Where Is Somme?

1. Somme“The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word” ~ Friedrich Steinbrecher

2. Where Is Somme? • Somme is a river in the north of France that controls the north of France and Belgium • The battle was fought to the North of the river • The battle centered on a Roman road running from Albert to Bapaume parallel to the river. • Was twelve or so miles of open plains covered with bunkers and riddled with no mans land and machine guns nests in the fields.

3. Why The Somme? • Held strategic control of the north of France and access to Belgium, base of U-boats • Originally aimed as a major offensive to drive the Germans from Belgium • As Verdun dragged on, the focus shifted to relieving pressure on the French by forcing defense of the Somme by the Germans • Would eventually begin to become a larger battle than Verdun and by the end claim more than a million lives

4. Initial Allied Plans • Attack centered on the Roman road and the front would run twelve miles to the North and the South. • Bombard extensively before attack so as to destroy all front line German defenses • Push Germany out of Belgium to halt the U-boat attacks. • Combined French/British offensive along the front

5. Preliminary Work • The British fired artillery for more than 5 days and nights • More than 1.5 million shells were used • More than two thirds of the shells were fragmentation, which is good for destroying enemy soldiers but did not penetrate concrete at all. • Of the remaining one third, only a few were able to directly hit German targets.

6. The Battle Begins • The battle began at 7:30 on July 1st of 1916 • Massive amounts of explosives hidden in tunnels beneath German front line exploded to begin • 13 British Divisions and 11 French attacked the Germans, backed by major artillery bombardments. • Even today farmers on the Western front near the Somme find thousands of pounds of “Iron Harvest” a year left over from the war.

7. First Day on the Somme • British expected the front to have been completely destroyed by the artillery • Men sent over no mans land found a different story in that the Germans had hidden and were for the most part unharmed • Most of the men who would cross over into no mans land were completely annihilated by the machine gun fire.

8. Carnage of the First Day • North of the old road the attack was almost a complete failure. • A combination of bad planning and miscommunication sent divisions to the wrong positions and led them to their death • The first Newfoundland regiment was ordered forward mistakenly after commanders heard of a breakthrough; however, the enemy was present in force and 91 percent were killed before they got to the front lines • Talley : 64,470 allied losses , also 8-10 thousand German

9. Aftermath of the First Day • The lack of communication and the heavy losses made the end of the first day very confusing. • German trenches at many crucial points in the line were broken and unfilled for four days • The British could not capitalize on these gains due to the lack of information flow. • This lost chance would later cause Henry Rawlinson to say, “these four days would in all probability have enabled us to gain full possession of the hostile third line of defense, which was at that time less than half finished... It makes me sick to think of the might have beens”

10. Early Days of Battle • The French and British commanders had very different methods in the early stages of the Battle of the Somme. • The British wanted to maintain continual pressure on the enemy while the French wanted to reserve all their troops for a single large-scale offensive. • Total breakthrough seemed possible at one point during July 4th; however, the opportunity slipped away and the Germans reinforced their positions • Small actions by the British army between July 3rd and July 13th created more than 25 thousand British casualties needlessly

11. Situation By July 14th • The attacks by the British and the many divisions being poured into the Somme by the Allies meant that Germany had no choice but to transfer more troops to Somme • By July 14th, the German High Command had redirected 42 divisions to the Somme and thus only had one division left • This accomplished one of the goals of the allies which was to relieve pressure on Verdun; however, the Somme was quickly turning into a larger battle than even Verdun had been. • This prompted the British to try to stem the tide of reinforcements, and thus prompted raids.

12. Battle of Fromelles • Was one of the raids that the British conducted in order to try to disrupt the German massing of troops at the Somme battle • Was carried out by the First Australian Imperial Force and was intent on capturing a small town and forcing Germany’s hand • The battle was improperly planned and the allied forces were completely annihilated • More than 5000 casualties occurred and the first divisions out came back with usually less than 20 percent of start strength • Was notable because a young Adolf Hitler is said to have been present at the battle

13. Battleof Bazentin Ridge • Was conducted on Bastille Day and was the second major offensive by the Allies • This time the attack was made at 3:25 AM in order to take the opponent by surprise and thus allow the troops to capture the major objectives before the Germans could respond • Most of the first objectives were easily captured and again a gap was made in the German defense line at this area. • The attempt of the British to exploit this led to the famous 7th Dragoon Guards’ attempt to capture the high wood.

14. Charge of the Dragoons • Was a gambit by the British in order to try to control the rest of Bazentin Ridge by occupying the High Wood area • The charge managed to get a foothold in the High Wood and tried to valiantly hold it for that day and the next • Finally was overcome by the German troops as the British were unable to capitalize on the initial foothold possessed • British still had not learned how to fight trench warfare while the Germans began to develop the defense in Depth system

15. Defense in Depth • Uses a series of mobile defensive positions instead of a strong first line, thus trading space for time • Minimizes the element of surprise by the enemy and allows the enemy to become outstretched, one the offensive slows down then a massive enveloping counterattack happens and overcomes the original attackers • Was used as a series of strong points and other items instead of a single line of trenches by the Germans during the Somme • Ruined many of the early British allied strategies of attacking that focused on massively attacking

16. Pozières Farm • Was the key to overcoming the German defenses by the flank. • Was the left point in the German line that was open and would be able to expose the whole of the German right flank if captured • After three unsuccessful attempts by Rawlinson, the task was passed onto Gouge and his reserve army • He planned the attack directly after midnight and due to extensive preparation the attack was a success • Germany realized the importance of the farm and quickly tried to counterattack three times

17. German counter at Pozières • Germany tried three quick lightning strikes against the farm trying to drive out the ANZAC corps from the farm • All three failed due to a superbly entrenched defense line that the allied forces had reinforced • Germany settled into bombarding Pozières for months until finally on August 7th they launched a massive attacked on the farm • The German forces broke into the Anzac lines and the battle denigrated into a bloody melee using rifles, bayonets and any object that either army could lay their hands on. Anzacs prevailed.

