7 Interesting Battle Of The Somme Facts We Bet You Didn T Know

The Battle of the Somme is an infamous battle of trench warfare that happened in World War I.This battle took place from July 1 to Nov 18 in 1916. It took place between the allied forces of the British empire and the French against their enemy country Germany.With the conflict over the Western Front and a deadlock in the German trenches, the allied forces wanted a decisive victory. Failing at trench warfare in 1914, which the British launched, they aimed at attacking Belgium. However, the French wanted to conduct an operation at the meeting point on the allied line, which was along the River Somme in northern France. Hence in the year 1915, a combined plan was made for a joint French and British offensive in the following year against German soldiers. This plan was designed by Sir Henry Rawlinson and Sir Douglas Haig. This deadly battle saw a huge number of casualties, and this gave Sir Douglas Haig the nickname of ‘The Butcher’. Even having a good experience in battle on the Western Front, Robertson and Haig lacked wisdom in planning the Somme attack. In this battle, the British infantry did not have much war experience. The restricted attacks using quickly moving and well-protected artillery infantry were abandoned in favor of a 20 mi (32.18 km) long assault in which the men moved slowly and rigidly towards German defenses, providing easy targets for German artillery and machine guns. Most of the British soldiers died on the Western Front between Gommecourt and Albert-Bapaume road. The Royal Irish rifles also helped a lot to the British Army to have an upper hand in the war.The Battle of the Somme has a connection with the previous battle of Verdun at the time of the first World War. In this battle, the allied forces weakened the German forces. The allies continued the bombardment with shelling for an entire week. Though the count of shells was over one million, most of the shells were defective. This bombardment by the allies marked the beginning of the Battle of The Somme. The Battle of The Somme officially started on July 1 in the year 1916, at the time of the First World War. Sixteen allied divisions, which comprised of both British Third Army and French forces, were commanded by Sir Henry Rawlinson, who was in turn under the command of General Douglas Haig. Out of those 16 divisions, the four French divisions were under French commander General Ferdinand Foch. Prime Minister David Lloyd George scrutinized attrition warfare constantly and condemned this battle in his post-war memoirs. However, Gary Sheffield wrote in support of the British as having no alternative in that war.Want to learn interesting facts on historical wars? You can read the Battle of Gallipoli and Battle of France articles on our website.Who won the Battle of The Somme?The Battle of The Somme was won by the British and French forces after four months of struggle.The British and French showed their interest in an offensive on the Somme during the Chantilly Conference in December 1915. In 1916, the Allies decided on a policy of coordinated offensives by the Russian, French, Italian, and British, forces against the Central Powers, with the Somme offensive serving as the Franco-British component. The initial plan was to take over the Somme offensive with the support of the Fourth Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the northern flank with heavy artillery. But when the battle of Verdun began on Feb 21, 1916, by the Imperial German Army, France had to divert some of its divisions, which were formed to fight for the Somme, to the battle of Verdun. Now, what was just a supporting role for the British troops, became the prime position in the attack. The British troops had a variety of soldiers with them. Their army comprised of some soldiers of the Pre-War Army, Kitchener’s Army, and the Territorial Force.Reaching the end of the Battle of The Somme, both the British and French forces moved six mi (9.65 km) into the German territory using artillery fire, crossing the barbed wire used by the Germans. They gained control over the majority of their front. This was the largest territory gain after the Battle of Marne in the year 1914. One of the objectives of the Anglo-French army was to capture Bapaume and Perrone; this aim of theirs remained unfulfilled as the armies of Germany maintained their strong ground there in the winters. In January 1917, British attacks of the Ancre Valley began, forcing the Germans to make limited retreats to reserve positions in February, ahead of Operation Alberich’s planned retreat of around 25 mi (40 km) to the Siegfried Stellung (Hindenburg German Line) in March 1917. The battle’s necessity, relevance, and impact are still debated.Battle Of The Somme CasualtiesThe Battle of the Somme was an attritional offensive with a million casualties on both sides.British casualties included 57,470 wounded men on the very first day of July 1, 1916. There were 19,240 fatalities along the German lines. Many of these were volunteer soldiers for the army service. This represented the largest number of losses the British army has incurred in