The Most Deadly Day in the History of the British Army

The Most Deadly Day in the History of the British Army

1st July 1916 saw Britain and her Allies launched a big attack along a 25 mile part of the front line. The offensive took place to the north of the River Somme in rural France. Little villages are littered all across the area along with the town of Albert. It was to be the battle that for the majority of people, characterized the horrors of the trench warfare of World War I.

The Battle of the Somme lasted roughly four months with very little gain for Allied forces. The casualties sustained by both sides were awful; Britain sustained 420,000 killed and wounded, the French 200,000 and the Germans almost half a million.

The German soldiers were well dug in and tactically held the better ground consequently it was apparent a massive effort would be called for to make inroads into German lines. The plan was to lay down an artillery barrage for 7 days prior to the attack. In addition, various mines were laid beneath the German front line. It was supposed that the mines and artillery would bring such destruction, Allied Forces would simply need to advance across no mans land and take the trenches. Tragically, this was not the case.

For seven days just before the attack, a devastating barrage was put down by the Alllies firing 1.7m shells. Yet, the German trenches were dug deep into the earth affording them with relative safety from the barrage. The mines did contribute to casualties as intended but typically, the Germans had enough time to prepare their defences after the artillery ceased and the Allies went over the top.

All along the line, the story was similar. Courageous soldiers went over the top and were cut down prior to getting anywhere close to their objectives. At Beaumont Hamel, only 68 of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, ended the day uninjured out of around 800 men. At La Boisselle, the Tyneside Irish was effectively destroyed as it endeavoured to advance more than 1 mile over open ground in full view of German machine guns.

Yet, there were some achievements. The French Army had made advances in the north and south of the lines. The 36th Ulster moved on and took the Schwaben Redoubt thus becoming one of the few to achieve their main objective. Sadly, running short of ammunition, German counter attacks made the Ulstermen to withdraw later that night.

The 1st day of the Somme had cost the British Army almost 54,000 casualties, 21,000 of those being killed. Today, the site of the Schwaben Redoubt is marked by the Ulster Tower and nearby at Thiepval, the Memorial to the Missing commemorates the names of around 70,000 soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Somme.

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