This page will be used for Mr. Webber's PRS students to complete assignments and to communicate with fellow students on issues surrounding our 10th grade World History class.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Battle of the Somme
Research the Battle of the Somme and write a report on this important WWI battle. Be sure to include how the offensive was planned and executed, as well as the overall significant of the battle.
Post your responses by 8:00am March 6
Yasmeen Ketcherside Webber per. 7 Battle of Somme March 3, 2013
It all started on July 1st 1916. The Battle of Somme also known as Somme Offensive. It took place of both sides of the Somme River in France. British and France teamed up together to fight against the Germans. The Germans occupied a large part on the north of France. On the first day of battle, the British suffered one of its worst days on the field. They lost nearly 60,000 casualties. General Sir Henry Rawlinson, General Officer Commanding the British Fourth Army, said that it is time to use the “bites” method. This method the army would capture one German line and then stay there, until there were sure that it had been captured. There was a final count of 1,200,000 men in the army on England and France, and 1,375,000 men in the German army. On the England and France side there were 623,907 casualties, while in the Germans lost 465,000 casualties. This was known to be one of the bloodiest battles of all time. The goal of The Battle of the Somme was originally planned to assault the British and French commanders with hopes of gaining territory and destroying the Germans. Before they could launch the attack, but Verdun became heavily bombarded by the Germans. This caused the Battle of the Somme to be executed earlier than planned with a new objective of diverting pressure from the Battle of Verdun and destroying the Germans. No one really won this war.
The Battle of the Somme, which lasted from July 1st to November 18th of 1916, was significant mainly because of the horrifying number of dead as a result of the battle. France and Britain were allied against Germany, trying to exhaust them of their reserves and also trying to gain more territory. Joffre (French Commander in Chief) and Sir Douglas Haig (British Commander in Chief) agreed upon an offensive plan. They were also assisted by the ideas of British General Rawlinson. Originally, they were going to launch their plan in August of 1916, but since the Germans had attacked the French at Verdun, the battle began a month earlier to distract the Germans and “relieve the pressure on the French. (Wikipedia)” It started with an artillery bombardment lasting about a week to demolish the German trenches and barbed wire. The British and French forces hoped that this bombardment would make it easier for their soldiers to cross No Man’s Land and take over the German front lines. From there, they would keep moving forward, taking over as much as they could. They also hoped that the Germans would be completely shocked by the bombardment, and less able to fight. However, the bombardment failed. The German concrete bunkers and barbed wire were not destroyed, which meant that the Germans still had a good defense. On top of that, the Germans were then expecting attacks, so they were ready. In the first day alone, 58,000 British troops were killed. However, the British and French were able to advance over the span of those several months. The Germans may have slightly underestimated the power of the British, because they had “regarded Britain as a naval power and discounted her as a military force to be reckoned with. (Wikipedia)” The Germans did receive reinforcements, though, from Verdun, but it wasn’t enough because their number of casualties was around 500,000. The number of casualties for the allies totaled at 200,000 for the French and 420,000 for the British. In the end, though, bad weather was what stopped the slow yet steady advances of the British and French troops in November. Some people believed that there was no clear winner of this battle while others saw it as a British victory and thought “that it marked the point at which German morale began a permanent decline and the strategic initiative was lost, along with irreplaceable veterans and confidence. (Wikipedia)”
The battle of the Somme is famous for killing a third of the 60,000 British troops on the first day of battle, July 1st 1916. The attacks began, and continued, from the North of the Somme River until November 18th 1916 when it was finally called off. The Germans in their trenches would shoot down the “fool proof” plan that Britain thought they had devised leaving the British with 60,000 casualties and 20,000 deaths. Britain’s plan was to attack the German forces from the east first. Then advance toward the already crippled German lines to defeat them completely. The British commanders and troops came into this battle thinking that their plan wouldn’t fail and that everything would work out in their favor. However they did not know that the Germans had dug trenches deep into the ground to create a buffer between them and Britain’s artillery bombardment. When the bombardment ceased, the Germans sprung from their trenches and attacked the British with machine guns. Because of Germany’s patience and ability to avoid the artillery bombardment, the British lost the greatest number of troops on the first day of a battle. Unfortunately Britain did not get any luckier during this battle. Germany used their first win as momentum to carry them through the five brutal months of battle by the Somme River.
The Battle of the Somme was a World War I battle that took place over the course of almost five months. It started on July 1st, 1916 and lasted until November of the same year. These five months were one of the bloodiest battles in the war, killing over 1 million people from all of the armies. The British lost 420,00 men, the French lost 200,000, and the Germans lost nearly 500,000. However, the bloodiest day of the battle was on the first day, where the British lost 60,000 people alone. The battle originally started to relieve some of the French troops from Verdun, which was another town east of Paris, by redirecting some of the troops north of Verdun to draw the Germans away from the town. Although this plan sounded good in theory, many of the Allied commanders like Frenchman General Foch and British General Henry Rawlinson did not believe that this plan would really make a difference for the French army, so with this thinking in place, it was very difficult to win a battle. On the first day of battle, the Allies threw 1,738,000 shells at the Germans. However, the Germans built very deep trenches, so the shells were not a threat to them, as they just went into deep dugouts while the shells were being thrown. Once the bombardment stopped, the Germans knew that the British were advancing, and they could be one step ahead of the Allies this way. In the end, neither side really won because by November 1916, the Allies had only gained about 6 miles of territory, if that. Other than having the most casualties in one day, this battle was also famous because this was the first battle that the tank was used. Regardless of the technology, the Battle of the Somme, a classic trench warfare battle, resulted in over a million deaths and injuries, and didn’t really impact the rest of the war, as neither side gained or lost any land. The Battle of Somme, similar to the rest of World War I, could even be considered a “pointless battle” because nothing significant happened during the five-month battle besides the deaths of so many soldiers.
The Battle of Somme lasted for about five months. It started on July 1st 1916 and ended on November 18th 1916. What makes the war significant is how many people died and got injured from the British side. The battle was set in the North of the Somme River it was in between the towns Aras and Albert. Before the war the place looked like a u-shape with hills, woods and freshness. It was beautiful and innocent. After the war it was left with dirt and dust. It was empty and bloody. It was nothing like what it had been before the first attack. The British called the battle off because of how many men they were losing. The British had planned an eight-day bombardment and then had a frontal attack. They were going to attack the Germans from the East then go forward and attack all of the German forces. This however did not work. The Germans were prepared for the bombardment. They deepened their trenches, so that they could be protected from the bombardment. However the British believed that they were going to defeat the Germans. The British had crossed the front line with no weapons and started the bombardment. The Germans waited in the trenches, and then finally got up from them and started shooting with their machine guns. The Germans had a smarter strategy and ended up killing and injuring many soldiers from the British side. The first night was the worst, because after that Germany had no way of losing and Britain was in no shape of fighting for five more months. This really hurt Britain in its reputation. This showed other countries that Germany was smart and strong, and that Germany was a threat to every country. The war ended up like this, because the British bombardment was not effective. It also ended the way it did, because the Germans had a strong defense.
The battle of the Somme began on July 1st 1916 and ended in November of 1916. This 5 month battle is seen by many as the battle that symbolized the horrors of warfare in World War One. The significance of this battle was not by who had won, or how much land they had gained. This battle represented how violent and intense World War 1 was, and the number of casualties in this battle is a very shocking and shows just what people would do just to get a few miles of land. The forces involved had suffered more than 1 million casualties, making it one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded. General Joseph Joffre, who was the commander-in-chief of the French Army at the time, and the Sir Douglas Haig, who was the commander-in-chief of the British Army, agreed on an offensive strategy that they would attack the Central Powers with. The French, British, Italian and Russian armies would all participate in this attack. The plan was to first destroy German defenses with a massive artillery bombardment. Then, 100,000 soldiers would advance toward German defenses, which at that time would have been pretty destroyed from the bombardment. Then, to finish off the Germans, two cavalry divisions would be sent into the battle. However, this battle did not go according to their plan to destroy the German forces. On the first day of the battle the British Army would suffer almost 60,000 casualties. So, what went wrong? Well, the Germans had dug themselves deep enough into the ground so that the bombardment wouldn’t kill as many of them as the British had predicted it would. The Germans knew that the British would have to stop their artillery bombardment in order to attack their troops. So, when they heard the bombardment stop, the Germans came out of their trenches and completely destroyed the approaching British armies with machine guns and hand grenades. On the first day, the British lost 20,000 men and had 60,000 total casualties, and only gained a half a mile of land from the Germans. When the battle finally ended 5 months later on November 17 1916, the British had only gained about 6 and a half miles of land. There was one million total casualties on both sides at the end of this battle, making it the bloodiest battle on record. This battle will be remembered for how many people died, not for who had “won” or how much land had been gained.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm The Battle of the Somme worksheet
The Battle of the Somme was a very gruesome, grueling, and fairly useless battle that occurred during World War 1. There were few groundbreaking tactics involved, and the battle showcased the psychologically deteriorating trench warfare that had been seen all along the western front. The Allied offensive was very artillery-centric; the artillery bombardment that would begin the assault was crucial to the success of the offensive. It was planned that this massive artillery bombardment would crush the German defenses, leaving the Allied invasion force of 100,000 men strong to sweep through with little resistance, therefore retaking lost ground at the cost of very few casualties.
The beginning artillery bombardment lasted about one week, and 1.6 million shells were fired towards the german lines. It was at this point that the 11 British divisions would attack between the cities of Serre and Curlu (north of the Somme), while 5 French divisions were to attack between Curlu and Peronne (south of the Somme). However, the Allied forces were not expecting such a strong defense from the Germans.
The artillery bombardment that had been planned to crush the German defenses was completely unsuccessful. At the beginning of the Bombardment, the German soldiers were either too well fortified in their deep and well built trenches, or moved into bunkers. Additionally, many of the Allied shells failed to explode. When the attack from the allies began, the Germans simply set up their guns and began to mow down the Allied soldiers. At the end of the first day the British forces suffered 60,000 casualties, and 60% of the officers involved in the first day of the offensive were killed in battle. The French forces were slightly more successful, but were unable to hold their newly gained ground for long, and were forced back to their previous lines.
The next two months turned into a stalemate, and many men died without making any territorial gain from the enemies. At the end of the battle, the british suffered 420,000 casualties at Somme, the French 195,000, and the Germans 650,000. The allies only gained approximately six and one half miles of land from their German enemies, at the cost of many many lives on both sides. This battle that was meant to be a decisive and important victory on the Allied side ended in a bloody and violent tragedy with very little actual accomplishment.
