was imminent. When it came time for the 750 thousand British and French soldiers, all of whom were laden down with equipment and completely unprepared for combat, to attack; they were faced with strong defenses, and machineguns that were still very much intact. In the end 58,000 British men were cut down and the rest of the force was pushed back into their trenches. However, the day was not completely without victory, as the French army, which had started its barrage on the day of the attack and still had a small measure of surprise, was able to take most of its objectives.
Afterwards, and even though they had taken massive casualties, the British commanders decided to persist with their attack and, while they were usually repulsed, they did have some victories. Eventually, the heavy fighting forced the Germans to bring in reinforcements from the Verdun front, which effectively doubled the men on the German line. After months of heavy fighting, both the British and the Germans were convinced that the other side was weak and near defeat. This led to months of push and pull fighting with neither side taking the lead.
. Even when the british first deployed tanks on the battlefield, which was a huge and revolutionary advancement in warfare, they were unable to break the months long stalemate.
ReplyDeleteThe offensive ended on the eighteenth of November in 1917. There were nearly 1.2 million casualties, 500 thousand Germans, 200 thousand Frenchmen, and 450 thousand British, in total during this battle, which had taken the better part of a year to grind to a halt. For all this pain and suffering, the allies had barely taken 12 kilometers of ground. While the allies did complete their objective of diverting German resources away from Verdun, the Germans received a moral boost from the battle, as they felt they had overcome the odds and stopped the assault. However, when one looks at the costs of this conflict, that one person was wounded or killed for each centimeter of ground gained over the course of this lengthy battle, this battle only highlights the horrors of trench warfare.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .
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ReplyDeleteOne of the battles in World War I that had the most soldiers killed on one day in battle was the Battle of the Somme. This battle occurred in 1916 when the Allies attacked the Western front. The section of the Western front in which this battle took place was 30 kilometers and was named Battle of the Somme because it was so close to the Somme river, the battle was only a little bit north of the river. This battle killed 58,000 British troops within the first day of the battle, that is one third of the entire British army that was there. The battle lasted from July first through November eighteenth, it could have gone on longer but eventually had to be called off.
ReplyDeleteThe attack was to be one with both British and French troops working together aiming to diminish the German’s resources. The offense was not concerned with gaining any land, although if a time arrived then action would be taken. The French commander that came up with this strategy was called by the name of Joffre, the Commander in Chief. The British Commander in Chief for the battle, Sir Douglas Haig, agreed to Joffre’s strategy. This battle was planned at the end of 1915 so there were some complications with planning. At first the French forces were supposed to be the majority of the troops for the offense, but this changed. In the beginning of 1916, the German army Chief of Staff got rid of the majority of France’s troops at Verdun. This resulted in the British now being the mass of the offensive troops.
The battle was scheduled to start on the first of August that year but Joffre had the idea to start the battle a month earlier in July for the reason that the French wanted German resources to be brought to the Somme rather than being used at Verdun. After this, Haig took control of the planning and execution of the battle’s attack from Joffre. However, Joffre became impatient with Haig because Haig insisted that he partner with the General of the Fourth army, General Rawlinson, since that army would be the one leading the attack. This took time to do organize the ideas of both of these military officials to work together and come up with ideas for how to plan and execute the attack.
Before the attack actually started there was something called the preliminary bombardment. This started eight days before the battle began. It was intended to take out the forward German defenses, the British thought that then they could easily go up and take control of the German front lines. The same number of British guns went off as the Germans, although the British did not manage to break through the barriers that the Germans had made around the front lines, this included barbed wire and concrete bunkers. On top of this, many of the British guns failed to work resulting in less ammunition to strike down the lines with. The Germans clearly had an advantage in the weaponry. The Germans would seek shelter behind the bunkers they had created and wait there while the British troops fired at them, only until that stopped did the Germans fight back with their machine guns. This was only the beginning of the level of underestimation the British and French troops had for the Germans.
ReplyDeleteOn the official first day of the battle, July first, the British troops lost 58,00 men in that one day alone. However, this did not stop Haig from stopping the offensive on the Germans. Haig eventually gained the land that he wanted, the Fortress at Beaumont Hamel, but was unable to keep it due to the weather and was forced to retreat. The weather progressed to get worse and eventually the battle had to be called off in November. Six miles of the territory the Germans had was taken along with over 620,000 of the Allied soldiers killed and 500,000 German soldiers killed. This battle is still a controversial one to this day, some believe that Haig’s approach to how the offense should go about attacking was inflexible and therefor he repeated mistakes that cost many lives. Others argue that the battle was a necessity and it accomplished one of its main goals, that being a diversion from Verdun and from that helping the French.
