Posts
Battle of the Somme casualties -
On the morning of the Battle Of The Somme, July 1, 1916, the British suffered 60,000 casualties - 20,000 dead. It was the worst toll for a single day in military history. Allied forces advanced six miles
The Battle of the Somme, which took place from July to November 1916, began as an Allied offensive against German forces along the Western Front of World War I, near the Somme River in France. The battle turned into one of the most bitter, deadly and costly battles in all of human history, as British forces suffered more than 57,000 casualties—including more than 19,000 soldiers killed—on the first day of the battle alone. By the time the Battle of the Somme (sometimes called the First Battle of the Somme) ended nearly five months later, more than 3 million soldiers on both sides had fought in the battle, and more than 1 million had been killed or wounded.
Battle Begins - July 1, 1916
Prior to the attack, the Allies launched a week-long heavy artillery bombardment, using some 1.75 million shells, which aimed to cut the barbed wire guarding German’s trench defenses and destroy the enemy’s positions.
On the morning of July 1, 11 divisions of the British 4th Army—many of them volunteer soldiers going into battle for the first time—began advancing on a 15-mile front north of the Somme River. At the same time, five French divisions advanced on an eight-mile front to the south, where the German defenses were weaker.
Allied leaders had been confident the bombardment would damage German defenses enough so that their troops could easily advance. But the barbed wire remained intact in many places, and the German positions, many of which were in trenches deep underground, were stronger than anticipated.
Along the line, German machine gun and rifle fire cut down thousands of the attacking British troops, many of them caught in “no man’s land” between the two sides.
Some 19,240 British soldiers were killed and more than 38,000 wounded by the end of that first day—almost as many casualties as British forces suffered when the Allies lost the battle for France during World War II (May-June 1940), including prisoners.
Other British and French forces had more success to the south, though these gains were limited compared to the devastating losses sustained on that first day of battle.
But British Field Marshal Douglas Haig was determined to press on with the offensive, and over the next two weeks, the British launched a series of smaller attacks on the German line, putting increasing pressure on the Germans and forcing them to divert some weapons and soldiers from the Battle of Verdun.
Early on the morning of July 15, British troops launched another artillery barrage followed by a massive attack, this time on Bazentin Ridge, in the northern part of the Somme. The assault took the Germans by surprise, and the British were able to advance some 6,000 yards into enemy territory, occupying the village of Longueval.
But any small advance continued to come at the expense of heavy casualties in this long and deadly war of attrition, with the Germans losing 160,000 soldiers and the British and French more than 200,000 by the end of July.
Near the end of August, with German morale running low due to lost ground both on the Somme and at Verdun, Germany’s General Erich von Falkenhayn was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. The command change marked a change in German strategy: They would build a new defensive line behind the Somme front, conceding territory but allowing them to inflict even more casualties on the advancing Allied troops.
Comments
Post a Comment