The Battle of the Somme was one of the main confrontations of the First World War. British and French forces attempted to break through the fortified German lines on a 45 km north-south line near the Somme, northern France, in a triangle between the towns of Albert on the British side, Peronne and Bapaume .
The first day of this battle, July 1, 1916, holds the sad record of the bloodiest day for the British army, with 57,470 casualties including 19,240 dead.
For the first time, a propaganda film, The Battle of the Somme, captured much of the horrors of modern warfare by including footage from the early days of the battle.
The decision to launch an offensive in Flanders was taken at the Chantilly conference on December 6, 1915. But in January, Joffre obtained a change for Picardy because in the rear, particularly in political circles, people were crying foul thinking that troops were “resting”.
When the German army launched its offensive on Verdun on February 21, 1916, the British commander-in-chief offered to come and help his ally. The French military leaders decide that they can cope without this support while asking for relief by an attack elsewhere on the front.
In 1916, the British army in France lacked experience, its professional part, six divisions, having been eliminated. Most of its strength was made up of volunteers from the Territorial Forces and Kitchener's New Army. The officers had been promoted quickly and lacked both training and experience. Haig himself had gotten a flash promotion.
Allied aviation had just overcome the Fokker scourge and had even gained superiority, which allowed it to shoot down balloons and have a much better reconnaissance force. It was not until September that the introduction of new aircraft restored German control of the skies.
The Germans are occupying the heights almost everywhere. Their forehead consists of:
* - a strong first position, with first line, support and reserve trenches, as well as a labyrinth of deep shelters including all modern comforts;
* - a second intermediate line, less strong, protecting field batteries;
* - finally, a little back, from a second position almost as strong as the first.
To the rear, there are woods and "fortified" villages linked by trenches, so as to form a third and even a fourth line of defence, the whole largely concreted and benefiting from the qualities of the chalky rock which was easily cut and hardened as it dried.
British
Rawlinson with the 5th in reserve.
German
Facing the British, to the north, the 2nd Army (General von Below), having on its left the 6th Army commanded by Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria.
Facing the French, the 4th Army on the Santerre.
Canadian forces fought in the Somme from July 1 with the Newfoundland regiment until the first snows of winter. The objective was to break through the heavy defenses the Germans had built.
Rear transformation
The rear had been transformed into a gigantic warehouse with the best of road, rail and air transport. Artillery, including 380mm and 400mm railroad monsters, reached peaks of destructive power.
Six days of bombardment
For six days, the bombardment on the German lines is intense to create what appears to be a mess where everything is gutted.
The first days
A violent one-week artillery preparation precedes the offensive the battle and kills 20,000 [ref. necessary]. To limit losses, the Germans withdrew to the rear lines, and reoccupied the front line at the end of the bombardment.
At 7.30 am on July 1, at the whistle, the British soldiers climbed their trenches to march, with their equipment reaching 32 kg, towards those of the adversary. A few had been sent as scouts.
The Germans welcome them with machine gun fire which mows them down en masse. Officers are easily spotted and are particularly targeted. The Germans are amazed to see the British soldiers coming in step. In fact, the English command feared that the troops would lose contact by running and scattering. Convinced that the German defenses had been destroyed by the bombardments, they demanded that the men advance in step[1]. At noon, the British General Staff cancels this order, and retains the following waves of assault:there were, in the first day, 60,000 dead, wounded or missing, the deadliest day of the 20th century.
When the British reached the German trenches, they were too few to resist a counterattack. Some units like the Canadian one from Newfoundland are eliminated at 91%.
On July 3, they consolidated their positions by seizing the woods of Mametz, south of Contalmaison:it was there that more than 1,000 prisoners were picked up in a single thicket.
French report
In ten days, the 6th French Army, on a front of nearly twenty kilometres, had advanced to a depth which at certain points reached ten kilometres. She was entirely mistress of the plateau of Flaucourt which had been assigned to her as an objective and which constituted the main defense of Péronne. It had taken 12,000 prisoners, almost without losses, taken 85 guns, 26 minenwerfer, 100 machine guns, a considerable amount of material. It was the finest success achieved since the Battle of the Marne.
Thirty-five divisions are withdrawn from the Verdun sector to reinforce the front in front of Bapaume.
From July 20 to the end of August
The last week of July is heavy and dusty.
During this week, the Gough army, a British reserve, gained a foothold in the strong position of Pozières and recaptured Delville Wood and Longueval from the Germans a second time. It fails, however, during fierce fighting that lasts for more than a week, on Guillemont.
September to mid-November
Rain begins to fall, making the battlefield muddy.
On September 3, in the early hours of the attack, Guillemont was taken.
On the 4th, to the south, the 10th Army captured the entire first position between Deniécourt and Vermandovillers. Soyécourt and Chilly are taken, with 2,700 prisoners; Chaulnes was directly threatened by Lihons.
On the 6th, the French 1st Army seized a large part of Berny-en-Santerre.
Tanks
On September 15, the first tanks appeared, helping to take Courcelette, Martinpuich, the Bois des Foureaux, the village of Flers with 4,000 prisoners.
On the 17th, the 1st Army took Vermandovillers and Berny.
Finally, on the 26th, a glorious day:the two allies took Combles together, the “key” between Bapaume and Péronne. On the other hand, quite to the north, the British remove Thiepval after the use of mines. The offensive ceases.
On February 24, 1917 the German army made a strategic retreat destroying everything behind it to shorten its line of defense on the Hindenburg line.
Consequences
Despite the very small territorial gains, the Germans were very impressed with the preparation bombardment of the allies. It was following the Battle of the Somme that the German High Command decided on all-out submarine warfare, which led to the entry into the war of the United States (sinking of the Lusitania) and the shift in the reports of strength[3].