Works Cited
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Bataille de la Somme
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of the Somme took place between July 1st and November 18th in 1916 near the Somme River. It was one of the largest battles of World War I, resulting in approximately 1.5 million casualties from both sides combined. The plan to take Somme was developed in Chantilly, Oise in the winter of 1915. It was a combined invasion using both French and British forces. The invasion was planned by General Sir Douglas Haig and Henry Rawlinson. The two commanders had very different ideas of how the invasion should be carried out. Sir Haig wanted to launch one million shells at German defenses and sweep in with 22 British and French divisions, securing a 7-mile corridor into France, while Rawlinson wanted to take a series of small “bites” out of German held territory, but Haig eventually convinced Rawlinson to use his plan. The offensive planned was very similar to the D-day invasion, but the two operations had very different results. While the soldiers in the D-day offensive stormed the beaches in amphibious landers, the British army went ashore slowly and clumsily in wooden rowboats, easy targets for the numerous snipers and machine gun nests dotting the battlefield. The British knew they couldn’t just storm the beach, they had to eliminate the German defenses first, so they planned for a prolonged artillery salvo that would crush the Germans. The German army knew the British would shell them, and so dug deep trenches that kept the number of casualties to a minimum. The Germans also knew that the British would have to stop their artillery salvos before their infantry could rush the German positions, so as soon as they heard the shells stop, they rushed out of their trenches and mowed down the British troops. The British Army recorded nearly 60,000 casualties on that first day of assault, the worst one-day combat losses in its history. The Battle of the Somme also saw the first use of the battle tank in combat. The Battle of the Somme was a near-total loss for the British. While the French gained only 7 miles at their deepest point and lost about 200,000 men, the British gained only 2 miles and lost 420,000 men – approximately 2 men per centimeter. Although the allied forces lost many men and the Germans only lost ~470,000 men, time revealed that the British losses could be replaced but the German’s could not.
Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2011.
The Battle of the Somme was fought during World War I and was considered to be one of the most crucial battles fought. It was revolved around trench warfare and military strategy. This bloody battle began to take place on July 1, 1916 in northern France near the Somme river and was fought mainly between the British Fourth army and the German army. The attack was intended to be a combined French-British attack with mainly French offensive forces, however, it was the British who were the majority of the offensive forces. The first objective of this battle was to weaken the German army, the second objective was to gain territory. It was planned to destroy all of the German defenses with a massive artillery bombardment which would last for eight days, hoping they would take possession of German front lines. Subsequent to this bombardment, a creeping barrage and calvary force were inflicted to finish off the German troops. In spite of that, the Germans were prepared with concrete underground bunkers and front line barbed wire. They had waited for the British artillery to end so they could emerge from the trenches and destroy the British army with their weapons. The battle was unsuccessful for the British due to the overconfidence they had and the very well planned German defensive positions of trenches and fortified villages. The British positions were also everywhere overlooked, so the Germans had plenty of time to range their artillery and site their machine gun emplacements. They used this to their most deadly advantage. This violent battle finally ended on November 18 1916 but the British, French, and Germans lost many troops during this battle. One third of the entire British army (56,000) troops were killed within the first day of the battle, but in total the British casualties were 420,000. The Germans had suffered 500,00 casualties and the French suffered 200,00 casualties. In the end, the allied forces had only gained 12 kilometers of land.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
Ciara Corbeil
ReplyDelete20 March 2011
Honors Modern World History
Period 7 Webber
The Battle of the Somme was a prolonged bloodbath lasting from July 1st to November 18th 1916 between mixed British and French troops and German soldiers. The main Allied attack on the Western Front, the battle took place in Northern France near the Somme River and the towns of Arras and Albert over a 30 kilometer front. French Commander in Chief Joffre planned the preliminary attack in July, but British General Douglas Haig made most of the decisions as the fighting continued (Duffy).
The Haig and Joffre’s primary goal was to drain the Germans’ resources, and, secondarily, gain territory. Joffre intended that the attack would be mostly French and later than it actually occurred. However, the French troops at Verdun were sustaining heavy losses at the time, meaning that they were unable to assist at Somme. Additionally, Joffre hoped that an earlier attack at Somme would divert German resources from Verdun and allow the French army fighting there some relief (Duffy).
On June 24, 1916, General Haig directed his troops to begin an eight-day bombardment of the German lines with the Allies’ 3,000 guns. He reasoned that the attack would destroy the German fortifications and disorient the soldiers, allowing the infantry and following cavalry to easily break their line using the creeping barrage technique. The Royal Artillery had set up a system of underground cables for this purpose and the Allies expected a decisive victory. However, the 750,000 soldiers who marched across No Man’s Land found the barbed wire and concrete bunkers intact and the Germans perfectly functional. In truth, many of the shells intended to break the line were defective. Thus, the infantrymen, laden down as they were with supplies, were annihilated by the deadly German machine guns. In that first day, 60,000 British soldiers died (Duffy).
Over the months that the battle lasted, the Allies gained only twelve kilometers at the cost of the lives of 400,000 British deaths, 200,000 French, and 400,000 German (Tompson). Individual battles were one by both armies and the tank was first used in battle, though unreliable. The longevity of the battle was due to both sides’ confidence in their imminent victory. However, the nearly five month long battle was concluded after the Allies took Beaumont Hamel at the Battle of Ancre (Duffy).
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011
Tompson, Richard S. "Battle of the Somme." Great Britain: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. Modern World History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE53&iPin=GB1183&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 19, 2011).
The Battle of Somme
ReplyDeleteBrian Haist
Mr. Webber
10th Grade Honors Modern World History
3/21/11
The Battle of the Somme was started in July 1, 1916 and ended on November 16 1916 when the British forces decided to give up the fight. It is considered one of the most important fights in World War One mostly for the number of troops lost in one day. The battle even made a new record of soldier deaths in one day: 58,000 British troops were killed on the first day of the battle. This loss of British troops totalled to a third of the army, which will hinder the British forces in this and in future battles.
