The Battle of the Somme
1916
The Somme
July 1, 1916 – November 18, 1916
 Attack along a 30 km front
 58,000 British casualties on first day
 One of the bloodiest battles of the war

The Allied Plan
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Joint British-French
attack
Drain the German
reserves
Gain territory
Majority of fighting to
be done by the
French
Begin on August 1
Commanders

French – Joseph
Joffre

British – Sir Douglas
Haig
The German Plan
Commander – Von
Falkenhayn
 Ordered Verdun
offensive
 Wanted to “Bleed
France white”

The Allies
Attack moved to 1 July
 Verdun offensive required French troops to
meet the German threat
 British assume the lead at the Somme
 Intended to draw Germans away from
Verdun
 Haig hoped to force a breakthrough to
Cambrai and Douai and split German line

Initial Bombardment
Shelling of German trenches for 8 days
 Creeping barrage to precede infantry
attack
 Shelling would continue ahead of the
infantry as they took consecutive trenches
 1500 British guns and a similar number
from the French
 Underground cables for communication

The Attack begins
27 Allied divisions versus 16 German
 80% of allies were British and
Commonwealth
 French army will attack to the south
 Main attack was preceded by a series of
17 mines exploded under German
defences
 Many British shells were defective and did
not explode

German Defense
Germans took refuge
in concrete bunkers
during shelling
 Shelling served as a
warning of an attack

Early Results
BEF makes little progress in early fighting
 Soldiers were heavily laden with
equipment and supplies
 They were slowed down and made easy
targets
 French troops achieved most of their
objectives
 The Germans did not expect them to
attack

The Battle Continues
11 July 1916
 General Rawlinson’s Forces take first line
of trenches
 Germans transfer forces from Verdun to
strengthen their line
 Two Australian divisions take Pozieres
 Germans re-organize their defenses
 German First Army led by von Gallwitz

Through the Summer
Each side believes that a breakthrough is
imminent because the other side is tired
and weakening
 Fighting will continue on into the fall
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A New Weapon
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15 September, 1916
Battle of FlersCourcelette
First use of tanks
24 of 50 were able to
be used
Canadians capture
Courcelette
Scots capture
Martinpuich
Allied Assaults during the Fall
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British:
Battle of Morval
Battle of Thiepval
Ridge
Transloy Ridge
Ancre Heights
Battle of the Ancre –
Capture fortress
Beaumont-Hamel
French:
 Chaulnes
 East of Morval
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Final Results
British and French gain 12 km of ground
 British casualties total 420,000
 French casualties total 200,000
 German casualties estimated at 500,000

Sir Douglas Haig
A controversial
commander
 Flawed tactics caused
large losses of life
 Was he forced by the
larger circumstances?
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