Sources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/battle_somme.shtml The Article We Received in Class
The Battle of Somme took place on July 1st, and ended on November 18th of 1916. This means that is occurred during World War I. “The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the war” (Wikipedia). This was a war between the British and the German. The reason for this war was, “This is, therefore, the first objective to be obtained by the combined British and French offensive. The second objective is to inflict as heavy losses as possible upon the German armies” (History learning site). However, the British got off to a rough start on the opening day of this battle. ’The British Army suffer the worst day in its history, sustaining nearly 60,000 casualties” (Wikipedia). The British were planning on using naval and economic pressures on the Germans, while having the element of surprise in their favor. What ended up fueling Germany’s machine usage was the British’s version of machine warfare. As for the German strategy, they “intended to split the British and French alliance in 1916 and end the war, before the Entente's material superiority became crushing” (Wikipedia). The German had huge masses of heavy artillery, which ultimately led to the huge losses of for the French. After almost 4 months of fighting, the battle came to a close as the Germans declared their victory.
Works Cited: "Battle of the Somme." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 May 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. "The Battle of the Somme and British Strategy." Taylor and Francis. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. "The Battle of the Somme." The Battle of the Somme. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
The Battle of Somme was a major British offensive that began on July 1, 1916. The offensive was a huge plan as the front ran all the way from North of the Somme River to between Arras and Albert, 30 kilometers total. The purpose of the attack was to unite the British and French forces against the attacking German forces. The idea was earlier conceived by the French Commander in Chief, who had the goal of draining the German reserves and gaining back the land they had already lost. Although the original attack was in theory supposed to be a majority of French soldiers, the bulk of soldiers were British. The British planned to use artillery to take out German forces and destroy anything impeding their way. This included the trenches the the German soldiers occupied and the barbed wire they had put up. At this point the British men would simply march forward an claim whatever remained of the German defenses. However, due to their overconfidence, they underestimated the Germans. Instead of easily falling, the Germans had dug deep into the ground and suffered little damage from the artillery. When the British troops began marching forward, they instead found themselves mowed down by German machine guns. In the one day, the British lost about 58,000 men, the largest number in one day in recorded history. The fight continued for many more weeks as the British and their allies attempted to take back French territory. However, they miserably failed. The countless losses quickly required more forces, which were deployed from Canada. Although adding to the sheer number of troops and increased success rate, overall the addition did nothing. In four months, the Allies had only managed to regain about 10 kilometers of land. Although the process was agonizingly slow, the German forces were eventually ground down and the battle ended on November 18. The Allies defeated the Germans on the Western front, but sparked debate over whether the 400,000 British, 200,000 French, and 500,000 German casualties were worth it.
Works Cited "The Battle of Somme." Library and Archives Canada. N.p., 31 Oct. 2006. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. .
Duffy, Michael. "Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com. N.p., 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. .
The Battle of the Somme took place during the first world war from July 1 to November 18, 1916. The battle was named after the river somme of north France where the battle took place. The battle of the somme is a very true embodiment of world war one as a whole, because it was a long battle that many people died over a small piece of land. In this four and a half month battle over a million soldiers died over a tactical gain of only forty miles. During the early stages of the battle the German line was in front of the river somme, but at the end of the battle the British and french troops had seized most of the river somme that the germans had occupied. The Germans started on the ridge in front of the river somme and held the higher ground which gave them a tactical advantage and used that to their advantage by digging in and setting up machine guns at the top of the ridge pointed down toward the British. The British Offensive strategy was to fire artillery shells over their own men as they rush toward the german positions. These shells were supposed rattle the germans and soften their line so that the incoming troops. This left a major area of possible error. This was very hard to coordinate because of synchronization between the artillery and infantry devisions. What ended up happening was that either of the devisions would go to early making the strategy be pointless. In the opening day the british lost over 60,000 men and went down in the books as one of the worst defeats in british army history. This battle was also the first recorded use of the tank by the british. This battle will go down in history as one of the bloodiest if not the bloodiest battle of human history. And it was all over one piece of land 40 miles in width.
The Battle of the Somme was fought from July 1st to November 16th of 1916 in France on the river Somme. It is significant for being one of the largest battles of the World War 1 with over 1 million casualties but with little accomplishment. The battle originated with the Brit’s decision to bombard German defenses. Once they had effectively damaged the defenses, the British would send in a cavalry division to finish off the Germans. The goal was to defeat the German army and assist the French army that had been suffering losses at Verdun. Britain’s plan was not successful, as the German forces were not as heavily affected by the initial bombardment as the British had planned. The Germans had been protected by their own deep trenches. When the English stopped their bombardment they were not confronted by a weakened army as they had thought. They were instead faced with a prepared Germany armed with machine guns and grenades. This caused the worst day for British army in its history. It suffered around 60,000 casualties and 20,000 deaths. The battle continued for about 6 months more and in the end, there were 623,907 casualties for the Allied forces (mainly British and French troops) and 465,000 for the German forces. This battle has been called pointless, due to the high number of deaths and lack of change in the course of the war. In the end, the Allies only gained around five miles of land. The only accomplishment of this battle may be that it was the first where tanks were used.
Sources: -http://www.historyman.co.uk/ww1/Somme.html -http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_somme.html -http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme -Paper from class
The Battle of the Somme took place in World War 1 from July 1st to November 18th in 1916 on both sides of the Somme river in France. On one side, there was the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army. The opposing side was comprised of the German army. The main reason the French wanted to fight against the Germans was because the Germans occupied a large territory of Northern France since their invasion in August of 1914. This battle was considered to be one of the greatest fights in World War 1 history. When the fighting finally died down in Autumn of 1916, there were over one million casualties between the French, British, and German forces. Because there were over one million deaths in this battle, it has been recorded as one of the bloodiest fights of all time. The offensive was a very large plan as the front lines ran from North of the Somme river to between Arras and Albert, 30 kilometers in total. As a whole, an estimate of 1.5 million people died for Britain and France to regain 5 miles of France. Britain and France also lost a little more than half their men during battle. About 623,000 men were killed out of a rough estimate of 1,200,000 men. This displays the inhumane and horrific nature of World War 1. Though the result of the battle was considered to be indecisive, the ally forces were definitely victorious despite their dramatic loss in numbers. The Germans lost an estimated 465,000 men out of 1,375,000 and were forced to fall back at the end of the war 40 miles from battle action. The Germans tried break apart the alliance between the British and the French prior to the battle, but their attempt failed. They then tried to deteriorate the front line of the French and the British in hopes of leaving the forces vulnerable and weak. This also didn't work and the French and British eventually gained the five-mile territory. In contrast, the British force tried a early bombardment on the Germans but it wasn't as effective as they hoped. The Germans were protected by their very own trenches and instead of the English facing a ill-prepared, weak German army, they had to face a prepared, strong Germany with machine guns,grenades, and tanks. This was the first appearance tanks ever made in a war. This was the opening day of the fight and the British were hit hard losing nearly 60,000 soldiers. The battle of the Somme is debatably one of the most savage battles in human history.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme - Duffy, Michael. "Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com. N.p., 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
The Battle of the Somme occurred from July 1st to the 13th of November. It was supposed to be a decisive breakthrough, but instead became a huge slaughter, with General Haig's tactics remaining controversial even today. The British planned to attack on a 15 mile front slightly north of the Somme, while five French divisions would attack an eight mile front south of the Somme. British commanders were so confident they ordered their troops to walk slowly towards the German lines. However, the British did not conceal their preparations which gave the Germans clear warning. In addition, German trenches were heavily fortified and, furthermore, many of the British shells failed to explode. Therefore, when the bombardment began, the Germans simply moved underground and waited. When the whistle blew to start the war the British divisions walked towards the German lines, but the machine guns started and the slaughter began. By the end of the day, the British had suffered 60,000 casualties, of whom 20,000 were dead. The French advance was considerably more successful because they had more guns and faced weaker defenses. Because the 'decisive breakthrough' was actually a decisive failure, Haig concentrated on the southern sector. The British took the German positions there on 14 July, but once more could not follow through, resulting in another blood bath. In mid-November the battle ended, with the Allies having advanced only five miles. The British suffered around 420,000 casualties, the French 195,000 and the Germans around 650,000. (BBC) The overall significance of the Battle of the Somme is the huge amount of loss for a mere 5 miles of land. There were so many killed, and they all died for almost nothing. There was conceptually no gain to the brutal 5 month war, which equals it to be a huge waste in my opinion.
During WW1, the British and French fought the Battle of Somme against the Germans. The battle that eventually became an incredibly important chapter in WW1 history began on the first of July 1916. It took place around the Somme river- hence the battle's name. The primary goal for the British and French was to reclaim a large area of Northern France that the Germans invaded in 1914. The Battle of Somme is infamous for being one of the most unsuccessful and time-wasting fights with over one million casualties on all sides. The rather upsetting element of the battle is the amount of thought that went into the British/French's intricate plan. Months of sweat and tears went into a plan that became a complete disaster. In a nutshell, the British and French's plan was to use artillery to take out anything German that came their way. Unfortunately for them, the Germans were well protected by their sturdy trenches. The 1.5 million shells fired were essentially a waste of artillery due to the minimal amount of Germans injured.The next step to the plan would have been to send a wave of cavalry to give the Germans a final blow, but failure to properly execute their first plan caused the British and French to engage in an unexpectedly gruesome fight. The battle ended about five months later on the 16th of November 1916.
The Battle of the Somme occurred on July 1st, 1916 lasted for about five months and ended on November 18th 1916. This battle is known for the amount of people who died and were injured on the British side. There were about 60,000 casualties on the British side and around 20,000 deaths. The battle caused around one million deaths total from both armies combined. The offensive was planned late in 1915 and was intended as a joint French-British attack. The French commander wanted to drain the German forces of reserves although territorial gain was a secondary aim. The British thought that their plan was full prof and would not fail them when in fact it did not work out for them. The British were unaware that the Germans dug trenches deep into the ground so that they would not be affected by the shells being thrown. The dugout was deep enough for them to hide in with out getting hurt. When the bombardment was finally over the Germans got out from their dugouts and attacked the British with their weapons. The Germans had guns while the British had no weaponry. The British lost many soilders just on the first day of the battle. The British were unprepared for the well thought out strategy that the Germans executed. The German army was much stronger and smarter compared to the British army. The British strategy of bombarding the Germans was not well thought out and the Germans therefore showed they were stronger physically and mental then the British were.