The Battle of the Somme was planned to be a fight with French and British forces combined to attack the German fronts and take their reserves, take control of more land, and to aid the French that were being killed by the hundreds in Verdun. However, because so many French soldiers were killed in the war so far, the battle became predominately powered by the British. The two commander in chiefs were the British Sir Douglas Haig and the French Joffre, and they had to work around the shortage of troops. Their solution was to initiate an eight day preliminary bombardment of German lines as well as deploying about 3,000 combined British and French troops. Following the bombardment, the troops were to be sent to capture the second and third trench lines. After capturing the second and third lines, the Calvary was to proceed to Cambrai and Douai to disrupt the German forces altogether by taking the previously captured lines. When the battle was to finally start, 27 divisions of both British and French were to attack 16 divisions of German soldiers. The outcome of this battle seemed very predictable but the battle went horrible wrong for the British and French.
17 enormous and powerful mines were planted before the battle to be blown off in an attempt to wipe out some of the German soldiers. One detonated early, and the some of the others were known about; the French were not very secretive with their military plan. Because of the leaked information, the Germans were able to prepare accordingly to combat the oncoming alliance. The battle was devastating; the German front line was well prepared with sturdy concrete bunkers and barbed wire, none of which could the alliance break though. German soldiers would only emerge from their bunker to mow down the alliance with their machine guns. The charges that the alliance carried often didn’t detonate due to poor construction, which led to more British and French troops dying without making much difference in the battle. The most significant and fastest taking of land was by the French when they attacked from the south. The battle had to be ended because of unfavourable weather conditions as well as poor progress, ending an uphill fight.
At the end of the battle, there were an estimated 420,000 British, 200,000 French, and 500,000 German casualties that seemed unnecessary; around 1,120,000 combined casualties were made all for about 12 kilometres of land. Though the German forces had the most casualties, they held their ground quite well and wiped out an extremely large portion of the British army as well as putting a large toll on France’s army.
Works Cited
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Rochelle Dong
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Modern World History Honors
21 March 2009
The Great War
On the first of July in the year of 1916 through November 18th of the same year, the Battle of the Somme took place on both banks of the Somme River between British and French allied forces against the Germany army. Both sides suffered a tremendous amount of casualties, a total of about 1,120,000 lost.
For many months before the Battle of Somme took place, the French were taking heavy losses at Verdun, a city east of Paris. To help relieve the French, the Allied forces decided to attack the Germans north of Verdun, thus requiring that the German forced would need to move some men there and away from Verdun, thus relieving the French. The plan then was to heavily bombard the German forces with artillery which would destroy the German trenches and barbed wire in front of them. Following the attacks, the Allied forces would then send troops across and storm the German line, hopefully ending with a victory on the Allied side.
Alas, it did not go as planned. The Germans had dug deep trenches, and when the attack started, all the men had to do was to enter the trenches and wait until the bombardment was over. After the bombardment, they moved from the trenches to their machine guns and faced the Allied forces. The entire battle lasted several months, and ended up with many deaths on both sides. Ironically, General Foch, the head of the French army believed that battle of Somme would achieve close to nothing, and he was right. However, he was unable to stop the preceding battle as the high-up ranked officials ensured that fight would definitely take place. Around 88,000 Allied men were lost for every mile they gained in their advance against Germany.
The battle finally came to a slow halt, as the snow brought a stop to the advance. They were able to gain about seven miles, and with those seven miles, more than 1,000,000 dead. The battle and the conduct of it caused much controversy. Critics argue that since Haig, the British Commander in Chief, was very inflexible with his plans, he repeated many flawed tactics, while others state that the Battle of the Somme was necessary to relieve the French at Verdun.
My thoughts are that though they might have been able to relieve the French at Verdun, the Battle of the Somme balances out the French casualties, seeing that if the French did not lose them at Verdun, they certainly lost forces at the Battle of the Somme.
Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .
Trueman, Chris. "The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. N.p., 2001. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
One of the most famous and important battles during World War One was the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was fought between the British and the French armies against the feared German army. The battle took place on July 1st, 1916. This battle was one of the most costly for the British because they lost about 16,000 men during this strategically important battle.
ReplyDeleteThis battle was fought on France’s soil. The Battle of the Somme was so vital and it changed the course of the first World War. The German’s were interested in taking Paris because if they could capture Paris, then they would have conquered much of France. The French initially held off the invading German army, but soon they were beginning to be overrun. The French called on the help of the British. The British also saw the importance of this battle and they quickly assisted the French.
The Somme River is located in northern France on the border of France and Germany. On June 24, there was major artillery attacks on both sides. The plan of defense for the British and French was to push the German’s back as far as they could so that they were forced to retreat. The British fired artillery at the heavily bunkered Germans. Unfortunately for the British, the German’s were dug in so deep that the artillery did little in weakening the German forces. All the German’s had to do was wait out the artillery and then wait for the unprotected British troops to advance. The German’s easily picked off the advancing troops with their heavy machineguns. During the entire battle the British were only able to move the German’s back a few miles at the loss of 16,000 soldiers.
This battle was one of the most significant battles in World War One because of the massive loss of troops, and the geographical importance that France played in WWI.
