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First day on the Somme The corpse of a German soldier lie decomposing in the muddy remains of an allied dugout, Somme, 1916 In the German ten-day casualty accounting period (10 tägigen Truppenkrankenrapporten) 1–10 July, 46,319 men became casualties and 7,539 men reported sick. The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the beginning of the Battle of Albert (1–13 July), the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the 141 days of the Battle of the Somme (1 July–18 November) in the First World War. Nine corps of the French Sixth Army and the British Fourth and Third armies attacked the German 2nd Army (General Fritz von Below) from Foucaucourt south of the Somme, northwards across the Somme and the Ancre to Serre and at Gommecourt, 2 mi (3.2 km) beyond, in the Third Army area. The objective of the attack was to capture the German first and second defensive positions from Serre south to the Albert–Bapaume road and the first position from the road south to Foucaucourt. The Ge