The Battle of the Somme was a disastrous WWI battle for the British and French forces. The French had suffered casualties at Verdun and wanted to divert German troops to defend Somme. The first objective of the battle was to drain the Germans of resources, the second was to gain land.
The attack was intended to be mainly French, but the French troops were split between Verdun and Somme, so the majority of the fighting force came from Britain. The battle was initially planned to begin on August 1, but the French wanted revenge on the Germans, so the date was moved to July 1, 1916.
To speed up the attack, British artillery fired 1.6 million shells on German trenches 8 days before the assault. They were so confident in the effectiveness of the bombardment that they planned to have their soldiers creep forward to the enemy and kill off the Germans. The cavalry would come behind the land forces and pick off the escaping Germans.
This was a failure. The Germans knew of the British plans and hid in their heavily fortified trenches until the shelling was over. Once the bombardment finished, the Germans set up their weapons and prepared for battle. Many of the advancing British troops were picked off by German machine guns. The few that made it through to the German trenches were driven back. The British suffered 60,000 casualties, of which 20,000 were death. 60% of officers died that first day.
The French had more guns, but could not make a decisive breakthrough without British backup. The French were also forced to retreat. Commander Haig stubbornly and blindly continued the offensive, making little advancement. He was convinced that the Germans were also worn out and the Allies would soon see a breakthrough.
The Allies never saw their decisive breakthrough and called off the battle due to bad weather on November 18, 1916. The failure of an attack cost the British 420,000 in casualties, the French 200,000, and the Germans 500,000. The Allies gained approximately 7.5 miles of land. There is much controversy over Haig’s battle strategy, but the facts remain that the Battle of Somme cost the Allies many, many men.
The Battle of the Somme took place between July 1 and November 19, 1916. This battle was between the alliances of France and Britain, and the forces of Germany. This battle marked the introduction of the tank to warfare. With over one million casualties, this battle also is named one of the bloodiest battles in history. For the British and French, the objective was to take back territory from the Germans with Bapaume being a marker. The British and French wanted to fire shells at the Germans until they were unable to sustain the casualties. The Germans were able to hold their line well through the winter. The Germans attacked Verdun, putting pressure on the French. The French were forced to give up command of the battle and the British then took over the plans. The British planned to attack the Germans heavily then send twenty two divisions over to the Germans trenches. The Germans would be stunned and unprepared. The Germans planned to split the French and British, ending the alliance. They hoped to plot the two nations against eachother so that the war would end. The first day of battle was one of the bloodiest every in British history. They suffered over sixty thousand casualties. In the end, the British and French were not able to capture Bapaume, but they were able to draw a line up to Les Baoefs. For each centimeter, approximately two men were lost.
The Battle of the Somme was a battle that took about four months and was from July 1 and November 19 of 1916. This slaughterfest of a battle was between the French, the British, and the Germans. The purpose of this battle was to gain the recourses and land the Germans had. To get ahead of the game, the allied forces fired 1.6 million shells towards the Germans one week before the initial attack. This is one of the first instances of Tank warfare, and clearly was very effective. Since the British commanders were so confident, they ordered their soldiers to walk towards the German line. Once they have fulfilled this action, calvary units poured through and wiped out the Germans. Some of these attacks were not very effective and warned the Germans what was coming. On July 1, 7:30 am the whistles to launch the battle went off. The Germans left their stations and went to their assigned positions. The British started to push forward, and once they did the Germans brought out their machine guns. This is when the slaughtering began. The British suffered 60,00 casualties and 20,000 of them being deaths. About 60% of the officers were killed the first day of this long blood bath. The French should of had an advantage due to their guns, but they were only able to push up about 5 miles on the Germans. In the end, 420,00 British soldiers were killed, 195,000 French soldiers were killed, and about 650,000 German soldiers were killed. In the end, the British and French did not accomplish their goal, but they did push up against the Germans.
The Battle of the Somme was fought from July 1, 1916 until November 18 of the same year. It is famous primarily because of the horrific amount of casualties it came with in such a short period of time. The battle was instigated by the Allies in hopes of not only moving German troops from a spot that was requiring too much manpower from France, but also to attrit the German forces at the 30 kilometer front where they were to engage in conflict. The battle was strategized by both Joffre (French Commander in Chief) and Haig (British Commander in Chief). Together, they had agreed that the attack would be made up of predominately French forces, the British ended up being the bulk of the offensive body. It was planned that the following the first attack there would be a eight day preliminary bombardment followed by the immediate taking of the German front since it was expected the bombardment would obliterate any German opposition. Next, the creeping barrage was to procede behind the infantry to the front line, and then the second and third. In order to fill in all of the gaps, troops would be positioned, heavy-laden with supplies to suppress any other enemies. However, the plan failed utterly. The initial bombardment failed to wipe out the Germans as they sought refuge behind the barbed wire and well constructed bunkers that held against the British and French attacks. Most of the munition used by the Allies failed to go off and were considered "duds", which meant that they were poorly constructed and ineffective against the German troops. After the bombardment ceased, the Germans were able to retaliate effectively with heavy machine guns. Due to the lack of surprise instilled by the Allied attack, the French and British were unable to make major headway in the weeks that followed. The first line of German forces was secured July 11th. But that day, Germany forces were also transferred from a previous conflict in order to help strengthen the defense at the Somme. Haig had previously believed that at that point, he was on the brink of exhausting the German troops so he continued on with the bombardment. Nonetheless, the offensive attacks were maintained through the summer. In early September, the Allies received reinforcements as well as tanks to move along the battle. Unfortunately, the addition of troops only served to gain them under a kilometer of ground. Despite the steady advances made by the Allies during the span of time they attacked German forces, bad weather was what finally halted the British and French troops. The Allies had managed to gain 12 total kilometers of land. Although British and French casualties far out weighed those of the Germans (420,000 British casualties/200,00 French casualties/ 500,000 German casualties) it is still argued that the Battle of the Somme was an Allie victory. Either way, the Battle of the Somme is most remembered for the heinous amount of deaths suffered by the British on the first day of battle; one third of the troops, or approximately 158,00 soldiers dead. The war marked the halfway point of World War One as well as highlight the gruesome atrocities that presented themselves during that time. The Battle of the Somme managed to epitomize the impotence of trench warfare as well as gain little land for such a large amount of casualties. Ultimately, the war succeeded in lowering German morale and thus paving a clearer road to official victory of the war.
The battle of Somme took place around the Somme river in northern France that lasted from July 1, 1916 to November 18th of the same year. The battle was fought between the British/French against the Germans on the Western Front. The Somme battle is well known for its reputation of being the "bloodiest battle" ever fought because it wiped out over 60,000 people in one day, which is still the record even to modern times. The battle of Somme was strategized by Joffre, the French Commander in Chief, and Haig, the British Commander in Chief. The ultimate goal was to push the German lines back out of France. To do this, the two men planned out what they thought was a "fail-proof" plan. They planned for an initial bombardment on the German lines eight days in advance before the troops were to go over the top so German artillery and troops were annihilated. However, this plan completely failed as the German troops had dug deep trenches and fortified bunkers that held off the Allies' artillery and bombardment. When the British and French troops approached the German lines, they were surprised by the Germans who were still alive and were met with a barrage of bullets from German machine guns. This battle went on for months with each side pushing back and forth After this day, the Germans attacked Verdun, putting pressure on the French in retaliation of their first attack.The French/British planned to attack the Germans heavily then send twenty two divisions over to the Germans trenches. The Germans would be stunned and unprepared. Meanwhile, The Germans planned to split the French and British and forcing them against each other, ending the alliance; however, the Germans were unable to accomplish this. In the end, around 1,200,000 people died during this battle thus the reason it was called "the bloodiest battle ever"
The Battle of Somme is one of the most important battles in the WWI. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on either side of the river Somme in France. The two force fighting against each other during this battle were French troops, British Expeditionary army and German army. British and French were on offensive position and Germans were on defensive position. Before this battle begins, German had occupied a big part of France and almost can hit Paris. There were over 2.5 million soldiers involved this battle. British and French army had the military advantage that they have about 1.2 million soldiers while Germen have 1.3 million troops. Germen was also in defensive position and defense was a much easier thing to do during WWI. Thus two forces in this battle are almost evenly competitive. The British’s plan was to breakthrough German’s defense in order to decrease German army’s pressure on French troops and turn the positional war into mobile war. At the beginning of the battle British bombarded German trenches and fortification for 6-7 days, and then put hundreds of thousands of soldiers into attacking by command them charge in intensive formation. However, British’s plan wasn’t working perfectly. The bombard weakened German defensive force, but it also warned German army that when British army started charge, German army was fairly prepared. On the first day of the battle, British army lost 60,000 soldiers on July 1st because of the Germen artillery fire and the machine guns. The process of the war is very slow. Although on right wing, the French-British troops got some victories, they still didn’t achieve the initial goal which is breakthrough. In September, British used tanks, tanks worked perfectly at when they were firstly used, however because only 18 tanks were used in this battle, the damage they caused is very limited. As autumn came, the weather was getting worse so the British-French army stopped attacking gradually. On the England and France side there were 623,907 casualties, while in the Germans lost 465,000 casualties but they lost a big part of their defensive position. This was known to be one of the bloodiest battles of all time. This is a transitional battle in WWI, after this war German’s power was declining and finally failed. The first use of tanks also opened a new era of human war. It also stimulated European countries to develop their heavy weapons for attacking positions. Politically, this battle promoted the cabinet reshuffle in Britain, which made Churchill get into the cabinet.
The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st, 1916 and lasted until November 1916. It had thousands of casualties on both sides that fought, which made it very significant. The French lost 200,000 men, the British lost 420,000 men, and the Germans lost almost 500,000 men. The French and British fought together against the Germans. The French had been suffering at Verdun when the Germans attacked them, so they planned a Franco-British offensive. The British general leading this battle was Douglas Haig. He commanded a bombardment on German lines which started the Battle of the Somme and lasted about a week. There were 1,738,000 shells fired by the French and British. However, this did not affect the Germans, nor did it achieve the intended goal of ruining the German trenches and barbed wire. The Germans fled to safety in their deep dugouts. When the artillery ceased, the Germans predicted that there would be an infantry advance, so they left their shelter and went to their machine guns. The British advanced 25 miles, just like the Germans thought they would. There were hundreds of thousands of casualties and deaths. The main objectives of this battle were to relieve pressure from the French’s losses at Verdun and to cause heavy losses to the Germans.