On the 1st of July 1916, the allies attacked the Germans on the western front, near the Somme River in northern France. French Commander in Chief Joffre, and the new British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, planned the attack in 1915, as an attempt to drain the German army of its troops and supplies. Planned as a predominately French joint French-British attack, the British troops ended up being the majority of the fighting force. At the start of 1916, the Germans had set into motion their own plan for attrition of the French forces at Verdun. Because of this, the French army was spread thin and Britain had to take over at Somme. When the French had realized that they were hard pressed at Verdun, the intent of the attack on the Somme was changed, causing it to take the role of a diversion, by attempting to draw German forces away from Verdun. With this, the date of the attack was changed from August 1st, to July 1st. Before the attack, an eight-day artillery bombardment of the German positions by the allies ensued. The allied commanders had believed that this extreme bombardment would wipe out all German defenses and allow the British troops to practically walk over to the Germans front line with almost no opposition. Just in case the eight-day bombardment was not enough, the allies had planned for a “creeping barrage” that would slowly make its way across German lines, just in front of the advancing allied infantry. In addition to the main attack, a cavalry charge was planned to sweep through the north and smash through the broken German lines, halving them. Following the bombardment, 27 divisions of allied soldiers moved in against only 16 German divisions. However, the artillery bombardment had failed, and the German defenses were relatively unscathed. As the troops advanced across no mans land, the Germans sprung out of hiding, expecting an attack. Using machine guns, the Germans slaughtered the un-expecting allied troops. On the first day of the battle, 58,000 British troops were killed, but the allied commanders were not dissuaded. The German defenses reorganized, and the battle continued through November 18th, only halting because of poor weather conditions. In the end, the British and French gained 12 kilometers of ground and suffered around 620,000 combined casualties. The German defenders were pushed back and suffered 500,000 casualties. This battle reminded the people of the world who had not see war for so long, of its atrocities, and demonstrated to the world what was to expect before the war’s end.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
The Battle of Somme
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Somme began in July in 1916 and ended the 18th of November. French and British forces clashed with a smaller German army on a 30 kilometer field north of the Somme River and between the cities Arras and Albert. Famously more than 58,000 British troops were killed on the first day of the battle. The Allies’ idea was to stage an aggressive offensive with a united British-French force to drain German troops of supplies and reserves. Their secondary objective was territorial gains. Commanders Joffre (French) and Sir Douglas Haig (British) agreed upon the offensive plan, although Haig was skeptical about the terrain of the battlefield. Originally, it was intended that French forces would make up the bulk of the Allies’ army, though the Germans’ invasion of Verdun prompted a significant rearrangement of French troops. German commander von Falkenhayn and his army promised to annihilate French forces, so the French apprehensively repositioned much of their army at Verdun to disable any possibility of genocide of French troops. French commanders demanded that the set date of the Allies’ attack at Somme be moved forward so that the Germans would prioritize the battle of Somme and resupply their troops at Somme, instead of their troops at Verdun. British commanders took control of the planning for the battle and began the execution of the offensive with extensive artillery bombardment of the Germans’ front lines. Surely a bombardment would destroy the German forces stationed at Somme and this battle would end as quickly as it began, reasoned Allie commanders. After the bombardment the Allies’ plan called for a creeping barrage to eliminate the remainder of German front line and advance toward the second and third lines. Nearly 800,000 Allie forces advanced toward the German trenches and a German army comprised of only 16 divisions. Allie forces had a great advantage in numbers. Surprisingly though, German forces, even the German front line remained intact; much of the Allies’ munitions proved faulty and failed to do much damage. German Forces were heavily sheltered in solidly built bunkers during the Allies’ bombardment. Primary attacks by the Allies after their artillery strike failed. British forces made little progress in the next weeks to come because the Germans were thoroughly protected. German machine guns warded off British troops and forced them into their trenches. Many British troops were immediately gunned down when they set foot on neutral land. Finally after a massacre of British and French troops, the Allie forces captured the front line of the Germans’ fort on July 11. The British continued with the offensive. They used the first tanks. The Germans’ position made them nearly invulnerable even to the 50 odd tanks the British army employed. In October, British forces made more progress but snow caused a termination of the battle. The British and French lost a combined 700,000 troops and the Germans 500,000. The battle was a disaster that only led to deaths.
Connor Asbill
ReplyDeleteThe battle of Somme was fought in northern France near the Somme River. The battle took place in late 1916 and was fought between the British and French armies against the Germans. The major purpose of this battle was not to gain land but instead to drain the German forces of their reserves. Gaining land was only the secondary aim to this battle. The battle was originally planned to be primarily French forces fighting against the Germans. However because of the destruction he Germans caused at Verdun many of these needed forces were diverted to help in that area. This left the British forces being the bulk of the offensive force. The battle began on Saturday the 24 of June. For eight days the British forces bombarded the German front lines. The allied forces had hoped that this extreme bombardment would severely weaken their defense. However the artillery failed and the Germans still maintained their defenses by hiding in bunkers. This was bad for the British forces because the main part of their plan had been resisted. Now when the British forces decided to finish the battle with a creeping barrage, which was consisted of sending in the infantry and then finally the cavalry to finish the job, they were met by heavy German forces. On July 1 there were approximately 58,000 British casualties. However the battle continued on. The French forces were a bit more successful in the southern end of the line. The battle finally came to an end on the 18th of November due to snow and terrible weather. This battle had many loses on both sides of the battle. Of the 750,000 allied troops deployed the British took 420,000 casualties while the French forces also took 200,000 casualties. On the other side the Germans took approximately 500,000 casualties. All this death and destruction only ended up giving a gain of about 12 kilometers of ground. This battle was a brutal battle that instilled the essence of World War One. People thought the war would be won very quickly however as seen in this battle, the war is not as simply won as people had thought.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of Somme, 1916." First World War .com. 22 Oct. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNoury Fekini
