ww1, 13 November 1916, Battle of the Somme. British soldiers in a bomb crater in the German lines near Beaumont Hamel after the capture that day
The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the worst day in the history of the British Army.
At 7:30am on July 1, 1916, thousands of British soldiers began an attack against a German trench line which was supposed to have been destroyed. It wasn't. Over the next 12 hours 29,000 people were killed and many more wounded. Many of those who survived were changed forever – as was the world, and Britain's understanding of itself.
Conclusion: July 2, 1916
By the end of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 21,000 British soldiers and 8,000 Germans are dead. The Brits have suffered more casualties than in the Crimean War, the Boer War, and the Korean War combined. Our main success is Montauban; most of the other gains will be lost overnight. For every yard captured, two men are casualties.
Over the next three months British attempts to widen this breach degenerate into muddy confusion. Both sides rush ill-trained and ill-equipped troops into piecemeal battles over scraps of copse and village until finally the winter weather smothers their efforts. In the new year the exhausted Germans retreat and dig in, hoping instead to weaken Britain's economy though submarine warfare. This brings the Americans into the war. So the Somme is a strategic victory – especially for the French, who now know we have spilled too much blood to think of pulling out.
Meanwhile, the Ulstermen get champagne. Parcels for the dead continue to arrive for some weeks, and are shared among the living. The most successful battalions are earmarked for elite "stormer" duty, which guarantees higher casualties; by 1918 very few original members are left. The generals learn, and the tactics which work on the Somme eventually become the tactics of the whole army.
No Man's Land reverts to fields and meadows and the trees mostly grow back. Experts think it will take another 500 years to remove all the unexploded bombs.
They shall not grow old: The Queen attends overnight Somme vigil as Kate, Wills and Harry pay their respects in France to soldiers killed 100 years ago on bloodiest-ever day in British military history.
References:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
https://www.telegraph.co.uk
ww1, 13 November 1916, Battle of the Somme. British soldiers in a bomb crater in the German lines near Beaumont Hamel after the capture that day
The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the worst day in the history of the British Army.
At 7:30am on July 1, 1916, thousands of British soldiers began an attack against a German trench line which was supposed to have been destroyed. It wasn't. Over the next 12 hours 29,000 people were killed and many more wounded. Many of those who survived were changed forever – as was the world, and Britain's understanding of itself.
Conclusion: July 2, 1916
By the end of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 21,000 British soldiers and 8,000 Germans are dead. The Brits have suffered more casualties than in the Crimean War, the Boer War, and the Korean War combined. Our main success is Montauban; most of the other gains will be lost overnight. For every yard captured, two men are casualties.
Over the next three months British attempts to widen this breach degenerate into muddy confusion. Both sides rush ill-trained and ill-equipped troops into piecemeal battles over scraps of copse and village until finally the winter weather smothers their efforts. In the new year the exhausted Germans retreat and dig in, hoping instead to weaken Britain's economy though submarine warfare. This brings the Americans into the war. So the Somme is a strategic victory – especially for the French, who now know we have spilled too much blood to think of pulling out.
Meanwhile, the Ulstermen get champagne. Parcels for the dead continue to arrive for some weeks, and are shared among the living. The most successful battalions are earmarked for elite "stormer" duty, which guarantees higher casualties; by 1918 very few original members are left. The generals learn, and the tactics which work on the Somme eventually become the tactics of the whole army.
No Man's Land reverts to fields and meadows and the trees mostly grow back. Experts think it will take another 500 years to remove all the unexploded bombs.
They shall not grow old: The Queen attends overnight Somme vigil as Kate, Wills and Harry pay their respects in France to soldiers killed 100 years ago on bloodiest-ever day in British military history.
References:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
https://www.telegraph.co.uk
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