The battle of the Somme was fought near the French River of Somme between July 1 and November 1, 1918 near the Somme. This was by far one of the bloodiest battles in all of military history. Even after the first day, Britain had suffered 57,470 casualties. By the end of the conflict, there were 420,000 British casualties, 200,000 French, and an estimated 465,000 German casualties. In early 1916, the French had the proposition of a Franco-British offensive establishment near the River of the Somme. On July 1st, 14 British Infantry divisions and 5 French divisions attacked the Germans. One of the main objectives for this battle was to diverge the war from the French defeat at Verdun and put the Germans into a defensive position. The Germans deployed seven divisions in defense. In World War I, due to all the trenches, barbed-wire, machine gun placements, and other "no-man's-land" installments, defenders had a serious advantage. This attack was planned by Douglas Haig and Henry Rawson of the GOC fourth army. Because of compromises and adopted segments of each other's plans, the attack ended up being slightly uncoordinated and akward. The most important support to the infantry was the artillery. While this did much damage, it did not eliminate a lot of the "no man's land" obstacles such as barbed wire, and machine gunners in dugouts. This made crossing to the German trenches very difficult. After the first day of attack, Germans were able to hide themselves in new dugouts quicker then the allies (French and British) were able to advance. Slight, painfully slow advances were made allowing this stalemate to be prolonged throughout six weeks into winter. Eventually, the Germans retreated to weaker defensive lines. The long, grueling Battle did a lot of psycological damage to the moral of both sides.
The Battle of the Somme was fought during World War I and was the cause of many deaths for both sides, especially the British. This battle lasted from July 1, 1916 to November 17, 1916, and is infamous for the loss of soldiers in this battle. The British had hoped to gain a vast amount of land with this battle, and expected to easily push through the German lines using their strategy. Commanders Joffre and Haig of France and Britain respectively began to plan this attack in the later half of 1915. Originally, they planned for the forces to consist of the French and less British, but in the end, more British soldiers were sent to this battle. The Battle of the Somme was just like any other World War I fight: tragic and gruesome. The Allies plan was to attack the Germans with a large bombardment with deadly force of about 3,000 guns, aiming to wipe out the majority of the German troops. Joffre and Haig were then going to order infantry, called a ‘creeping barrage,’ in front of the cavalry. The infantry and cavalry were planning on an easy travel across No Man’s Land and little resistance from the few remaining Germans. The Allies’ plan completely failed and backfired against them. Preparation for the large attack were not hidden, and the eight day bombardment gave the Germans plenty of time to realize an attack was coming. The Germans hid deep in their trenches and underground bunkers behind their barbed wire. On top of these factors, many of the British bombs did not explode, and those that did were unable to penetrate the German defenses. After the bombardment, the Germans climbed out of the trenches and slaughtered the Allies with their heavy machine guns. The French and British lost more than 20,000 soldiers and 60,000 casualties on just first day of fighting. The Allies made some headway on their attack when they claimed the German front line on July 11. To their dismay, more German soldiers were sent to reinforce their defenses on that very day. Commander Haig was positive that the German troops were going to be exhausted if they kept up their attack through the summer. Tanks were used for the first time during the Battle of the Somme on the side of the Allies. Although the Allies tried their very best to defeat the Germans, they only achieved six and a half miles by the end of the Battle of the Somme. Even though the Allies had more casualties than the Germans, the Allies are considered to have won the Battle of the Somme because they gained more land and pushed the Germans back. The Battle of the Somme will always be known as one of the most violent battles of all time.
The battle of Somme (July 1 to November 18, 1916) (Wikipedia) was considered to be one of the bloodiest and largest battles of WWI. Over a million casualties were suffered as a result of the battle (Wikipedia). The battle was between the British/French alliance against the German forces. The British and French offensive gained only about 6 miles out of the nine they had planned to cover to get to Bapaume, which was a major objective (Wikipedia). It was considered one of the largest wastes of human life due to the ratio of military success to casualties. The German plan was quite sophisticated and was planned with much foresight; it is what instigated the battle. The German plan was to attack the French line and provoke an ill prepared counter offensive by the French on a well fortified German front to totally decimate the French. Knowing Britiain would have to move troops in order to support the French, the Germans planned to attack and inflict heavy losses on their front as well. The assumption was that since the British army was mainly just a volunteer force of fresh recruits, would be prove to make little resistance; which is where the Germans had miscalculated and left a hole in their defenses. The British support force turned out to be much stronger than expected and forced the Germans to move troops from the north where they were battling the French. Germany faced yet another scenario where they had to fight a two front battle, and from historical perspective, is something they tend to almost win and then lose at the very end. The British had much too large a force that was too well equipped to be easily taken out. The British planned to use a million shells relentlessly to weaken the German line so that “the infantry would only have to walk over to take possession.”(Wikipedia). The plans and theories simply did not come into play and that is potentially the reason for the British/French victory in Somme. The Germans had horrible communication and on the first day, a full reserve of 800 men were marched out onto the field only to be slaughtered with only 68 men making it out unharmed (Wikipedia). This is where this war becomes so obviously bloody and important; a large portion of an entire generation of Newfoundlanders was wiped out in that first day of fighting (Wikipedia). The social toll of this battle was immense because so many people in a single generation were decimated just for 6 miles of land and a generally unsuccessful campaign. The waste of human life was too immense and that is why the generation born into having to fight in the war was called the “Lost Generation”.
Works Cited: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
Battle of Somme had many casualties. The British Army lost 420,000 men, the French lost 200,000 men, and the Germans lost 500,000 men. This high death count made many realize how brutal trench warfare was. The battle started on July 1st 1916 and went through November 1916. The reason the battle started was the French losing battles. Desperate for victory, they attacked in a different location from where they were attacking at Verdun. Their strategy was by attacking in a different location, they would take the pressure off another battle that was going on in Verdun. According to Sir William Robertson, their other goal was to kill as many German soldiers as possible. The French and the British began heavily shelling the German lines, but the Germans had bomb proof shelters deep underground. Then the British and French began marching after the shelling towards the enemy lines while the Germans shot machine guns at them. Every mile gained by the Allied forces, 88,000 men were lost. As the troops walked into no man's land, they started dropping as they were pelted with bullets. The main significance of the battle was that people around the world began realizing how deadly trench warfare was due to the mass amount of soldiers killed in the Battle of the Somme and the small amount of success compared to the deaths.
The Battle of Somme was a horrific battle and known as one of the largest in World War One. It lasted from the July 1rst to November 1rst of 1916. The battle was fought near the Somme River in France and was one of the bloodies battles in history. This was the first offensive move during WWI for the British troops. The first day of the battle, July 1rst, the British had 57,470 casualties. The French however only faced 2,000 casualties. By the end of the battle, the British suffered about 420,000 casualties yet the French only suffered about 200,000 casualties. As for the Germans it is controversial but it is said that the Germans suffered about 465,000 casualties. So what happened in this battle? In hopes to end the war the British commanders Douglas Haig and Henry Rawlison came up with a plan to charge the Germans from either side with the French. The British made the first move on July 1rst and attacked north of the Somme with fourteen infantry divisions. The French then attacked astride and south of the Somme with five divisions. To defend themselves the Germans launched seven divisions. The British had launched mass amounts of artillery on June 24th and now on July 1rst planned to charge through no-mans-land; however, even though near 1.7 million shells were launched, barbed wire, enemy guns, mis-fires, and other obstacles led to many missed shots. When the the British charged with only their bonnets and rifles, the British were hammered by German machine guns. This left the French more exposed, however with experience they were able to use their strong artillery and attack in rushes suffering less casualties and getting more done. For the next four months, somewhat of a stalmate took place with small attacks here and there. By the end of the battle, the 1.5 million men lost their lives for just a few miles of ground gained by the French and British. This Battle was in no means successful and if anything was an example of what not to do.
Sources: "Battle of the Somme Video." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
"Battle of the Somme." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
The battle Somme was fought on July 1st 1916. It was fought along the river named the Somme. The British planned to have an offensive attack on the German trenches to push away the attention from Verdun. They planned to first heavily bombard the opposing side’s trenches. Once the bombardment stopped the planned to send a line of men to attack the trenches. After the first line of men were able to get through no man’s land and into the trenches the British planned to send a Calvary to finish off the Germans. Though this was the plan it did not go that way at all. After firing a total of around 1,700,000 shells the Germans immediately understood that the British Soldiers were heading to attack their trenches. This allowed the Germans to get into position and focus on just killing the soldiers instead of watching out for the shells. 27 British Division were ready to attack. When the first line of British men came they collapsed in front of the Germans as the Germans fired thousands of bullets towards the British. On the first day of the battle around 58,000 British died. The Germans sent seven divisions to defend their trenches. Altogether the battle lasted for another three months. There were around 1 million casualties in this battle and only around 100 sq. miles was gained from the British. It is still the deadliest battle today for the British. This battle is a great example of how in World War 1 countries would fight to the end for every piece of land.
The Battle of Somme began at around 7:30am on July 1st in 1916, engineered mostly by British General Haig. It was a combined French-British effort to break through German fronts near Somme. Britain tackled a twenty four kilometre front north of the town; France targeted a thirteen kilometre front to the south. The British began a bombardment on the front eight days before the planned attack to ensure that the German defenses were significantly reduced. However, German trenches were well protected, so the bombing did not do the desired damage. In addition to the fortification of the trenches, many of the bombs never exploded. The British troops were unaware of this failure and advanced confidently towards the German line, right into the fire of machine guns, resulting in 60,000 total casualties and 20,000 deaths in the first day. The few British units that were able to reach the front line lacked the numbers and power needed to push forward and were forced to retreat. The French started bombing the Germans just hours before launching their attack, which gave them the element of surprise. They were more successful than the British troops, but were not able to break through enemy lines without British backup and were also forced to retreat. The Battle of Somme marked the greatest single loss in the war and was a large setback for the Allies. General Haig’s tactics remain a controversy; many argue that his strategy was a repetition of old flaws.
Research the Battle of the Somme and write a report on this important WWI battle. Be sure to include how the offensive was planned and executed, as well as the overall significant of the battle.