one day. While the casualty rates were not as high as they had been throughout the rest of the attack, they were high as both sides fought for every yard of ground in a relatively compact geographical area. During the conflict, almost a million troops from both sides, including Britain, France, and Germany, died.On the very first day of the Battle of The Somme, the second German Army faced defeat from the French Sixth Army and the French Fourth Army, which resulted in a huge number of total German casualties. The British also faced more than 50,000 casualties, which was the highest number of casualties suffered by them in the history of wars. Most of the British soldiers died on the Western Front between Gommecourt and Albert-Bapaume Road. This was the region where the German forces were defensive. This battle made use of airpower, and also tanks were used for the first time in this battle in September. These new additions to the battles were outcomes of new technologies and were very unreliable.Why was the Battle of The Somme important?The Battle of The Somme was deadly and horrific. The Somme became known as one of the worst battles in history, symbolizing the horrors of the First World War. The Somme became a synonym for indiscriminate killing, with the Allies gaining only 3.72 mi (6 km) in 141 days of carnage.This was the first time that British cameras gave an inside view of the cruelties of war and the challenges soldiers faced on the front lines. More than 19 million people went to the cinema to watch ‘The Battle of Somme’. For a lot of people, their first glimpse of this deadly war came from this film. This was filmed just at the start of the battle and only showcased some prominent events. The audience got to see a particular image of war because of this film, and this led to the creation of the war genre in the world of cinema. It immediately became a popular genre for the audiences as they wanted to get a glimpse of their fathers, brother, sons, and friends, who were serving in the war. This battle was very popular for one reason; the British officers were the volunteer army on the British front and did not have professional training as the other British divisions did to fight the German defense.The Somme’s horrors also saw the ending of the so-called ‘Pals Battalions,’ which were formed to allow troops within the same town to battle together. In the midst of the chaos, it became evident that the plan had the potential to destroy entire towns. On the first day of the Somme, 585 soldiers of the 700-strong Accrington Pals were killed or injured in a single 20-minute episode. There were no more Pals Battalions formed after the Somme, and the existing battalions were eventually absorbed into other organizations.How long did the Battle of The Somme last?The Battle of The Somme lasted for 141 days. It started on July 1 and continued till mid-November 18, 1916. On November 18, 1916, the Commander in Chief of British Army, Sir Douglas Haig, ordered a stop to his army’s advance near the Somme River in northwest France, bringing the historic Battle of the Somme to a close after more than four months of bloodshed.The Battle of The Somme was divided into three phases of the war. The first phase (July 1-7) included the Battle of Albert, July 1–13 ; the Battle of Bazentin Ridge, July 14–17; and the Battle of Fromelles. July 19–20. The second phase of the war (July–September 1916) included the Battle of Delville Wood, 14 July – 15 September; the Battle of Pozières, July 23 – August 7; the Battle of Guillemont, September 3–6; and the Battle of Ginchy, September 9. The third and last phase of the war (September–November 1916) included the Battle of Flers–Courcelette, September 15–22; the Battle of Morval, September 25–28; the Battle of Thiepval Ridge, September 26–28; the Battle of the Transloy Ridges, October 1 –November 11; the Battle of the Ancre Heights, October 1– November 11; and the Battle of the Ancre (famous for the capture of Beaumont Hamel), November 13–18.In Newfoundland and the United Kingdom, the Battle of The Somme became one of the painful memories of the First World War. On July 1, the British Embassy in Paris, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and the Royal British Legion commemorate this battle on July 1 at Thiepval Memorial. For showing courage and valor even under the distressful conditions on the very first day of the war when the casualties were the highest, the First Newfoundland Regiment got the title of ‘The Royal Newfoundland Regiment’ by George V on November 28 in the year 1917. The first day of this battle is also commemorated in Newfoundland to remember the ’the Best of the Best every year on the nearest Sunday to July 1. The Battle of The Somme is also remembered in Ireland because of the participation of the 36th (Ulster) Division. British legion commemorates this battle on July 1.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our Battle of the Somme facts, then why not take a look at our articles on the Battle of Jutland or the Battle of Chancellorsville?

The Battle of the Somme is an infamous battle of trench warfare that happened in World War I.