{"id":2748,"date":"2016-08-31T20:05:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-01T00:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strathroycaradoclions.ca\/?page_id=2748"},"modified":"2016-09-23T22:19:40","modified_gmt":"2016-09-24T02:19:40","slug":"somme-battle-somme","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/index.php\/somme-battle-somme\/","title":{"rendered":"Somme: Battle of the Somme"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The\u00a0Battle of the Somme<\/b>\u00a0(French:\u00a0Bataille de la Somme<\/i><\/span>, German:\u00a0Schlacht an der Somme<\/i><\/span>), also known as the\u00a0Somme Offensive<\/b>, was a battle of the\u00a0First World War<\/a>\u00a0fought by the armies of the\u00a0British<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0French<\/a>\u00a0empires against the\u00a0German Empire<\/a>. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the\u00a0River Somme<\/a>\u00a0in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies and was the\u00a0largest battle<\/a>\u00a0of the First World War on the\u00a0Western Front<\/a>. \u00a0More than one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the\u00a0bloodiest battles<\/a>\u00a0in human history.<\/p>\n

The French and British had committed themselves to an offensive on the Somme during\u00a0Allied<\/a>\u00a0discussions<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Chantilly, Oise<\/a>, in December 1915. The\u00a0Allies<\/a>\u00a0agreed upon a strategy of combined offensives against the\u00a0Central Powers<\/a>\u00a0in 1916, by the French, Russian, British and Italian armies, with the Somme offensive as the Franco-British contribution. Initial plans called for the French army to undertake the main part of the Somme offensive, supported on the northern flank by the\u00a0Fourth Army<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0British Expeditionary Force<\/a>\u00a0(BEF). When the\u00a0Imperial German Army<\/a>\u00a0began the\u00a0Battle of Verdun<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0Meuse<\/a>on 21 February 1916, French commanders diverted many of the divisions intended for the Somme and the “supporting” attack by the British became the principal effort.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0first day on the Somme<\/a>\u00a0(1 July) saw a serious defeat for the German\u00a0Second Army<\/a>, which was forced out of its first position by the French\u00a0Sixth Army<\/a>, from\u00a0Foucaucourt-en-Santerre<\/a>\u00a0south of the Somme to\u00a0Maricourt<\/a>\u00a0on the north bank and by the Fourth Army from Maricourt to the vicinity of the\u00a0Albert<\/a>\u2013Bapaume<\/a>\u00a0road. The first day on the Somme was, in terms of casualties, also the worst day in the history of the British army, which suffered 57,470 casualties. These occurred mainly on the front between the Albert\u2013Bapaume road and\u00a0Gommecourt<\/a>, where the attack was defeated and few British troops reached the German front line. The British troops on the Somme comprised a mixture of the remains of the pre-war\u00a0regular army<\/a>; the\u00a0Territorial Force<\/a>; and\u00a0Kitchener’s Army<\/a>, a force of volunteer recruits including many\u00a0Pals’ Battalions<\/a>, recruited from the same places and occupations.<\/p>\n

The battle is notable for the importance of air power and the first use of the\u00a0tank<\/a>. At the end of the battle, British and French forces had penetrated 10\u00a0km (6\u00a0mi) into German-occupied territory, taking more ground than in any of their offensives since the\u00a0Battle of the Marne<\/a>\u00a0in 1914. The Anglo-French armies failed to capture\u00a0P\u00e9ronne<\/a>\u00a0and halted 5\u00a0km (3\u00a0mi) from\u00a0Bapaume<\/a>, where the German armies maintained their positions over the winter. British attacks in the Ancre valley resumed in January 1917 and forced the Germans into local withdrawals to reserve lines in February, before the scheduled retirement to the\u00a0Siegfriedstellung<\/i><\/span>\u00a0(Hindenburg Line<\/a>) began in March. Debate continues over the necessity, significance and effect of the battle.”<\/p>\n

[Source: Wikipedia<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Battle of Verdun<\/strong><\/a> Feb 21 – Dec 18, 1916<\/p>\n

Brusilov Offensive<\/strong><\/a> June 4 – September 20, 1916<\/p>\n

First day on the Somme<\/strong><\/a> July 1, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of Albert<\/strong><\/a> July 1 – 13, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of Bazentin Bridge<\/strong><\/a> July 14 – 17, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of Fromelles<\/strong><\/a> July 19 – 20, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of\u00a0<\/strong>Melville Wood<\/b><\/a> July 14 – September 15<\/p>\n