Post your responses by 8:00am March 6
Yasmeen Ketcherside
ReplyDeleteWebber per. 7
Battle of Somme
March 3, 2013
It all started on July 1st 1916. The Battle of Somme also known as Somme Offensive. It took place of both sides of the Somme River in France. British and France teamed up together to fight against the Germans. The Germans occupied a large part on the north of France.
On the first day of battle, the British suffered one of its worst days on the field. They lost nearly 60,000 casualties.
General Sir Henry Rawlinson, General Officer Commanding the British Fourth Army, said that it is time to use the “bites” method. This method the army would capture one German line and then stay there, until there were sure that it had been captured.
There was a final count of 1,200,000 men in the army on England and France, and 1,375,000 men in the German army. On the England and France side there were 623,907 casualties, while in the Germans lost 465,000 casualties. This was known to be one of the bloodiest battles of all time.
The goal of The Battle of the Somme was originally planned to assault the British and French commanders with hopes of gaining territory and destroying the Germans. Before they could launch the attack, but Verdun became heavily bombarded by the Germans. This caused the Battle of the Somme to be executed earlier than planned with a new objective of diverting pressure from the Battle of Verdun and destroying the Germans. No one really won this war.
The Battle of the Somme, which lasted from July 1st to November 18th of 1916, was significant mainly because of the horrifying number of dead as a result of the battle. France and Britain were allied against Germany, trying to exhaust them of their reserves and also trying to gain more territory. Joffre (French Commander in Chief) and Sir Douglas Haig (British Commander in Chief) agreed upon an offensive plan. They were also assisted by the ideas of British General Rawlinson. Originally, they were going to launch their plan in August of 1916, but since the Germans had attacked the French at Verdun, the battle began a month earlier to distract the Germans and “relieve the pressure on the French. (Wikipedia)”
ReplyDeleteIt started with an artillery bombardment lasting about a week to demolish the German trenches and barbed wire. The British and French forces hoped that this bombardment would make it easier for their soldiers to cross No Man’s Land and take over the German front lines. From there, they would keep moving forward, taking over as much as they could. They also hoped that the Germans would be completely shocked by the bombardment, and less able to fight. However, the bombardment failed. The German concrete bunkers and barbed wire were not destroyed, which meant that the Germans still had a good defense. On top of that, the Germans were then expecting attacks, so they were ready. In the first day alone, 58,000 British troops were killed. However, the British and French were able to advance over the span of those several months. The Germans may have slightly underestimated the power of the British, because they had “regarded Britain as a naval power and discounted her as a military force to be reckoned with. (Wikipedia)”
The Germans did receive reinforcements, though, from Verdun, but it wasn’t enough because their number of casualties was around 500,000. The number of casualties for the allies totaled at 200,000 for the French and 420,000 for the British.
In the end, though, bad weather was what stopped the slow yet steady advances of the British and French troops in November.
Some people believed that there was no clear winner of this battle while others saw it as a British victory and thought “that it marked the point at which German morale began a permanent decline and the strategic initiative was lost, along with irreplaceable veterans and confidence. (Wikipedia)”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm
The battle of the Somme is famous for killing a third of the 60,000 British troops on the first day of battle, July 1st 1916. The attacks began, and continued, from the North of the Somme River until November 18th 1916 when it was finally called off.
ReplyDeleteThe Germans in their trenches would shoot down the “fool proof” plan that Britain thought they had devised leaving the British with 60,000 casualties and 20,000 deaths. Britain’s plan was to attack the German forces from the east first. Then advance toward the already crippled German lines to defeat them completely.
The British commanders and troops came into this battle thinking that their plan wouldn’t fail and that everything would work out in their favor. However they did not know that the Germans had dug trenches deep into the ground to create a buffer between them and Britain’s artillery bombardment. When the bombardment ceased, the Germans sprung from their trenches and attacked the British with machine guns. Because of Germany’s patience and ability to avoid the artillery bombardment, the British lost the greatest number of troops on the first day of a battle. Unfortunately Britain did not get any luckier during this battle. Germany used their first win as momentum to carry them through the five brutal months of battle by the Somme River.
The Battle of the Somme was a World War I battle that took place over the course of almost five months. It started on July 1st, 1916 and lasted until November of the same year. These five months were one of the bloodiest battles in the war, killing over 1 million people from all of the armies. The British lost 420,00 men, the French lost 200,000, and the Germans lost nearly 500,000. However, the bloodiest day of the battle was on the first day, where the British lost 60,000 people alone.
ReplyDeleteThe battle originally started to relieve some of the French troops from Verdun, which was another town east of Paris, by redirecting some of the troops north of Verdun to draw the Germans away from the town. Although this plan sounded good in theory, many of the Allied commanders like Frenchman General Foch and British General Henry Rawlinson did not believe that this plan would really make a difference for the French army, so with this thinking in place, it was very difficult to win a battle. On the first day of battle, the Allies threw 1,738,000 shells at the Germans. However, the Germans built very deep trenches, so the shells were not a threat to them, as they just went into deep dugouts while the shells were being thrown. Once the bombardment stopped, the Germans knew that the British were advancing, and they could be one step ahead of the Allies this way.
In the end, neither side really won because by November 1916, the Allies had only gained about 6 miles of territory, if that. Other than having the most casualties in one day, this battle was also famous because this was the first battle that the tank was used. Regardless of the technology, the Battle of the Somme, a classic trench warfare battle, resulted in over a million deaths and injuries, and didn’t really impact the rest of the war, as neither side gained or lost any land. The Battle of Somme, similar to the rest of World War I, could even be considered a “pointless battle” because nothing significant happened during the five-month battle besides the deaths of so many soldiers.
Sources:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/battle_somme.shtml
The Battle of Somme lasted for about five months. It started on July 1st 1916 and ended on November 18th 1916. What makes the war significant is how many people died and got injured from the British side. The battle was set in the North of the Somme River it was in between the towns Aras and Albert. Before the war the place looked like a u-shape with hills, woods and freshness. It was beautiful and innocent. After the war it was left with dirt and dust. It was empty and bloody. It was nothing like what it had been before the first attack. The British called the battle off because of how many men they were losing. The British had planned an eight-day bombardment and then had a frontal attack. They were going to attack the Germans from the East then go forward and attack all of the German forces. This however did not work.
ReplyDeleteThe Germans were prepared for the bombardment. They deepened their trenches, so that they could be protected from the bombardment. However the British believed that they were going to defeat the Germans. The British had crossed the front line with no weapons and started the bombardment. The Germans waited in the trenches, and then finally got up from them and started shooting with their machine guns. The Germans had a smarter strategy and ended up killing and injuring many soldiers from the British side. The first night was the worst, because after that Germany had no way of losing and Britain was in no shape of fighting for five more months. This really hurt Britain in its reputation. This showed other countries that Germany was smart and strong, and that Germany was a threat to every country. The war ended up like this, because the British bombardment was not effective. It also ended the way it did, because the Germans had a strong defense.
The battle of the Somme began on July 1st 1916 and ended in November of 1916. This 5 month battle is seen by many as the battle that symbolized the horrors of warfare in World War One. The significance of this battle was not by who had won, or how much land they had gained. This battle represented how violent and intense World War 1 was, and the number of casualties in this battle is a very shocking and shows just what people would do just to get a few miles of land. The forces involved had suffered more than 1 million casualties, making it one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded.
ReplyDeleteGeneral Joseph Joffre, who was the commander-in-chief of the French Army at the time, and the Sir Douglas Haig, who was the commander-in-chief of the British Army, agreed on an offensive strategy that they would attack the Central Powers with. The French, British, Italian and Russian armies would all participate in this attack. The plan was to first destroy German defenses with a massive artillery bombardment. Then, 100,000 soldiers would advance toward German defenses, which at that time would have been pretty destroyed from the bombardment. Then, to finish off the Germans, two cavalry divisions would be sent into the battle. However, this battle did not go according to their plan to destroy the German forces. On the first day of the battle the British Army would suffer almost 60,000 casualties.
So, what went wrong? Well, the Germans had dug themselves deep enough into the ground so that the bombardment wouldn’t kill as many of them as the British had predicted it would. The Germans knew that the British would have to stop their artillery bombardment in order to attack their troops. So, when they heard the bombardment stop, the Germans came out of their trenches and completely destroyed the approaching British armies with machine guns and hand grenades. On the first day, the British lost 20,000 men and had 60,000 total casualties, and only gained a half a mile of land from the Germans. When the battle finally ended 5 months later on November 17 1916, the British had only gained about 6 and a half miles of land. There was one million total casualties on both sides at the end of this battle, making it the bloodiest battle on record. This battle will be remembered for how many people died, not for who had “won” or how much land had been gained.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm
The Battle of the Somme worksheet
The Battle of the Somme was a very gruesome, grueling, and fairly useless battle that occurred during World War 1. There were few groundbreaking tactics involved, and the battle showcased the psychologically deteriorating trench warfare that had been seen all along the western front. The Allied offensive was very artillery-centric; the artillery bombardment that would begin the assault was crucial to the success of the offensive. It was planned that this massive artillery bombardment would crush the German defenses, leaving the Allied invasion force of 100,000 men strong to sweep through with little resistance, therefore retaking lost ground at the cost of very few casualties.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning artillery bombardment lasted about one week, and 1.6 million shells were fired towards the german lines. It was at this point that the 11 British divisions would attack between the cities of Serre and Curlu (north of the Somme), while 5 French divisions were to attack between Curlu and Peronne (south of the Somme). However, the Allied forces were not expecting such a strong defense from the Germans.
The artillery bombardment that had been planned to crush the German defenses was completely unsuccessful. At the beginning of the Bombardment, the German soldiers were either too well fortified in their deep and well built trenches, or moved into bunkers. Additionally, many of the Allied shells failed to explode. When the attack from the allies began, the Germans simply set up their guns and began to mow down the Allied soldiers. At the end of the first day the British forces suffered 60,000 casualties, and 60% of the officers involved in the first day of the offensive were killed in battle. The French forces were slightly more successful, but were unable to hold their newly gained ground for long, and were forced back to their previous lines.