ReplyDeleteHistory Period 4
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme was a joint British and French planned operation. It was the French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre, who originally had the idea, and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander and General to the British, Sir Douglas Haig, accepted the idea. Though Joffre was concerned with territorial gain, his main attempt was to destroy the German manpower. In the beginning Joffre wanted to use French soldiers as his main force, but the German attack on Verdun in February 1916 flipped the Somme offensive plan into a large-scale British attack. General Haig took over the operation with the help of General Sir Henry Rawlinson and came up with there own plan to attack. Haig’s strategy was an eight-day preliminary attack that he believed and assured himself would completely destroy the German defenses. General Rawlinson was in charge of the main attack and his Fourth Army advanced toward Bapaume. To the north, General Edmund Allenby and the British Third Army were expected to be in view of the German frontline. Further south, General Fayolle was advancing the French Sixth Army towards Combles. In Haig’s power were 750,000 men (in 27 divisions) against the Germans who had 16 divisions; however, the artillery attack failed to destroy any of the Germans concrete bunkers protecting them. This meant the Germans now had the advantage of the whole British and French army in the middle of the battleground, while the German were behind bunkers able to literally mow them down with machine guns and grenades. The BEF suffered 58,000 causalities (1/3 of them dead), therefore weakening the British and French’s forces. Being disheartened by the heavy losses the first day General Rawlinson ordered a continuation to attacks on the German frontline. On the 13th of July, they made a night attack that did work temporarily but German reinforcements arrived in time to close the gap. Haig believed that the Germans defenses were weakening again so he kept on attacking and further ordered attacks to try and breakthrough completely. On the 15th of September General Alfred Micheler and the Tenth Army joined in the battle at Flers-Courcelette. Despite his trial attempt with the new tanks, Micheler’s 12 divisions gained only a mile of territory. After many attacks, on the 13th November the BEF captured the fortress at Beaumont Hamel; however, the weather was not in Haig’s favor and it snowed heavily and forced him to abandon his gains. With the severe weather it weakened Haig’s forces to a point that brought an end to the Somme offense. Since the 1st of July, the British suffered 420,000 casualties. The French lost 200,000 and the German lost around 500,000. All of this bloodshed for 6 miles gain of territory.
Works Cited
"Battle of the Somme." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .
Once tranquil and beautiful, the landscape on the Somme River was forever changed into a dreary and somber graveyard in a matter of days. The battle of Somme occurred in 1916 in northern France. The battle was fought between the British and French against the Germans. The battlefront spanned thirty kilometers among the lush countryside of northern France, and the battle destroyed this landscape between July 1st and mid-November. This span of time proved to be one of the bloodiest military expeditions of all time. On the first days of the battle it is estimated that 58,000 British men were killed in the line of duty. After all of the battling it is estimated that over a million brave men were killed one each side. This fateful battle, referred to as the Battle of Somme, was one of the bloodiest and unforgettable battles of WWI and of all time.
ReplyDeleteIt all began with the goal of weakening the German forces. The primary goal of the British and French’s operation was to deplete the Germans of valuable resources and to take a chunk out of the German’s considerable fighting force. The secondary goal was to take back some territory that had been lost. After the goals were set the plan arose. The plan was to bombard the German front line with heavy artillery. This was done in hopes of weakening the German resistance. The problem was that the German were commanded by General Fritz Von Below to stay underground during the bombardment. General Fritz Von Below anticipated the bombardment and as a result of his good judgment there were minimal German losses during the artillery strike. After the eight day bombardment the British and French forces charged the German defenses. General Haig who commanded the British forces, along with the British soldiers, anticipated minimal resistance. Contrary to their beliefs, there was actually an eager German force ready to fight back. As 750,000 troops descended on the fortified German positions all hell broke lose. The British and French battalions expected the German defenses to be in taters, but they soon found that the artillery barrage had failed and that they were sitting in a death trap. In fact, 58,000 courageous men died on the first day of battle. At the end of this day the men were forced back into their previous quarters. Over the next few weeks the allies still made little progress. Over the next few months of brutal battle the allies ended up advancing a total of about 6 miles. More shockingly over a million people were killed in this one incident in WWI. It is estimated that 500,000 Germans were killed and even more British and French were killed than that.
The over confidence of the allies paired with the failed artillery barrage led to massive allied losses. The Battle of Somme will never be forgotten as over a million men were tragically killed.
"The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Sasha Bechtler-Levin
ReplyDeleteWhist- pd. 6
Webber
20 March. 2011
The Battle of Somme was an attack launched by the combined French-British forces on the Germans and lasted from July first to November 18th, when it was called off. On the first day of the attack, one third of the British troops were killed, making this battle definitively the bloodiest of World War I. The planning for the offensive began in 1915 by the French Commander in Chief, Joffre. The main goal of the battle was to deplete German resources, and the secondary goal was to gain territory. Joffre and Sir Douglas Haig, British Commander in Chief agreed on the plan which was an attack spanning across a 30 kilometer front, beginning north of the Somme river. Despite France intentions of supplying the bulk of the offensive troops for the attack, their manpower was needed at Verdun, where Germany had attacked them. In actuality, over 80% of the 750,000 men who launched the attack were from the British Expeditionary Force. Eventually, the offense was forced to cease due to snow conditions. The result for the British and French was 12 kilometers of gained land and around 500,000 German casualties. This war was extremely bloody, if not extremely significant in World War I. Although the French-British combined forces did achieve their goal of depleting German resources, namely killing an enormous amount of their soldiers, they also depleted their own resources. In fact, the combined British and French casualties where 620,000. They did, however also succeed in gaining territory, which fulfilled their secondary goals. Overall, this battle was both beneficial and destructive for the French-British, and very detrimental for the Germans.
