Question

What happened at the Battle of the Somme in 1916?

Answer 1

The Battle of the Somme was a 5 month long offensive, mainly undertaken by the British Army, in France in 1916.

Explanation:

By late 1915, the central paradigm of the First World War on the Western Front was established: Communications and mobility technologies had not kept pace with firepower. Tactical mobility still depended on horse and foot, where operational mobility used trucks and railways -- but not in reach of an opponent's firepower. The result was a attacker exploited any success by walking further away from his supplies, and a defender reinforced failure by falling back towards his.

In 1915, the armies of Europe tried to find a way around this dilemma and failed. In 1916, they tried for attrition -- battles with hundreds of thousands of men and millions of artillery shells. In February 1916, the Germans drew the French into the Battle of Verdun (which lasted until a French victory -- barely -- ten months later. The French needed the British to put pressure on the Germans with another major offensive; and the rolling chalk downs of the Somme area seemed a better choice than the mud of Flanders.

On June 24th, the Battle of the Somme began with a massive week-long artillery barrage; on July 1st, the British 3rd and 4th Armies (and the French Army Group of the North) attacked -- and the day was a disaster: 60,000 casualties, including 19,000 dead. It is worth remembering that the British never had a day like this in WW-1, and the next five months turned into a series of experiments to find means of attack that actually worked.

By September, tanks, rolling artillery barrages, and other new techniques were being trialed. These allowed "Bite and Hold" attacks to appear.. and proved useful as the Germans inevitably counter-attacked whenever they lost ground. The object of diverting German strength from Verdun was achieved, but the British never came close to a breakthrough. In November, the attacks ceased and three Armies took the winter to figure out what to do next.

The battle saw 420,000 British, 195,000 French and 650,000 Germans dead, wounded or missing.