Battle of Pozieres Ridge<\/strong><\/a> July 23 – August 7, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of\u00a0<\/strong>Guillemont<\/b><\/a> September 3 – 6, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of Ginchy<\/strong><\/a> September 9, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of Flers-Courcelette<\/strong><\/a> September 15 – 22, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of Morval<\/strong><\/a> September 25 – 28, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of the Transloy Ridges<\/strong> <\/a>October 1 – November 11, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of Thiepval Ridge<\/strong><\/a> September 26 – 28, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of the Ancre Heights<\/strong><\/a> October 1 – November 11, 1916<\/p>\n

Battle of\u00a0the Ancre<\/strong><\/a> November 13 – 18, 1916<\/p>\n

Analysis<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“At the start of 1916, most of the British Army had been an inexperienced and patchily trained mass of volunteers.\u00a0The Somme was the debut of the Kitchener Army created by Lord Kitchener’s call for\u00a0recruits<\/a>\u00a0at the start of the war. The British volunteers were often the fittest, most enthusiastic and best educated citizens but British casualties were also inexperienced soldiers and it has been claimed that their loss was of lesser military significance than the losses of the remaining peace-trained officers and men of the German army.\u00a0British casualties on the first day were the worst in the history of the British army, with\u00a057,470 British<\/span>\u00a0casualties,\u00a019,240 of<\/span>\u00a0whom were killed.<\/p>\n

British survivors of the battle had gained experience and the BEF learned how to conduct the mass industrial warfare, which the continental armies had been fighting since 1914.\u00a0The continental powers had begun the war with trained armies of regulars and reservists, which were wasting assets.\u00a0Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria<\/a>\u00a0wrote, “What remained of the old first-class peace-trained German infantry had been expended on the battlefield”.\u00a0A\u00a0war of attrition<\/a>\u00a0was a logical strategy for Britain against Germany, which was also at war with France and Russia. A school of thought holds that the Battle of the Somme placed unprecedented strain on the German army and that after the battle it was unable to replace casualties like-for-like, which reduced it to a\u00a0militia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The destruction of German units in battle was made worse by lack of rest. British and French aircraft and long-range guns reached well behind the front-line, where trench-digging and other work meant that troops returned to the line exhausted.\u00a0Despite the strategic predicament of the German army, it survived the battle, withstood the pressure of the\u00a0Brusilov Offensive<\/a>, and conducted an invasion of\u00a0Romania<\/a>. In 1917, the German army in the west survived the large British and French offensives of the\u00a0Nivelle Offensive<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Third Battle of Ypres<\/a>, though at great cost.<\/p>\n

Falkenhayn was sacked and replaced by Hindenburg and Ludendorff at the end of August 1916. At a conference at Cambrai on 5 September, a decision was taken to build a new defensive line well behind the Somme front. The\u00a0Siegfriedstellung<\/i><\/span>\u00a0was to be built from Arras to St. Quentin, La F\u00e8re and Cond\u00e9, with another new line between Verdun and Pont-\u00e0-Mousson. These lines were intended to limit any Allied breakthrough and to allow the German army to withdraw if attacked; work began on the\u00a0Siegfriedstellung<\/i><\/span>\u00a0(Hindenburg Line) at the end of September. Withdrawing to the new line was not an easy decision and the German high command struggled over it during the winter of 1916\u20131917. Some members wanted to take a shorter step back, to a line between Arras and Sailly, while the First and Second army commanders wanted to stay on the Somme.\u00a0Generalleutnant<\/a><\/i>\u00a0von Fuchs on 20 January 1917 said that,<\/p>\n

\n

Enemy superiority is so great that we are not in a position either to fix their forces in position or to prevent them from launching an offensive elsewhere. We just do not have the troops…. We cannot prevail in a second battle of the Somme with our men; they cannot achieve that any more. (20 January 1917)<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2009Hermann von Kuhl<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
BEF railway tonnage, France 1916<\/b><\/caption>\n
Month<\/th>\nTonnage
\n(Long tons<\/a>)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
January<\/td>\n2,484<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
February<\/td>\n2,535<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
March<\/td>\n2,877<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April<\/td>\n3,121<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
May<\/td>\n3,391<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
June<\/td>\n4,265<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
July<\/td>\n4,478<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
August<\/td>\n4,804<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
September<\/td>\n4,913<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
October<\/td>\n5,324<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
November<\/td>\n5,107<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
December<\/td>\n5,202<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

and that half measures were futile, retreating to the\u00a0Siegfriedstellung<\/i><\/span>\u00a0was unavoidable. After the loss of a considerable amount of ground around the Ancre valley to the British Fifth Army in February 1917, the German armies on the Somme were ordered on 14 February, to withdraw to reserve lines closer to Bapaume. A further retirement to the Hindenburg Line (Siegfriedstellung<\/i><\/span>) in\u00a0Operation Alberich<\/a>\u00a0began on 16 March 1917, despite the new line being unfinished and poorly sited in some places.<\/p>\n

