The Battle of the Somme was an allied offensive in World War I between July and November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the River Somme in Picardy, France.
On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,240 soldiers of the British Army were killed and 40,000 wounded making it the worst day in the history of the British army. The French Army had 1,590 casualties and the German Army lost 10,000–12,000 men.
During the battle of the Somme, the British sent into action vehicles of an entirely new kind, the Mark I tank.
The tanks had a crew of three men. The maximum speed that they could travel was 3.6 mph and they were not able to cross the trenches.
The first tank battle, Flers-Courcelette named after the two villages that were the objectives for the attack, started on September 15, 1916.
Of the forty-nine tanks shipped to the Somme, only thirty-two arrived to begin the first attack in which they were used. Because they were only armed lightly and the mechanics of them often went wrong they did not make a great impact and only nine made it across no man's land to the German lines. However, casualties were low in the tank crews.
Though on this first occasion these "secret weapons" of the British Army made relatively little impression, on their second outing, at Cambrai in November 1917, the tanks proved their unmistakable value in clearing the battleground for the infantry following behind them.
J.R.R. Tolkien and Adolf Hitler both fought at the Battle of the Somme. Hitler was wounded in the left thigh in October 1916 when a shell exploded in the dispatch runners' dugout. Tolkien fought as a second lieutenant.
Otto Frank (the father of Anne Frank) was a foot soldier at the Battle of the Somme.
Pooh Bear author A. A. Milne was injured on July 7, 1916 while serving in the Battle of the Somme and invalided back to England.
The Prince of Wales served on the Somme as a Staff Officer but wasn't involved in the fighting. However, the understanding his service gave him of ordinary men and the admiration he earned from them, influenced the rest of his life as Prince of Wales and Edward VIII.
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| Map of the Battle of the Somme, 1916. |
On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,240 soldiers of the British Army were killed and 40,000 wounded making it the worst day in the history of the British army. The French Army had 1,590 casualties and the German Army lost 10,000–12,000 men.
During the battle of the Somme, the British sent into action vehicles of an entirely new kind, the Mark I tank.
The tanks had a crew of three men. The maximum speed that they could travel was 3.6 mph and they were not able to cross the trenches.
The first tank battle, Flers-Courcelette named after the two villages that were the objectives for the attack, started on September 15, 1916.
Of the forty-nine tanks shipped to the Somme, only thirty-two arrived to begin the first attack in which they were used. Because they were only armed lightly and the mechanics of them often went wrong they did not make a great impact and only nine made it across no man's land to the German lines. However, casualties were low in the tank crews.
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| British Mark I male tank near Thiepval, 25 September 1916 |
Though on this first occasion these "secret weapons" of the British Army made relatively little impression, on their second outing, at Cambrai in November 1917, the tanks proved their unmistakable value in clearing the battleground for the infantry following behind them.
J.R.R. Tolkien and Adolf Hitler both fought at the Battle of the Somme. Hitler was wounded in the left thigh in October 1916 when a shell exploded in the dispatch runners' dugout. Tolkien fought as a second lieutenant.
Otto Frank (the father of Anne Frank) was a foot soldier at the Battle of the Somme.
Pooh Bear author A. A. Milne was injured on July 7, 1916 while serving in the Battle of the Somme and invalided back to England.
The Prince of Wales served on the Somme as a Staff Officer but wasn't involved in the fighting. However, the understanding his service gave him of ordinary men and the admiration he earned from them, influenced the rest of his life as Prince of Wales and Edward VIII.
Sidney George Lewis enlisted in the East Surrey Regiment in August 1915 at the age of twelve. His parents had no idea where he was.. He fought in the Battle of the Somme then aged thirteen, in the 106th Machine Gun Company of the Machine Gun Corps. when his mother was told where her son was by a comrade home on leave, and she demanded that the War Office release him and they discharged the boy. He was the youngest authenticated British soldier in World War I
By the end of the Battle of the Somme, British and French forces had penetrated 6 miles (10 km) into German-occupied territory, taking more ground than in any of their offensives since the Battle of the Marne in 1914. They halted 3 miles (5 kmi) from Bapaume, where the German armies maintained their positions over the winter.
More than three million men fought in the Battle of the Somme and over 1.5 million people either died, were wounded or went missing. It was the bloodiest battle in World War I, especially from the point of view of Britain.
During World War I, the British Army had “Pals battalions”; letting men from the same community to serve in the war together. This practice was ended after the Somme offensive, as entire battalions were wiped out, meaning their communities back home were devastated.
By the end of the Battle of the Somme, British and French forces had penetrated 6 miles (10 km) into German-occupied territory, taking more ground than in any of their offensives since the Battle of the Marne in 1914. They halted 3 miles (5 kmi) from Bapaume, where the German armies maintained their positions over the winter.
More than three million men fought in the Battle of the Somme and over 1.5 million people either died, were wounded or went missing. It was the bloodiest battle in World War I, especially from the point of view of Britain.
During World War I, the British Army had “Pals battalions”; letting men from the same community to serve in the war together. This practice was ended after the Somme offensive, as entire battalions were wiped out, meaning their communities back home were devastated.
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