The Bloodiest Day in the History of the British Army
1st July 1916 saw Britain and her Allies started an extensive offensive along a 25 mile part of the Western Front. The offensive happened to the north of the River Somme in rural France. Little villages are dotted all over the area along with the town of Albert. It was to be the battle that for lots of people, defined the horrors of the trench warfare of The First World War.
The Battle of the Somme lasted about 4 months with precious little gain for Britain and her Allies. The casualties sustained by each side were horrendous; Britain sustained 420,000 killed and wounded, the French 200,000 and the German Army close to 500,000.
The German soldiers were well dug in and tactically held the more favourable ground hence it was plain an immense effort would be needed to make inroads into their lines. The plan was to lay down an artillery bombardment for seven days prior to the offensive. In addition, plenty of mines were laid under the German trenches. It was supposed that the mines and artillery would generate such devastation, Allied Forces would simply need to walk through no mans land and take the trenches. Unfortunately, this was not the way things worked out.
For seven days prior to the attack, a fearsome barrage was put down by the Alllies firing nearly 2 million shells. Having said that, the German trenches were dug deep into the earth delivering them with relative safety from the barrage. The mines did inflict deaths as planned but in most cases, the Germans had sufficient time to make ready their defences once the artillery stopped and Britain and her Allies went over the top.
All along the line, the scenario was similar. Brave men went over the top and were killed prior to getting anywhere close to their objectives. At Beaumont Hamel, only 68 of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, ended the day uninjured out of around 800 men. At La Boisselle, the Tyneside Irish was effectively destroyed as it endeavoured to advance more than 1 mile across open ground in full sight of German machine guns.
Even so, there were some positive results. The French Army had made advances in the north and south of the lines. The 36th Ulster advanced on and took the Schwaben Redoubt as a result becoming certainly one of the few to attain their main objective. Sadly, running out of ammo, German counter attacks forced the Ulstermen to pull back later that evening.
The 1st day of the Somme had cost Britain about 54,000 casualties, 21,000 of those being killed. Now, the site of the Schwaben Redoubt is marked by the Ulster Tower and close by at Thiepval, the Memorial to the Missing commemorates the names of about 70,000 men who fought at the Battle of the Somme.
The Battle of the Somme lasted about 4 months with precious little gain for Britain and her Allies. The casualties sustained by each side were horrendous; Britain sustained 420,000 killed and wounded, the French 200,000 and the German Army close to 500,000.
The German soldiers were well dug in and tactically held the more favourable ground hence it was plain an immense effort would be needed to make inroads into their lines. The plan was to lay down an artillery bombardment for seven days prior to the offensive. In addition, plenty of mines were laid under the German trenches. It was supposed that the mines and artillery would generate such devastation, Allied Forces would simply need to walk through no mans land and take the trenches. Unfortunately, this was not the way things worked out.
For seven days prior to the attack, a fearsome barrage was put down by the Alllies firing nearly 2 million shells. Having said that, the German trenches were dug deep into the earth delivering them with relative safety from the barrage. The mines did inflict deaths as planned but in most cases, the Germans had sufficient time to make ready their defences once the artillery stopped and Britain and her Allies went over the top.
All along the line, the scenario was similar. Brave men went over the top and were killed prior to getting anywhere close to their objectives. At Beaumont Hamel, only 68 of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, ended the day uninjured out of around 800 men. At La Boisselle, the Tyneside Irish was effectively destroyed as it endeavoured to advance more than 1 mile across open ground in full sight of German machine guns.
Even so, there were some positive results. The French Army had made advances in the north and south of the lines. The 36th Ulster advanced on and took the Schwaben Redoubt as a result becoming certainly one of the few to attain their main objective. Sadly, running out of ammo, German counter attacks forced the Ulstermen to pull back later that evening.
The 1st day of the Somme had cost Britain about 54,000 casualties, 21,000 of those being killed. Now, the site of the Schwaben Redoubt is marked by the Ulster Tower and close by at Thiepval, the Memorial to the Missing commemorates the names of about 70,000 men who fought at the Battle of the Somme.
About the Author:
The horrors of trench warfare in World War I are summed up by the first day of the Somme. Military tactics had been left behind by the progress in weapons technology and the result was the deaths of thousands of men.