The British and French had advanced about 6\u00a0mi (9.7\u00a0km) on the Somme, on a front of 16\u00a0mi (26\u00a0km) at a cost of\u00a0419,654\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0432,000<\/span>\u00a0British and about\u00a0200,000 French<\/span>\u00a0casualties, against\u00a0465,181<\/span>\u00a0to\u00a0500,000<\/span>\u00a0or perhaps even\u00a0600,000<\/span>German casualties.\u00a0Until the 1930s the dominant view of the battle in English-language writing was that the battle was a hard-fought victory against a brave, experienced and well-led opponent. Winston Churchill had objected to the way the battle was being fought in August 1916, Lloyd George when Prime Minister criticised attrition warfare frequently and condemned the battle in his post-war memoirs. In the 1930s a new orthodoxy of “mud, blood and futility” emerged and gained more emphasis in the 1960s when the 50th anniversaries of the Great War battles were commemorated.<\/p>\n

Casualties<\/span><\/h3>\n
Main article:\u00a0World War I casualties<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Somme casualties<\/caption>\n
Nationality<\/th>\nTotal
\ncasualties<\/th>\n		Killed &
\nmissing<\/th>\n		POW<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
United Kingdom<\/td>\n350,000+<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Canada<\/td>\n24,029<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Australia<\/td>\n23,000<\/td>\n<\/td>\n< 200<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
New Zealand<\/td>\n7,408<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South Africa<\/td>\n3,000+<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Newfoundland<\/td>\n2,000+<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total British
\nCommonwealth<\/td>\n		419,654<\/td>\n95,675<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
French<\/td>\n204,253<\/td>\n50,756<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Allied<\/td>\n623,907<\/td>\n146,431<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Germany<\/td>\n465,000\u2013600,000<\/td>\n164,055<\/td>\n38,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Battle of the Somme was one of the costliest battles of World War I. The original Allied estimate of casualties on the Somme, made at the Chantilly Conference on 15 November 1916, was 485,000 British and French casualties and 630,000 German. A German officer wrote,<\/p>\n

Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2009Friedrich Steinbrecher<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In 1931, Wendt published a comparison of German and British-French casualties which showed an average of 30% more Allied casualties to German losses on the Somme.In the first 1916 volume of the British Official History (1932), J. E. Edmonds wrote that comparisons of casualties were inexact, because of different methods of calculation by the belligerents but that British casualties were\u00a0419,654, from<\/span>\u00a0total British casualties in France in the period of\u00a0498,054,<\/span>\u00a0French Somme casualties were\u00a0194,451 and<\/span>\u00a0German casualties were\u00a0c.<\/abbr> 445,322,\u00a0to which should be added\u00a027% for<\/span>\u00a0woundings, which would have been counted as casualties using British criteria; Anglo-French casualties on the Somme were over\u00a0600,000 and<\/span>\u00a0German casualties were\u00a0under 600,000<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The addition by Edmonds of\u00a0c.<\/abbr> 30 percent\u00a0to German figures, to make them comparable to British criteria, was criticised as “spurious” by M. J. Williams in 1964. McRandle and Quirk in 2006 cast doubt on the Edmonds calculations, but counted\u00a0729,000 German<\/span>\u00a0casualties on the Western Front from July to December against\u00a0631,000 by<\/span>\u00a0Churchill, concluding that German losses were fewer than Anglo-French casualties, but the ability of the German army to inflict disproportionate losses had been eroded by attrition.\u00a0Sheffield wrote that the calculation by Edmonds of Anglo-French casualties was correct but the one for German casualties was\u00a0discredited<\/i>, quoting the official German figure of\u00a0500,000 casualties.<\/span>\u00a0In the second 1916 volume of the British Official History (1938), Miles wrote that total German casualties in the battle were\u00a0660,000\u2013680,000. against<\/span>\u00a0Anglo-French casualties of fewer than\u00a0630,000, using<\/span>\u00a0“fresh data” from the French and German official accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Western Front casualties<\/b>
\nJuly\u2013December 1916<\/small><\/caption>\n
Month<\/th>\nCasualties<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
July<\/td>\n196,081<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
August<\/td>\n75,249<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
September<\/td>\n115,056<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
October<\/td>\n66,852<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
November<\/td>\n46,238<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
December<\/td>\n13,803<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total
\nBritish<\/td>\n		513,289<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
French<\/td>\nc.<\/abbr> 434,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total:
\nAnglo-French<\/td>\n		c.<\/abbr> 947,289<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
German<\/td>\nc.<\/abbr> 719,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Grand total<\/td>\nc.<\/abbr> 1,666,289<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In 1938, Churchill wrote that the Germans had suffered\u00a0270,000 casualties<\/span>\u00a0against the French, between February and June 1916 and\u00a0390,000 between<\/span>\u00a0July and the end of the year (see statistical tables in Appendix J of Churchill’s\u00a0World Crisis<\/i>) with\u00a0278,000 casualties<\/span>\u00a0at Verdun.\u00a0Some losses must have been in quieter sectors but many must have been inflicted by the French at the Somme. Churchill wrote that Franco-German losses at the Somme, were “much less unequal” than the Anglo-German ratio. During the Battle of the Somme German forces suffered\u00a0537,919 casualties<\/span>, of which\u00a0338,011 losses<\/span>\u00a0were inflicted by the French and\u00a0199,908 losses<\/span>\u00a0by the British. In turn German forces inflicted\u00a0794,238 casualties<\/span>\u00a0on the Entente.Doughty wrote that French losses on the Somme were “surprisingly high” at\u00a0202,567 men,<\/span>\u00a054% of<\/span>\u00a0the\u00a0377,231 casualties<\/span>\u00a0at Verdun.\u00a0Prior and Wilson used Churchill’s research and wrote that the British lost\u00a0432,000 soldiers<\/span>\u00a0from 1 July \u2013 mid-November (c.<\/abbr> 3,600 per\u00a0day) in inflicting\u00a0c.<\/abbr> 230,000 German\u00a0casualties and offer no figures for French casualties or the losses they inflicted on the Germans.\u00a0Sheldon wrote that the British lost “over\u00a0400,000″ casualties.<\/span>\u00a0Harris wrote that total British losses were\u00a0c.<\/abbr> 420,000, French\u00a0casualties were over\u00a0200,000 men<\/span>\u00a0and German losses were\u00a0c.<\/abbr> 500,000, according\u00a0to the “best” German sources.\u00a0Sheffield wrote that the losses were “appalling”, with\u00a0419,000 British<\/span>\u00a0casualties,\u00a0c.<\/abbr> 204,000 French\u00a0and\u00a0perhaps<\/i>\u00a0600,000 German<\/span>\u00a0casualties.<\/p>\n

In a commentary on the debate about Somme casualties, Philpott used Miles’s figures of\u00a0419,654 British<\/span>\u00a0casualties and the French official figures of\u00a0154,446 Sixth<\/span>\u00a0Army losses and\u00a048,131 Tenth<\/span>\u00a0Army casualties. German losses were described as “disputed”, ranging from\u00a0400,000\u2013680,000.<\/span>\u00a0Churchill’s claims were a “snapshot” of July 1916 and not representative of the rest of the battle. Philpott called the “blood test” a crude measure compared to manpower reserves, industrial capacity, farm productivity and financial resources and that intangible factors were more influential on the course of the war. The German army was exhausted by the end of 1916, with loss of morale and the cumulative effects of attrition and frequent defeats causing it to collapse in 1918, a process which began on the Somme, echoing Churchill that the German soldiery was never the same again.”<\/p>\n

[Source: Wikipedia<\/a>]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The\u00a0Battle of the Somme\u00a0(French:\u00a0Bataille de la Somme, German:\u00a0Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the\u00a0Somme Offensive, was a battle of the\u00a0First World War\u00a0fought by the armies of the\u00a0British\u00a0and\u00a0French\u00a0empires against the\u00a0German […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2748","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nSomme: Battle of the Somme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""The\u00a0Battle of the Somme\u00a0(French:\u00a0Bataille de la Somme, German:\u00a0Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the\u00a0Somme Offensive, was a battle of the\u00a0First World\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca\/index.php\/somme-battle-somme\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/index.php\\\/somme-battle-somme\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/index.php\\\/somme-battle-somme\\\/\",\"name\":\"Somme: Battle of the Somme\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-01T00:05:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-24T02:19:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"\\\"The\u00a0Battle of the Somme\u00a0(French:\u00a0Bataille de la Somme, German:\u00a0Schlacht an der Somme), also known as the\u00a0Somme Offensive, was a battle of the\u00a0First World\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/index.php\\\/somme-battle-somme\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/index.php\\\/somme-battle-somme\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/index.php\\\/somme-battle-somme\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Somme: Battle of the Somme\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rememberourvets.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"Remember Our Veterans\",\"description\":\""Canadians - 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