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
The Battle of the Somme
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of the Somme also known as the Somme Offensive was during World War One, between July 1st and November 18th, 1916. It is called the Battle of the Somme because it occurred in the Somme region of France, on either side of the Somme river. The battle began when the British and the French armies conducted an “offensive” against the German army in hopes to gain some of the French land back that had been largely under German control since 1914. The battle of the Somme is one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded and after the four full months of fighting there had been more than a million and a half casualties.
The plan of the allied offensive was to create a rupture in the German line. Their confidence grew for this plan when the British Army took the lead on the Somme after the attack on Verdun in February 1916, however the French presence was still strong. Led by General Sir Douglas Haig, the English attempted to have an eight day preliminary bombardment of the Germans. This meant constant fire from their trenches without letting up. The theory being that after destroying them for the most part with this bombardment, the Allied cavalry would come in and finish the Germans off. The German General Fritz von Below however expected this. For these eight days he ordered his troops to stay far underground in their trenches to attempt to ware the Allied resources out. Which, is exactly what happened. Whilst the British thought they had demolished the German soldiers, Haig sent 750,000 soldiers to meet the Germans on their front line. However because the Germans nor their front lines with bunkers and barbed wire had been destroyed, the Germans destroyed the British. When the battle started on July 1st 1916 there were 60,000 casualties on the British side in that one day. Overall the casualties broke down to 500,000 Germans. 300,0000 British and 420,000 French. At the end of the five month battle, the Allies gained only about 12 kilometers in total at the widest point.
Duffy, Michael. "The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 12 Mar. 2011.
Ian Torbett
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World History
Period 4
Battle of Somme
The Battle of the Somme, a famous British offensive, occurred during the Great War, better known as World War I, in July of 1916. The name of the battle comes from the famous river in France, the Somme, were the British and French coalition launched an attack on the German trenches to push them out of France, and back to Germany. In doing this daring offensive, the British had to carry out and execute a specific plan to carry out and execute, in order of the allies to obtain success. “The battle started with a weeklong artillery bombardment of the German lines, with a total of more than 1.7 million shells being fired. It was anticipated that such a pounding would destroy the Germans in their trenches and rip through the barbed wire that had been placed in front” (UK History). However, this tactic failed, as the Germans dug deep underground to protect themselves from the oncoming artillery barrage. As the British forces advanced closer to the German trenches, the Germans ambushed the British, mowing them down with machine guns, and grenades. The general of the British Expeditionary Force, Sir Douglas Hair, devised this tactic. The information regarding the Germans forces, and trenches were incorrect, leading to a massive loss of life for the British. “The British Army had suffered 60,000 casualties, with almost 20,000 dead: their largest single loss in one day. The killing was indiscriminate of race, religion and class with more than half of the officers involved losing their lives” (UK History). The British continued to perform their tactic, taking heavy casualties as they advanced, and pushed back the German lines. With making little progress, the allies decided to unleash the their secret weapon, the tank. The new war machine made its debut on September 19, 1916. The tank, however, was unreliable, constantly breaking down, and being stuck in the mud. Even with these faults, the tank still broke through the German lines. The allies advanced a total of eight miles, but lost over 600,000 soldiers.
Works Cited:
"The Somme 1916." Historic UK - Heritage Accommodation in Castles,cottages,hotels,bed and Breakfast,boats,dream Weddings, Living History and History Magazine. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.
Sean
ReplyDeleteJuly 1st, 1916 marked the beginning of the Somme Offensive, a concentrated British and French effort to push through German defenses to regain land lost earlier in the war. Originally conceived as a joint force between France and Britain, the French began to withdraw troops and supplies to defend a heavy attack on Verdun, leaving Haig commanding the British and Rawlinson commanding the French. Between the two commanders multiple discussion were held discussing different possible strategies. Rawlinson wanted to use a slow movement strategy, taking small sections at a time and holding before moving again, citing experience in a previous battle. Haig, however, nagged Rawlinson, the superior commander, until his strategy was adopted. As a result, the British prepared to bomb German defenses with approximately a million shells in a week, until the British could waltz through the stunned Germans, “while smoking their pipes.” As the British and French troops relaxed for an easy fight, the Germans dug even deeper into a very heavy defense. This defense stood strong against the bombing shells, made easy by the poor caliber of the British shells and abysmal accuracy, and a week later, the Germans surprised the British and French troops, who suffered massive casualties. After just a day of fighting, totals amounted to just under 20,000 dead, over 35,000 wounded, and 2,000 MIA or prisoners for just the British side, giving the Battle of Somme a somber mood for the allies. Ultimately, the Allies only made progress of 7 miles, and did little besides spend troops and resources. Through the battle, Britain began to gain more military respect in the Allies while also draining Germany of its experienced troops.
Works Cited
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJaclyn Hirbawi
ReplyDeleteWebber
Modern World History Period 7
20 March 2011
The Battle of Somme is considered one of the most crucial battles fought in the western front of World War I. This large, bloody battle began on July 1st 1916 and lasted through November 18th of the same year and took place along the banks of the Somme River in Northern France. The Battle of Somme revolved around much military strategy and was planned by Britain and France to deplete Germany of its reserves and supplies. The allied forces, however, faced a huge loss and failed to defeat the Germans.
