The Somme Offensive

July 1, 1916

With the siege at Verdun raging to the south, a new offensive was needed to lessen the strain on the French defenses. Thus, plans for a major assault at the Somme, a somewhat quiet sector of the front, were put into action.

The idea for this offensive on the Somme was first drafted up in December of 1915 at the Chantilly Conference. It was there that allied war strategy for 1916 was discussed. Their plan was to launch major offensives on multiple fronts in order to deny the enemy time to transfer their troops during lulls in the fighting. That strategy was later amended with the opening of the German offensive at Verdun. The allied offensives then became aimed at diverting German troops from their attack on the French. The Somme was originally going to be a French-led offensive with British support. However, with all of the French efforts directed at defending the fortified town, the responsibility fell upon the British to lead the offensive with limited support from their ally.

In preparation for the assault, the British began a massive seven-day bombardment. The plan was to have the artillery turn the formidable German defenses to ruble, then have the infantry move in and occupy them before the enemy could regroup. This, however, was not to be the case. Although over 1,000 guns were set up in preparation for the offensive, they were too spread out along the front to be sufficiently effective. Not only that, but the shells they were firing were hastily manufactured, and about a third of the total 1.5 million shells failed to explode on impact. To make matters worse for the British, the Germans had constructed 20 to 30 foot-deep dugouts all along their lines, so although they were shaken from the heavy bombardment, they were still very much alive when the shelling stopped, and the infantry emerged.

The attack began at 7:30 AM on July 1st. The British charged the German defenses, expecting little resistance. However, what they got was a merciless hail of gunfire. On the north side of the battlefield, the first day of the Somme was one of blood, carnage, and destruction. The British soldiers crossing no-man's-land on July 1st were met with torrents of enemy fire, and fields of barbed wire. The casualties were unprecedented. Nearly 60,000, with over 19,000 of them dead.

To the south, however, the British fared much better. With a greater concentration of artillery fire, as well as French support, the casualties they took were negligible in comparison to those taken in the northern sector. Not only that, but they were able to achieve most of their objectives, breaking through the German front lines and taking the town of Mametz. Because of these successes, and the failures farther north, Allied Command decided to focus their efforts and resources towards the southern the southern sector of the battle. North of the Albert-Bapaume Road, apart from the taking of La Boisselle and advancing as far as Thiepval, almost no further progress was made for the remainder of the offensive.

For the next two weeks, the British and French made piecemeal gains, all the while planning several offshoot attacks to take further German positions and hopefully achieve a breakthrough. No such opening would appear. The latter part of the offensive was made up of a series of costly attacks made by the British on well defended German positions. It was a bloody slog forward, with the Germans and British fighting tooth and nail for every inch.

On September 15th, tanks were introduced to warfare for the first time. Allied command hoped to gain significant ground with this new weapon, but their hopes were short-lived. The British tanks were slow, only moving around five miles per hour, making them tempting targets for artillery. They would also easily break down or get stuck in shell craters. It very quickly became clear that the tank was not going to help the British gain victory at the Somme.

As the offensive continued to drag on, the weather began to worsen. Dirt quickly turned to mud, yet the British attempts to break through the German lines continued. At this point in the battle, they were still trying to achieve some of the objectives set for the first day of the attack. The town of Beaumont Hamel was finally taken on November 13th, but by then, the first snows began to fall. The offensive was at last called off when General Haig saw there was no point in continuing. It was November 18th, and the battle had lasted four and a half months.

In the end, the British did not achieve their main objective of reaching the town of Bapaume. After months of brutal fighting, the farthest they advanced was 7.5 miles, which came at a cost of 1,120,000 casualties on both sides. Like many battles on the western front, despite overwhelming losses, a breakthrough could not be achieved. However, their main other main objective was a success: drawing the German forces from Verdun.

The Battle of the Somme (July 1 - November 18)