The Battle of the Somme took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916. It was one of the largest battles of the First World War, in which more than a million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. When the Somme offensive ended, the allied forces had only managed to advance 12 kilometers at a cost of 430,000 British and Dominion troops and 200,000 French casualties. The offensive destroyed Britain’s mass volunteer army, and for the rest of the war, it relied upon conscription for reinforcements. It also resulted in heavy German casualties, with about 230,000 according to current scholarship. The German army never recovered from its loss of experienced junior officers and non-commissioned officers on the Somme. For those who fought there and for the present generation, the Somme was synonymous with slaughter.
First Days of the Somme
In the early morning of 1 July 1916, more than 100,000 British infantrymen were ordered from their trenches in the fields and woods north of the Somme River in France, to attack the opposing German line.
In a span of 24 hours, the British army endured nearly 60,000 casualties, with a third of them resulting in fatalities, marking the most devastating day in its history.
The assault was originally planned as a joint French-British offensive, forming part of a wider strategy to attack Germany simultaneously on the Western and Eastern Fronts, with the aim of destroying Germany’s reserves of manpower. However, the massive German attack on the French fortress of Verdun on 21 February 1916 significantly reduced the French contribution to the Somme campaign, launched in part to divert the Germans’ attention from Verdun. This necessitated Britain’s “new army” – a volunteer force similar to the AIF – to step up and take on a more significant role.
“At the start of 1916, the French called on the Brits to play a bigger role on the ground, which they agree to do at the Somme,” explains Peter Burness, a former senior historian at the Australian War Memorial. “But these were not professional forces, or large conscript ones such as the German and French armies were – these were men from all walks of life who joined up in their communities.” Numerous men from various communities, both large and small, would unite, bestowing nicknames such as “Pals” upon their units, and ultimately meet a tragic fate together, resulting in profound devastation for their towns and villages.
Britain’s generals lacked confidence in their soldiers, resulting in a lack of innovative tactics.
“The application of artillery was still rather simple in 1916: to bombard the enemy’s position, then send in the infantry and charge through after with the cavalry,” Burness says. “The British and French were always looking for the breakthrough, to fracture the enemy and drive them out. They wanted to see the Germans in disarray, to make a wild retreat.”
The Germans had established a formidable stronghold on the Somme. Since the establishment of the trench line in France and Belgium in 1914, they had been diligently fortifying their defenses and war arsenal. The Germans had erected a robust and sophisticated barrier of barbed wire, deep dugouts, and strategically positioned machine-gun posts in difficult terrain. They held an imposing position on the Somme, and the British had clearly underestimated their level of preparedness.
Despite extensive shelling in the days leading up to the July 1st assault, the British failed to obliterate the German dugouts and left sections of wire uncut. In addition, the Germans had superior long-range guns and strategically concealed their artillery until the offensive began.
The first day of the Somme offensive holds great significance for the British today, much like the profound impact of the landing at Gallipoli for Australians.