The Battle of the Somme took place in World War I. The battle began on 1 July 1916, and ended on 18 November 1916. The battle was named after the French River Somme where it was fought.
On the first day the British Army had 57,470 casualties, of whom 19,240 were killed. The French Army had 1,590 casualties and the German Army lost 10,000–12,000 men. The Allies planned to attack together, but the French were busy with the Battle of Verdun, so the main attackers were British. The cost of the battle, and the small gains, have been a source of grief and controversy in Britain. In German and French writing, the first day of the Battle of the Somme has been little more than a footnote to the mass losses of 1914–1915 and the Battle of Verdun.
During the battle of the Somme more than 1.5 million people either died, were wounded or went missing. This battle was the worst battle in WWI, especially from the point of view of Britain.
For five days the British fired shells at the German trenches to destroy them. At 7:30 am on 1 July the British generals ordered the British soldiers out of their trenches and to advance towards the German trenches. The German trenches were unusually deep, and the German soldiers were able to take the machine guns down during the bombardment, and bring them up afterwards.
Whole books have been written about this disaster, but it is still not clear why it happened. It is very clear, though, that the artillery barrage failed in its objective. Where enough German machine-gunners survived, supported by their artillery, the British attack failed, with many casualties. The effectiveness of the defensive weapons decided the result. In such an environment, a soldier with a bayonet was obsolete and infantry formations useless.
Weapons
Poison gas
The Germans used poisonous gases as weapons at first. (This is now called chemical warfare.) Germany first used chlorine gas. Death from chlorine gas was very painful, causing the victim to suffocate after suffering from burning pains in their chest. However, because of its green color and strong smell, chlorine gas was easy for the enemy to detect. It also blew back on the Germans when they used it. To protect themselves, they began to wear dampened material over their mouths and noses. Soldiers dampened this material with urine because it made these masks more effective. The British soldiers were given cotton pads and respirators.
The Germans began to mix chlorine gas with a different gas, called phosgene. Phosgene gas is colorless, more deadly than chlorine, and smells like mouldy hay. A person does not get sick as soon as they inhale phosgene gas; it does not take effect until 24 hours later. Then the person’s lungs fill with fluid, which can cause them to drown.
Rifles (guns) The soldiers in the trenches used rifles. Most soldiers used was the bolt-action rifle, which could fire 15 rounds per minute and could kill a person as far as 1.4 kilometres away. This rifle was invented in the United States by a Scottish man called James Paris Lee. The bolt-action rifle had a metal box where the cartridges were put on top of a spring. As the bolt opened, the spring forced the cartridges up against a stop and the bolt pushed the top cartridge into the chamber as it closed. After the rifle was fired, the opening of the bolt ejected the empty cartridge case and the return stroke loaded a fresh round. The cases held 3, 5 or 29 cartridges each.
Machine guns
Both sides also used machine guns. These were so large that four men were needed to operate each one. They had to be put on a flat surface. They had the power of one rifle.
Larger field guns needed up to 12 men to operate them. They fired shells which exploded when they hit. The machine guns were a major force for the Germans, who used them to their full effect as the British forces simply walked over no man's land straight into open gun fire. The British did not have access to many machine guns, which made their task even more difficult. The Germans were in a higher position than the British, which gave them the upper hand.