Months before the Battle of Somme occurred, the French were taking big blows at a city east of Paris named Verdun. To help relieve the French, allied forces attacked the Germans north of Verdun by dividing up German forces. The plan to heavily bombard the Germans’ trenches with artillery and barbed wire ultimately failed. In actuality, German forces maintained their defenses by hiding in bunkers. This was not particularly good for the British because their plans were well resisted. Even machine gun weaponry was unsuccessful. In fact, head of the French army, General Foch, believed that battle of Somme would achieve nearly nothing. He was right. Both sides sought to exhaust the other and thought that breakthrough would be quick or inevitable. As a result, both sides continued to fight for a long period of time. Yet history has its ways of repeating itself: snow had caused the allied troops to finally pull out. The results of the Battle of Somme were shocking: 420,000 British casualties, 200,000 French casualties, and 500,000 German casualties; this totaled to approximately 1,120,000 deaths!
This battle is significant in that it demonstrated the awful ramifications of war. Many humans were sacrificed, and still generals continued flawed military tactics that included intense gunfire and combat battle in order to gain little territory. In my opinion, winning this major battle in what was the middle of WWI helped the strength and confidence of the German army. While researching this battle, I was surprised by the great deal of tenacity in those involved. The Battle of Somme highlights the horrible conditions of Trench warfare as well as stands as a perfect depiction of how WWI was not a simple, easily won war.
Works Cited
Duffy, Michael. "First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Trueman, Chris. "The Battle of the Somme." History Learning Site. N.p., 2001. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.
Isaac Ahn
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World History
20 Mar. 2011
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme was battle in World War I that lasted from the July 1, 1916 to November 18, 1916. Initially designed to be a joint operation between France and Britain, it instead became a British-led fight against the Germans. The original Allied strategy for the battle was the engage German forces in a battle of attrition. However, the primary objective for the Allies later became to divert German military manpower from attacking French forces at Verdun, where a large and vicious battle was already taking place. British General Douglas Haig organized the battle plan, and decided that a weeklong, relentless artillery barrage would be employed against German forces. It was thought this would destroy German morale and combat effectiveness across the front, allowing Allied infantry and cavalry to easily take German positions. This did not happen. The Germans had well-established defenses that were capable of withstanding artillery, and already had prior knowledge of the Allied attack. When the Allies finally attacked on July 1, the Germans were ready to fight and caused many casualties. What followed on the first day of the Battle of Somme became known as the “single worst day in deaths and casualties in British military history” (PBS). 20,000 British soldiers were killed and 40,000 were wounded out of a total of 100,000. British forces would continue to assault German positions in the following days, with little success. This continued up to mid-September, when tanks were used for the first time in WWI. The tanks, however, failed to provide any meaningful support. Ground was slowly gained by the Allies, but at a huge cost of life. Overall, there was little change in strategy, as Allied forces continued to assault enemy positions. In November, the Allied advances were stopped by poor weather conditions, and it was found that only about 7 and a half miles were gained by Allied forces during the entire Battle of the Somme. Allied casualties mounted to more than 600,000, and German casualties were around 500,000 men.
Alex Ryan
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Modern World History Honors, Period 7
21 March, 2011
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of World War I, fought in the Somme region of northern France between the advancing (predominantly French and British) Allied forces and the entrenched German forces. With over 1.5 million casualties throughout the four-month course of the battle, many historians have argued that it was one of the most unnecessary losses of life during the war - especially in light of the fact that the Allies gained only six miles of territory (a loss of almost 250,000 lives per mile!) This battle also saw the debut of the first tank, a major use of airplanes, and some of the fighting most characteristic of the Western Front.
The battle was first conceived of at a meeting between the French and British military commands at the end of 1915, and was to be the central Allied offensive on the Western front in 1916. Although the fighting force was originally planned to consist primarily of French soldiers, the onset of the German offensive in Verdun meant that the British soldiers would now be driving the main offensive, and contributed to the early start of the battle. The hope of the Allies for this battle was to quickly create a hole in the German western lines, and exploit it to attack other German positions from behind; however, their primary goal was not the gaining of territory, but rather the attrition of German troops and resources and the diversion of troops from Verdun in the south.
Prior to the beginning of the battle, 3,000 French and British heavy artillery shelled the German positions for eight days. The incredible scale of the bombardment led the commanders (and by extension, their troops) to assume that they would simply be able to walk up to the ravaged German defenses and walk right through them. In fact, they couldn't have been more wrong - the Germans had had months to prepare their defenses, and had used their time effectively. Massive, well-constructed trenches (up to 30 feet wide in some places) and concrete underground bunkers characterized the entirety of the German line, and, when the bombardment ceased, most of the German troops promptly exited the bunkers and took up still-intact defensive positions. Adding another failure to the list, the artillery bombardment did not simply cut the barbed wire, as it was supposed to - instead, it merely tangled it, making the advance of the Allied troops even more dangerous. Even today, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st, 1916, still holds the all-time record for number of casualties in a single day: from the British forces alone, almost 60,000 soldiers died.
The day of July 1st, 1916 was a sad one. 58000 troops (approximately one third) were either fatally injured or killed on this day in the Battle Of The Somme, making it the most troops ever demolished in a single day. This day was preceded by an eight-day artillery bombardment of the German defenses. After eight days of constant heavy fire, the German defenses would then be thoroughly destroyed. The British were so sure their plan would work perfectly, one British commandeer even boasted that the British “could advance with sloped arms, smoking their pipes, and come to no harm.”