The next two months turned into a stalemate, and many men died without making any territorial gain from the enemies. At the end of the battle, the british suffered 420,000 casualties at Somme, the French 195,000, and the Germans 650,000. The allies only gained approximately six and one half miles of land from their German enemies, at the cost of many many lives on both sides. This battle that was meant to be a decisive and important victory on the Allied side ended in a bloody and violent tragedy with very little actual accomplishment.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/battle_somme.shtml
The Article We Received in Class
The Battle of Somme took place on July 1st, and ended on November 18th of 1916. This means that is occurred during World War I. “The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the war” (Wikipedia). This was a war between the British and the German. The reason for this war was, “This is, therefore, the first objective to be obtained by the combined British and French offensive. The second objective is to inflict as heavy losses as possible upon the German armies” (History learning site). However, the British got off to a rough start on the opening day of this battle. ’The British Army suffer the worst day in its history, sustaining nearly 60,000 casualties” (Wikipedia). The British were planning on using naval and economic pressures on the Germans, while having the element of surprise in their favor. What ended up fueling Germany’s machine usage was the British’s version of machine warfare.
ReplyDeleteAs for the German strategy, they “intended to split the British and French alliance in 1916 and end the war, before the Entente's material superiority became crushing” (Wikipedia). The German had huge masses of heavy artillery, which ultimately led to the huge losses of for the French.
After almost 4 months of fighting, the battle came to a close as the Germans declared their victory.
Works Cited:
"Battle of the Somme." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 May 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
"The Battle of the Somme and British Strategy." Taylor and Francis. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
"The Battle of the Somme." The Battle of the Somme. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
The Battle of Somme was a major British offensive that began on July 1, 1916. The offensive was a huge plan as the front ran all the way from North of the Somme River to between Arras and Albert, 30 kilometers total. The purpose of the attack was to unite the British and French forces against the attacking German forces. The idea was earlier conceived by the French Commander in Chief, who had the goal of draining the German reserves and gaining back the land they had already lost. Although the original attack was in theory supposed to be a majority of French soldiers, the bulk of soldiers were British.
ReplyDeleteThe British planned to use artillery to take out German forces and destroy anything impeding their way. This included the trenches the the German soldiers occupied and the barbed wire they had put up. At this point the British men would simply march forward an claim whatever remained of the German defenses. However, due to their overconfidence, they underestimated the Germans. Instead of easily falling, the Germans had dug deep into the ground and suffered little damage from the artillery. When the British troops began marching forward, they instead found themselves mowed down by German machine guns. In the one day, the British lost about 58,000 men, the largest number in one day in recorded history.
The fight continued for many more weeks as the British and their allies attempted to take back French territory. However, they miserably failed. The countless losses quickly required more forces, which were deployed from Canada. Although adding to the sheer number of troops and increased success rate, overall the addition did nothing. In four months, the Allies had only managed to regain about 10 kilometers of land. Although the process was agonizingly slow, the German forces were eventually ground down and the battle ended on November 18. The Allies defeated the Germans on the Western front, but sparked debate over whether the 400,000 British, 200,000 French, and 500,000 German casualties were worth it.
Works Cited
"The Battle of Somme." Library and Archives Canada. N.p., 31 Oct. 2006. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. .
Duffy, Michael. "Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com. N.p., 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 05 Mar. 2013. .
The Battle of the Somme took place during the first world war from July 1 to November 18, 1916. The battle was named after the river somme of north France where the battle took place. The battle of the somme is a very true embodiment of world war one as a whole, because it was a long battle that many people died over a small piece of land. In this four and a half month battle over a million soldiers died over a tactical gain of only forty miles. During the early stages of the battle the German line was in front of the river somme, but at the end of the battle the British and french troops had seized most of the river somme that the germans had occupied. The Germans started on the ridge in front of the river somme and held the higher ground which gave them a tactical advantage and used that to their advantage by digging in and setting up machine guns at the top of the ridge pointed down toward the British. The British Offensive strategy was to fire artillery shells over their own men as they rush toward the german positions. These shells were supposed rattle the germans and soften their line so that the incoming troops. This left a major area of possible error. This was very hard to coordinate because of synchronization between the artillery and infantry devisions. What ended up happening was that either of the devisions would go to early making the strategy be pointless. In the opening day the british lost over 60,000 men and went down in the books as one of the worst defeats in british army history. This battle was also the first recorded use of the tank by the british. This battle will go down in history as one of the bloodiest if not the bloodiest battle of human history. And it was all over one piece of land 40 miles in width.
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of the Somme was fought from July 1st to November 16th of 1916 in France on the river Somme. It is significant for being one of the largest battles of the World War 1 with over 1 million casualties but with little accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteThe battle originated with the Brit’s decision to bombard German defenses. Once they had effectively damaged the defenses, the British would send in a cavalry division to finish off the Germans. The goal was to defeat the German army and assist the French army that had been suffering losses at Verdun.
Britain’s plan was not successful, as the German forces were not as heavily affected by the initial bombardment as the British had planned. The Germans had been protected by their own deep trenches. When the English stopped their bombardment they were not confronted by a weakened army as they had thought. They were instead faced with a prepared Germany armed with machine guns and grenades. This caused the worst day for British army in its history. It suffered around 60,000 casualties and 20,000 deaths. The battle continued for about 6 months more and in the end, there were 623,907 casualties for the Allied forces (mainly British and French troops) and 465,000 for the German forces. This battle has been called pointless, due to the high number of deaths and lack of change in the course of the war. In the end, the Allies only gained around five miles of land. The only accomplishment of this battle may be that it was the first where tanks were used.
Sources:
-http://www.historyman.co.uk/ww1/Somme.html
-http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_somme.html
-http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
-Paper from class
The Battle of the Somme took place in World War 1 from July 1st to November 18th in 1916 on both sides of the Somme river in France. On one side, there was the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army. The opposing side was comprised of the German army. The main reason the French wanted to fight against the Germans was because the Germans occupied a large territory of Northern France since their invasion in August of 1914. This battle was considered to be one of the greatest fights in World War 1 history. When the fighting finally died down in Autumn of 1916, there were over one million casualties between the French, British, and German forces. Because there were over one million deaths in this battle, it has been recorded as one of the bloodiest fights of all time. The offensive was a very large plan as the front lines ran from North of the Somme river to between Arras and Albert, 30 kilometers in total. As a whole, an estimate of 1.5 million people died for Britain and France to regain 5 miles of France. Britain and France also lost a little more than half their men during battle. About 623,000 men were killed out of a rough estimate of 1,200,000 men. This displays the inhumane and horrific nature of World War 1. Though the result of the battle was considered to be indecisive, the ally forces were definitely victorious despite their dramatic loss in numbers. The Germans lost an estimated 465,000 men out of 1,375,000 and were forced to fall back at the end of the war 40 miles from battle action. The Germans tried break apart the alliance between the British and the French prior to the battle, but their attempt failed. They then tried to deteriorate the front line of the French and the British in hopes of leaving the forces vulnerable and weak. This also didn't work and the French and British eventually gained the five-mile territory. In contrast, the British force tried a early bombardment on the Germans but it wasn't as effective as they hoped. The Germans were protected by their very own trenches and instead of the English facing a ill-prepared, weak German army, they had to face a prepared, strong Germany with machine guns,grenades, and tanks. This was the first appearance tanks ever made in a war. This was the opening day of the fight and the British were hit hard losing nearly 60,000 soldiers. The battle of the Somme is debatably one of the most savage battles in human history.
ReplyDelete- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
- Duffy, Michael. "Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." First World War.com. N.p., 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 05 Mar. 2013.
The Battle of the Somme occurred from July 1st to the 13th of November. It was supposed to be a decisive breakthrough, but instead became a huge slaughter, with General Haig's tactics remaining controversial even today. The British planned to attack on a 15 mile front slightly north of the Somme, while five French divisions would attack an eight mile front south of the Somme. British commanders were so confident they ordered their troops to walk slowly towards the German lines. However, the British did not conceal their preparations which gave the Germans clear warning. In addition, German trenches were heavily fortified and, furthermore, many of the British shells failed to explode. Therefore, when the bombardment began, the Germans simply moved underground and waited. When the whistle blew to start the war the British divisions walked towards the German lines, but the machine guns started and the slaughter began. By the end of the day, the British had suffered 60,000 casualties, of whom 20,000 were dead. The French advance was considerably more successful because they had more guns and faced weaker defenses. Because the 'decisive breakthrough' was actually a decisive failure, Haig concentrated on the southern sector. The British took the German positions there on 14 July, but once more could not follow through, resulting in another blood bath. In mid-November the battle ended, with the Allies having advanced only five miles. The British suffered around 420,000 casualties, the French 195,000 and the Germans around 650,000. (BBC) The overall significance of the Battle of the Somme is the huge amount of loss for a mere 5 miles of land. There were so many killed, and they all died for almost nothing. There was conceptually no gain to the brutal 5 month war, which equals it to be a huge waste in my opinion.
ReplyDeletesources: BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2013
During WW1, the British and French fought the Battle of Somme against the Germans. The battle that eventually became an incredibly important chapter in WW1 history began on the first of July 1916. It took place around the Somme river- hence the battle's name. The primary goal for the British and French was to reclaim a large area of Northern France that the Germans invaded in 1914. The Battle of Somme is infamous for being one of the most unsuccessful and time-wasting fights with over one million casualties on all sides.
ReplyDeleteThe rather upsetting element of the battle is the amount of thought that went into the British/French's intricate plan. Months of sweat and tears went into a plan that became a complete disaster.
In a nutshell, the British and French's plan was to use artillery to take out anything German that came their way. Unfortunately for them, the Germans were well protected by their sturdy trenches. The 1.5 million shells fired were essentially a waste of artillery due to the minimal amount of Germans injured.The next step to the plan would have been to send a wave of cavalry to give the Germans a final blow, but failure to properly execute their first plan caused the British and French to engage in an unexpectedly gruesome fight.
The battle ended about five months later on the 16th of November 1916.
The Battle of the Somme occurred on July 1st, 1916 lasted for about five months and ended on November 18th 1916. This battle is known for the amount of people who died and were injured on the British side. There were about 60,000 casualties on the British side and around 20,000 deaths. The battle caused around one million deaths total from both armies combined. The offensive was planned late in 1915 and was intended as a joint French-British attack. The French commander wanted to drain the German forces of reserves although territorial gain was a secondary aim. The British thought that their plan was full prof and would not fail them when in fact it did not work out for them. The British were unaware that the Germans dug trenches deep into the ground so that they would not be affected by the shells being thrown. The dugout was deep enough for them to hide in with out getting hurt. When the bombardment was finally over the Germans got out from their dugouts and attacked the British with their weapons. The Germans had guns while the British had no weaponry. The British lost many soilders just on the first day of the battle. The British were unprepared for the well thought out strategy that the Germans executed. The German army was much stronger and smarter compared to the British army. The British strategy of bombarding the Germans was not well thought out and the Germans therefore showed they were stronger physically and mental then the British were.
