The Battle of the Somme

July 1 1916

French and British offensive meant to drain the German reserves

Beginning 1916 Germany begins attack at Verdun

The Somme becomes a method of pulling German troops from Verdun

France is unable to contribute as many soldiers as initially thought as they are defending Verdun

Attack preceded by 8 days of artillery bombardment

Artillery was supposed to virtually destroy German defenses

The Battle of the Somme

Artillery bombardment was ineffective

Barbed wire was still intact, German machine guns were not destroyed, bunkers were intact, troops took shelter until barrage was over

The Battle of the Somme

British shells were poorly made, some didn’t explode, others did not hit their targets

7:30am first wave of troops goes “over the top”

Attack was not a surprise to the Germans and they were ready

The Battle of the Somme

British suffered 58 000 casualties the first day alone

The 1st NFlD regiment suffered 91% casualties

Most did not even make it to the front lines before they were killed

French made more significant gains to the south

The Battle of the Somme

The offensive lasted until November

Resulted in 12km of territory gained for the allies

The tank was employed for the first time by the British

The Battle of the Somme

Nationality Totalcasualties

Killed &missing

Prisoners

Great Britain 360,000+

Canada 24,029

Australia 23,000 < 200

New Zealand 7,408

Ireland 25,000

South Africa 3,000+

Newfoundland 2,000+

Total British Empire

419,654 95,675

French 204,253 50,756

Total Allied 623,907 146,431

Germany 465,000 164,055 31,000

The failures of the battle:1. Lack of planning2. Lack of reconnaissance3. Poor communication4. Poor quality artillery shells5. Poor military strategy ie. Start time6. Unwillingness to change plan after

initial tragedy7. Lack of surprise

The Battle of the Somme