ReplyDeleteHowever, things were nowhere near that easy. As it turned out, much of the munitions the British used were “duds,” or they never exploded. As such, the British artillery bombardment generally failed to destroy the barbed wire fences and concrete bunkers the German’s had constructed. With a combination of over-confidence and false intel, the British did not bode well in the battle, losing a devastating third of their troops. After realizing they couldn’t make any progress against the German machine gunners, the British were forced back into their trenches. Finally, after 10 more days of hard fighting, the British finally overtook the first line of German trenches, but the battle wasn’t over yet.
The Battle Of The Somme waged on for another four months until November 18th when the British were forced to stop due to harsh weather. Throughout the hard-fought four months, the British faced 420,000 casualties, the French 200,000, and the Germans faced 500,000. However, despite these awesome numbers, the French and British only managed to take an embarrassing 12 kilometers of German soil, making The Battle Of The Somme one of the most devastating and humiliating battles in history.
The battle of Somme is mostly remembered for the loss of British troops. The British had 58,000 casualties, one third of their army, on the first day of battle, which today remains a one- day record. The attack was launched just north of the Somme River on July 1, 1916. The offensive, which was meant to be a joint French- British attack, was planned in 1915 by French Commander in Chief, Joffre. The first main objective of the plan was to drain the German forces of reserves. Territorial gain was the secondary aim. British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, agreed to this plan. British forces made up most of the offensive forces even though Joffre and Haig intended for the attack to be predominantly French offensive.
ReplyDeleteThe attack was preceded by an eight day preliminary bombardment of the German lines, starting on June 24. They hoped the ferocity of this preliminary attack would entirely destroy the forward German defenses, to allow the attacking British troops easier access to the German front lines. Almost 3,000 British and French guns were used in the attack.
Following the artillery bombardment, it was determined that a creeping barrage would precede the advancing infantry to the German front line, and onwards to the second and third trench lines. Haig then planed to have the cavalry troops finish braking through the German lines.
However the advance bombardment failed to destroy the German front line. Much of the British munitions failed, they were badly constructive, ineffective and didn’t go off. The first wave of attack was not a surprise to the Germans. This with the lack of success in cutting German barbed wire and in damaging their underground bunkers, led to the British having very little progress on July 1. However the French had more success because the Germans believed the French would not attack at all due to their heavy loss at Verdun. The British were forced back into their trenches by German machine guns.
In September, tanks were used for the first time by the British. These first tanks surprised the Germans but proved to be highly unreliable. Not much progress was made. On 18 November the offensive was brought to a halt by poor weather- snow. During the attack the British and French had gained 12 kilometers of ground, the taking of which resulted in 420,000 estimated British casualties, including many of the volunteer 'pal's' battalions, plus a further 200,000 French casualties. German casualties were estimated to run at around 500,000.
In late 1915, the Battle of the Somme was planned as a joint French-British attack. The main goal of the battle was to drain the German forces of its reforms; the second goal was to gain territory. The main planner was French Commander in Chief, Joffre, and the new British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig, agreed upon the plan. Originally, Joffre and Haif intended for the attack to be a predominantly French offensive, but the German onslaught at Verdun at the start of 1916 severely hindered French manpower and efforts. During the actual battle, British forces made up the large majority of the offensive forces. After the German Verdun attack, the French demanded a change of date for the attack. It was moved from 1 August 1916 to the 1 July to divert German resources from Verdun. Haig made most plans and preparations for the attack.
ReplyDeleteOn Saturday, June 24, an eight-day preliminary bombardment of the German lines began, with the expectation that the bombardment would destroy all forward German defenses. After this, the British-French force expected to be able to easily move across the land and take possession of the German front lines. It was planned that a creeping barrage would take place to combat the advancing infantry to the German front line, and then second and third trench lines. For the attack, twenty-seven divisions of 750,000 men were made. The German forces were comprised of sixteen divisions of the German Second Army.
The odds were in favor of the British-French force. However, the advance artillery bombardment failed to destroy the barbed-wire German front line or the German concrete bunkers. Much of the British munitions were badly constructed and proved to be ineffective. Charges did not go off. Also, the Germans were protected by their concrete shelter and only emerged to man very effective machine guns.
The attack also lacked the element of surprise. It was freely discussed in French coffee shops and in letters home from the front, but also the eight-day preliminary bombardment just warned the German army of an imminent attack.
Because of the powerful German machine gun response, many British troops were forced back into their trenches. Many were killed or wounded the moment they advanced past the front lines. Other men underestimated the preparation of the opposition, and walked slowly towards the German lines, becoming incredibly easy targets for the German machine-gunners.
Eventually, the British-French forces employed the use of tanks for the first time. These tanks had many mechanical and other failures, but they did achieve a large measure of shock and surprise when sprung upon the German opposition.
The British advanced slowly during the Battle of the Somme, but eventually the battle was brought to a halt because poor weather. During the battle, the British and French gained 12 kilometers of ground and lost 420,000 British men, and 200,000 French men. The German casualties were estimated around 500,000. The battle held significant negative consequences for the manpower of the allied troops. It was almost the mid-point of the war, and there was enormous loss of life for little territorial gain. This huge loss in human life that far outweighed the military advantages gained during the battle was a clear sign that new developments in war technology had by that time out-classed military techniques. This concept was very characteristic of the First World War.
"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.