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of the Somme was a disastrous WWI battle for the British and French forces. The French had suffered casualties at Verdun and wanted to divert German troops to defend Somme. The first objective of the battle was to drain the Germans of resources, the second was to gain land.
ReplyDeleteThe attack was intended to be mainly French, but the French troops were split between Verdun and Somme, so the majority of the fighting force came from Britain. The battle was initially planned to begin on August 1, but the French wanted revenge on the Germans, so the date was moved to July 1, 1916.
To speed up the attack, British artillery fired 1.6 million shells on German trenches 8 days before the assault. They were so confident in the effectiveness of the bombardment that they planned to have their soldiers creep forward to the enemy and kill off the Germans. The cavalry would come behind the land forces and pick off the escaping Germans.
This was a failure. The Germans knew of the British plans and hid in their heavily fortified trenches until the shelling was over. Once the bombardment finished, the Germans set up their weapons and prepared for battle. Many of the advancing British troops were picked off by German machine guns. The few that made it through to the German trenches were driven back. The British suffered 60,000 casualties, of which 20,000 were death. 60% of officers died that first day.
The French had more guns, but could not make a decisive breakthrough without British backup. The French were also forced to retreat. Commander Haig stubbornly and blindly continued the offensive, making little advancement. He was convinced that the Germans were also worn out and the Allies would soon see a breakthrough.
The Allies never saw their decisive breakthrough and called off the battle due to bad weather on November 18, 1916. The failure of an attack cost the British 420,000 in casualties, the French 200,000, and the Germans 500,000. The Allies gained approximately 7.5 miles of land. There is much controversy over Haig’s battle strategy, but the facts remain that the Battle of Somme cost the Allies many, many men.
The Battle of the Somme took place between July 1 and November 19, 1916. This battle was between the alliances of France and Britain, and the forces of Germany. This battle marked the introduction of the tank to warfare. With over one million casualties, this battle also is named one of the bloodiest battles in history. For the British and French, the objective was to take back territory from the Germans with Bapaume being a marker. The British and French wanted to fire shells at the Germans until they were unable to sustain the casualties. The Germans were able to hold their line well through the winter. The Germans attacked Verdun, putting pressure on the French. The French were forced to give up command of the battle and the British then took over the plans. The British planned to attack the Germans heavily then send twenty two divisions over to the Germans trenches. The Germans would be stunned and unprepared. The Germans planned to split the French and British, ending the alliance. They hoped to plot the two nations against eachother so that the war would end. The first day of battle was one of the bloodiest every in British history. They suffered over sixty thousand casualties. In the end, the British and French were not able to capture Bapaume, but they were able to draw a line up to Les Baoefs. For each centimeter, approximately two men were lost.
ReplyDeleteNeema Majidishad
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
History 10
3/6/13
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme was a battle that took about four months and was from July 1 and November 19 of 1916. This slaughterfest of a battle was between the French, the British, and the Germans. The purpose of this battle was to gain the recourses and land the Germans had. To get ahead of the game, the allied forces fired 1.6 million shells towards the Germans one week before the initial attack. This is one of the first instances of Tank warfare, and clearly was very effective. Since the British commanders were so confident, they ordered their soldiers to walk towards the German line. Once they have fulfilled this action, calvary units poured through and wiped out the Germans. Some of these attacks were not very effective and warned the Germans what was coming. On July 1, 7:30 am the whistles to launch the battle went off. The Germans left their stations and went to their assigned positions. The British started to push forward, and once they did the Germans brought out their machine guns. This is when the slaughtering began. The British suffered 60,00 casualties and 20,000 of them being deaths. About 60% of the officers were killed the first day of this long blood bath. The French should of had an advantage due to their guns, but they were only able to push up about 5 miles on the Germans. In the end, 420,00 British soldiers were killed, 195,000 French soldiers were killed, and about 650,000 German soldiers were killed. In the end, the British and French did not accomplish their goal, but they did push up against the Germans.
The Battle of the Somme was fought from July 1, 1916 until November 18 of the same year. It is famous primarily because of the horrific amount of casualties it came with in such a short period of time. The battle was instigated by the Allies in hopes of not only moving German troops from a spot that was requiring too much manpower from France, but also to attrit the German forces at the 30 kilometer front where they were to engage in conflict.
ReplyDeleteThe battle was strategized by both Joffre (French Commander in Chief) and Haig (British Commander in Chief). Together, they had agreed that the attack would be made up of predominately French forces, the British ended up being the bulk of the offensive body. It was planned that the following the first attack there would be a eight day preliminary bombardment followed by the immediate taking of the German front since it was expected the bombardment would obliterate any German opposition. Next, the creeping barrage was to procede behind the infantry to the front line, and then the second and third. In order to fill in all of the gaps, troops would be positioned, heavy-laden with supplies to suppress any other enemies.
However, the plan failed utterly. The initial bombardment failed to wipe out the Germans as they sought refuge behind the barbed wire and well constructed bunkers that held against the British and French attacks. Most of the munition used by the Allies failed to go off and were considered "duds", which meant that they were poorly constructed and ineffective against the German troops. After the bombardment ceased, the Germans were able to retaliate effectively with heavy machine guns. Due to the lack of surprise instilled by the Allied attack, the French and British were unable to make major headway in the weeks that followed.
The first line of German forces was secured July 11th. But that day, Germany forces were also transferred from a previous conflict in order to help strengthen the defense at the Somme. Haig had previously believed that at that point, he was on the brink of exhausting the German troops so he continued on with the bombardment. Nonetheless, the offensive attacks were maintained through the summer. In early September, the Allies received reinforcements as well as tanks to move along the battle. Unfortunately, the addition of troops only served to gain them under a kilometer of ground.
Despite the steady advances made by the Allies during the span of time they attacked German forces, bad weather was what finally halted the British and French troops. The Allies had managed to gain 12 total kilometers of land. Although British and French casualties far out weighed those of the Germans (420,000 British casualties/200,00 French casualties/ 500,000 German casualties) it is still argued that the Battle of the Somme was an Allie victory. Either way, the Battle of the Somme is most remembered for the heinous amount of deaths suffered by the British on the first day of battle; one third of the troops, or approximately 158,00 soldiers dead.
The war marked the halfway point of World War One as well as highlight the gruesome atrocities that presented themselves during that time. The Battle of the Somme managed to epitomize the impotence of trench warfare as well as gain little land for such a large amount of casualties. Ultimately, the war succeeded in lowering German morale and thus paving a clearer road to official victory of the war.
The battle of Somme took place around the Somme river in northern France that lasted from July 1, 1916 to November 18th of the same year. The battle was fought between the British/French against the Germans on the Western Front. The Somme battle is well known for its reputation of being the "bloodiest battle" ever fought because it wiped out over 60,000 people in one day, which is still the record even to modern times.
ReplyDeleteThe battle of Somme was strategized by Joffre, the French Commander in Chief, and Haig, the British Commander in Chief. The ultimate goal was to push the German lines back out of France. To do this, the two men planned out what they thought was a "fail-proof" plan. They planned for an initial bombardment on the German lines eight days in advance before the troops were to go over the top so German artillery and troops were annihilated. However, this plan completely failed as the German troops had dug deep trenches and fortified bunkers that held off the Allies' artillery and bombardment. When the British and French troops approached the German lines, they were surprised by the Germans who were still alive and were met with a barrage of bullets from German machine guns. This battle went on for months with each side pushing back and forth After this day, the Germans attacked Verdun, putting pressure on the French in retaliation of their first attack.The French/British planned to attack the Germans heavily then send twenty two divisions over to the Germans trenches. The Germans would be stunned and unprepared. Meanwhile, The Germans planned to split the French and British and forcing them against each other, ending the alliance; however, the Germans were unable to accomplish this. In the end, around 1,200,000 people died during this battle thus the reason it was called "the bloodiest battle ever"
The Battle of Somme is one of the most important battles in the WWI. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on either side of the river Somme in France. The two force fighting against each other during this battle were French troops, British Expeditionary army and German army. British and French were on offensive position and Germans were on defensive position. Before this battle begins, German had occupied a big part of France and almost can hit Paris.
ReplyDeleteThere were over 2.5 million soldiers involved this battle. British and French army had the military advantage that they have about 1.2 million soldiers while Germen have 1.3 million troops. Germen was also in defensive position and defense was a much easier thing to do during WWI. Thus two forces in this battle are almost evenly competitive.
The British’s plan was to breakthrough German’s defense in order to decrease German army’s pressure on French troops and turn the positional war into mobile war. At the beginning of the battle British bombarded German trenches and fortification for 6-7 days, and then put hundreds of thousands of soldiers into attacking by command them charge in intensive formation. However, British’s plan wasn’t working perfectly. The bombard weakened German defensive force, but it also warned German army that when British army started charge, German army was fairly prepared. On the first day of the battle, British army lost 60,000 soldiers on July 1st because of the Germen artillery fire and the machine guns. The process of the war is very slow. Although on right wing, the French-British troops got some victories, they still didn’t achieve the initial goal which is breakthrough. In September, British used tanks, tanks worked perfectly at when they were firstly used, however because only 18 tanks were used in this battle, the damage they caused is very limited. As autumn came, the weather was getting worse so the British-French army stopped attacking gradually.
On the England and France side there were 623,907 casualties, while in the Germans lost 465,000 casualties but they lost a big part of their defensive position. This was known to be one of the bloodiest battles of all time. This is a transitional battle in WWI, after this war German’s power was declining and finally failed. The first use of tanks also opened a new era of human war. It also stimulated European countries to develop their heavy weapons for attacking positions. Politically, this battle promoted the cabinet reshuffle in Britain, which made Churchill get into the cabinet.
The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st, 1916 and lasted until November 1916. It had thousands of casualties on both sides that fought, which made it very significant. The French lost 200,000 men, the British lost 420,000 men, and the Germans lost almost 500,000 men.
ReplyDeleteThe French and British fought together against the Germans. The French had been suffering at Verdun when the Germans attacked them, so they planned a Franco-British offensive. The British general leading this battle was Douglas Haig. He commanded a bombardment on German lines which started the Battle of the Somme and lasted about a week. There were 1,738,000 shells fired by the French and British. However, this did not affect the Germans, nor did it achieve the intended goal of ruining the German trenches and barbed wire. The Germans fled to safety in their deep dugouts. When the artillery ceased, the Germans predicted that there would be an infantry advance, so they left their shelter and went to their machine guns. The British advanced 25 miles, just like the Germans thought they would. There were hundreds of thousands of casualties and deaths.