18. Battle of Mouquet Farm • After the defeat of the German forces at Pozières, the allies believed that a capture of Mouquet farm would allow the British to threaten Thiepval • The farm was bombarded with heavy artillery fire as in the other battles that were part of Somme • The German garrison at Mouquet however was very experienced at trench warfare and was reinforced adequately, thus even after months of fighting the German garrison did not fall until the British general offensive in the battle of Thiepval ridge

19. Summer and Change • By August, it was clear that the French and British would not be able to secure a complete breakthrough of the German forces • Furthermore, command of the battle of the Somme had been passed off to Paul Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff who had a much different strategy • They started to construct the Hindenburg Line in order to reduce the German Front and save forces • The efforts altogether freed up more than a dozen German divisions for use in the reserve

20. Battle of Flers-Courcelette • It was the third major offensive of the Somme by the British • General Haig of the allies wanted to use the shock of tanks in order to scare the Germans to pulling back their defenses • However, the weapon had not been refined yet and almost all of them did not even make it to the starting line, of the remaining only one was able to get to the other side of the trenches • High wood and a few other places were taken, however the German line held strong and the offensive was almost completely ineffective for the loss of men

21. Tanks in the Trenches • Was introduced first in the Somme’s third offensive by the British with the Mark I tank • Was supposed to be a secret weapon that would shock and awe the German forces into retreating • Was nearly impervious to machine gun fire and barbed wire that had traditionally dominated No-Mans-Land; however was incredibly vulnerable to artillery fire • British general Haig was criticized for unveiling the weapon too early and thus allow the Germans to acclimate to it before it could do major damage • In the battle of Flers-Courcelette, tanks allowed the British to gain several hundred meters

22. Thiepval • Was a village that dominated the German line around it up to 3 miles to the North and South of the village • Weakened by the attack on Mouquet Farm and thus the British command made this village its next large target • Most successful commander in the battle was Ivor Marxse who was the commander of the 18th devision of the British army • He won by hiding his entire division behind the trenches and then closely following the creeping barrage so as to hide his forces from enemy sight • Was known as the “best division of the British army for this battle

23. Ancre Heights • Was the period of attritional warfare that followed the battle of Thiepval • Was led by Gough’s reserve army and was quite a blatant disaster in capturing less than a kilometer of land • The Canadian forces that had joined into the fighting were placed in this battle under the command of Gouge and were disillusioned with the conduct of Gouge in these battles • Eventually, this dislike that had started on the Somme would turn into outright refusal to fight by Passchendaele

24. Winter and End of Battle • By November the ground had turned to mud and frost and the onset of winter meant that operations would be unable to be conducted • The conditions of the land meant that a breakthrough was going to be impossible for the allies even after months of fighting • British general Haig wanted to make a last ditch attempt to break through and claim a victory to strengthen his hand in the allied negotiations that were to occur and to show the French that they had made considerable progress

25. Battle of Ancre • This was the last ditch attempt by the British general commander Haig to try to show that they had made progress in the Battle of the Somme • He ordered an attack and was successful in many respect; however, General Gouge was keen to capture more territory and thus launched two further attacks. • Both theses attacks failed miserably and the men under him loathed his decision to pursue the enemy. • Overall the battle was a mixed result and was the final major battle of the Somme because now both had to deal with winter

26. Glasgow Boys Brigade • Was a brigade in the army that participated in the Battle of Ancre • Provided one of the furthest jut outs into enemy territory; however, they were cornered after the attack ordered by Gouge faltered and was trapped with the enemy on all sides • They heroically held out for days until only 45 of the original men survived with 30 or so wounded • Became one of the hero stories of the war

27. Strategic Effects • For more than half a million deaths, the British and allied forces had been able to capture about five miles of territory • This meant that Every meter of Ground was bought with the lives of TWO HUNDRED men • The battle itself is generally looked on as a military failure; however it would set the stage for future successes • Finally, by waging such an intensive war, Britain was able to show to Germany that not only was it a powerful naval force, but that it could create a very formidable army and was thus regarded as a threat in the future of the war

28. Portents of the Future • The battle was the first time that Britain was able to show to Germany that not only was it a powerful naval force, but that it could create a very formidable army and was thus regarded as a threat in the future of the war • The losses on the central side meant that Germany would never be able to recover their army fully • Germany also began to resume unrestricted submarine warfare which would eventually draw the United States into the war • Although the battle itself was in many ways a failure for the allies, it was a battle lost that would eventually go on to win the war

29. Casualties of the Battle • Total Allied Casualties • 623,907 • French • 204,253 • British • 419,654 • German Casualties • 465,000

30. Somme“The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word” ~ Friedrich Steinbrecher