The main objectives of this battle were to relieve pressure from the French’s losses at Verdun and to cause heavy losses to the Germans.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm
http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/maps/maps_somme.html
The battle of the Somme was fought near the French River of Somme between July 1 and November 1, 1918 near the Somme. This was by far one of the bloodiest battles in all of military history. Even after the first day, Britain had suffered 57,470 casualties. By the end of the conflict, there were 420,000 British casualties, 200,000 French, and an estimated 465,000 German casualties. In early 1916, the French had the proposition of a Franco-British offensive establishment near the River of the Somme. On July 1st, 14 British Infantry divisions and 5 French divisions attacked the Germans. One of the main objectives for this battle was to diverge the war from the French defeat at Verdun and put the Germans into a defensive position. The Germans deployed seven divisions in defense. In World War I, due to all the trenches, barbed-wire, machine gun placements, and other "no-man's-land" installments, defenders had a serious advantage. This attack was planned by Douglas Haig and Henry Rawson of the GOC fourth army. Because of compromises and adopted segments of each other's plans, the attack ended up being slightly uncoordinated and akward. The most important support to the infantry was the artillery. While this did much damage, it did not eliminate a lot of the "no man's land" obstacles such as barbed wire, and machine gunners in dugouts. This made crossing to the German trenches very difficult. After the first day of attack, Germans were able to hide themselves in new dugouts quicker then the allies (French and British) were able to advance. Slight, painfully slow advances were made allowing this stalemate to be prolonged throughout six weeks into winter. Eventually, the Germans retreated to weaker defensive lines. The long, grueling Battle did a lot of psycological damage to the moral of both sides.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of the Somme was fought during World War I and was the cause of many deaths for both sides, especially the British. This battle lasted from July 1, 1916 to November 17, 1916, and is infamous for the loss of soldiers in this battle. The British had hoped to gain a vast amount of land with this battle, and expected to easily push through the German lines using their strategy. Commanders Joffre and Haig of France and Britain respectively began to plan this attack in the later half of 1915. Originally, they planned for the forces to consist of the French and less British, but in the end, more British soldiers were sent to this battle. The Battle of the Somme was just like any other World War I fight: tragic and gruesome. The Allies plan was to attack the Germans with a large bombardment with deadly force of about 3,000 guns, aiming to wipe out the majority of the German troops. Joffre and Haig were then going to order infantry, called a ‘creeping barrage,’ in front of the cavalry. The infantry and cavalry were planning on an easy travel across No Man’s Land and little resistance from the few remaining Germans.
ReplyDeleteThe Allies’ plan completely failed and backfired against them. Preparation for the large attack were not hidden, and the eight day bombardment gave the Germans plenty of time to realize an attack was coming. The Germans hid deep in their trenches and underground bunkers behind their barbed wire. On top of these factors, many of the British bombs did not explode, and those that did were unable to penetrate the German defenses. After the bombardment, the Germans climbed out of the trenches and slaughtered the Allies with their heavy machine guns. The French and British lost more than 20,000 soldiers and 60,000 casualties on just first day of fighting.
The Allies made some headway on their attack when they claimed the German front line on July 11. To their dismay, more German soldiers were sent to reinforce their defenses on that very day. Commander Haig was positive that the German troops were going to be exhausted if they kept up their attack through the summer. Tanks were used for the first time during the Battle of the Somme on the side of the Allies. Although the Allies tried their very best to defeat the Germans, they only achieved six and a half miles by the end of the Battle of the Somme. Even though the Allies had more casualties than the Germans, the Allies are considered to have won the Battle of the Somme because they gained more land and pushed the Germans back. The Battle of the Somme will always be known as one of the most violent battles of all time.
The battle of Somme (July 1 to November 18, 1916) (Wikipedia) was considered to be one of the bloodiest and largest battles of WWI. Over a million casualties were suffered as a result of the battle (Wikipedia). The battle was between the British/French alliance against the German forces. The British and French offensive gained only about 6 miles out of the nine they had planned to cover to get to Bapaume, which was a major objective (Wikipedia). It was considered one of the largest wastes of human life due to the ratio of military success to casualties. The German plan was quite sophisticated and was planned with much foresight; it is what instigated the battle. The German plan was to attack the French line and provoke an ill prepared counter offensive by the French on a well fortified German front to totally decimate the French. Knowing Britiain would have to move troops in order to support the French, the Germans planned to attack and inflict heavy losses on their front as well. The assumption was that since the British army was mainly just a volunteer force of fresh recruits, would be prove to make little resistance; which is where the Germans had miscalculated and left a hole in their defenses. The British support force turned out to be much stronger than expected and forced the Germans to move troops from the north where they were battling the French. Germany faced yet another scenario where they had to fight a two front battle, and from historical perspective, is something they tend to almost win and then lose at the very end. The British had much too large a force that was too well equipped to be easily taken out. The British planned to use a million shells relentlessly to weaken the German line so that “the infantry would only have to walk over to take possession.”(Wikipedia). The plans and theories simply did not come into play and that is potentially the reason for the British/French victory in Somme. The Germans had horrible communication and on the first day, a full reserve of 800 men were marched out onto the field only to be slaughtered with only 68 men making it out unharmed (Wikipedia). This is where this war becomes so obviously bloody and important; a large portion of an entire generation of Newfoundlanders was wiped out in that first day of fighting (Wikipedia). The social toll of this battle was immense because so many people in a single generation were decimated just for 6 miles of land and a generally unsuccessful campaign. The waste of human life was too immense and that is why the generation born into having to fight in the war was called the “Lost Generation”.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
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ReplyDeleteBattle of Somme had many casualties. The British Army lost 420,000 men, the French lost 200,000 men, and the Germans lost 500,000 men. This high death count made many realize how brutal trench warfare was. The battle started on July 1st 1916 and went through November 1916.
ReplyDeleteThe reason the battle started was the French losing battles. Desperate for victory, they attacked in a different location from where they were attacking at Verdun. Their strategy was by attacking in a different location, they would take the pressure off another battle that was going on in Verdun. According to Sir William Robertson, their other goal was to kill as many German soldiers as possible. The French and the British began heavily shelling the German lines, but the Germans had bomb proof shelters deep underground. Then the British and French began marching after the shelling towards the enemy lines while the Germans shot machine guns at them. Every mile gained by the Allied forces, 88,000 men were lost. As the troops walked into no man's land, they started dropping as they were pelted with bullets.
The main significance of the battle was that people around the world began realizing how deadly trench warfare was due to the mass amount of soldiers killed in the Battle of the Somme and the small amount of success compared to the deaths.
The Battle of Somme
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Somme was a horrific battle and known as one of the largest in World War One. It lasted from the July 1rst to November 1rst of 1916. The battle was fought near the Somme River in France and was one of the bloodies battles in history. This was the first offensive move during WWI for the British troops. The first day of the battle, July 1rst, the British had 57,470 casualties. The French however only faced 2,000 casualties. By the end of the battle, the British suffered about 420,000 casualties yet the French only suffered about 200,000 casualties. As for the Germans it is controversial but it is said that the Germans suffered about 465,000 casualties. So what happened in this battle? In hopes to end the war the British commanders Douglas Haig and Henry Rawlison came up with a plan to charge the Germans from either side with the French. The British made the first move on July 1rst and attacked north of the Somme with fourteen infantry divisions. The French then attacked astride and south of the Somme with five divisions. To defend themselves the Germans launched seven divisions. The British had launched mass amounts of artillery on June 24th and now on July 1rst planned to charge through no-mans-land; however, even though near 1.7 million shells were launched, barbed wire, enemy guns, mis-fires, and other obstacles led to many missed shots. When the the British charged with only their bonnets and rifles, the British were hammered by German machine guns. This left the French more exposed, however with experience they were able to use their strong artillery and attack in rushes suffering less casualties and getting more done. For the next four months, somewhat of a stalmate took place with small attacks here and there. By the end of the battle, the 1.5 million men lost their lives for just a few miles of ground gained by the French and British. This Battle was in no means successful and if anything was an example of what not to do.
Sources:
"Battle of the Somme Video." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
"Battle of the Somme." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013.
The battle Somme was fought on July 1st 1916. It was fought along the river named the Somme. The British planned to have an offensive attack on the German trenches to push away the attention from Verdun. They planned to first heavily bombard the opposing side’s trenches. Once the bombardment stopped the planned to send a line of men to attack the trenches. After the first line of men were able to get through no man’s land and into the trenches the British planned to send a Calvary to finish off the Germans. Though this was the plan it did not go that way at all. After firing a total of around 1,700,000 shells the Germans immediately understood that the British Soldiers were heading to attack their trenches. This allowed the Germans to get into position and focus on just killing the soldiers instead of watching out for the shells. 27 British Division were ready to attack. When the first line of British men came they collapsed in front of the Germans as the Germans fired thousands of bullets towards the British. On the first day of the battle around 58,000 British died. The Germans sent seven divisions to defend their trenches. Altogether the battle lasted for another three months. There were around 1 million casualties in this battle and only around 100 sq. miles was gained from the British. It is still the deadliest battle today for the British. This battle is a great example of how in World War 1 countries would fight to the end for every piece of land.
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of Somme began at around 7:30am on July 1st in 1916, engineered mostly by British General Haig. It was a combined French-British effort to break through German fronts near Somme. Britain tackled a twenty four kilometre front north of the town; France targeted a thirteen kilometre front to the south. The British began a bombardment on the front eight days before the planned attack to ensure that the German defenses were significantly reduced. However, German trenches were well protected, so the bombing did not do the desired damage. In addition to the fortification of the trenches, many of the bombs never exploded. The British troops were unaware of this failure and advanced confidently towards the German line, right into the fire of machine guns, resulting in 60,000 total casualties and 20,000 deaths in the first day. The few British units that were able to reach the front line lacked the numbers and power needed to push forward and were forced to retreat. The French started bombing the Germans just hours before launching their attack, which gave them the element of surprise. They were more successful than the British troops, but were not able to break through enemy lines without British backup and were also forced to retreat. The Battle of Somme marked the greatest single loss in the war and was a large setback for the Allies. General Haig’s tactics remain a controversy; many argue that his strategy was a repetition of old flaws.
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