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Battles of the Somme, 1916

1 July - 18 November 1916

In August 1915 the British Army took over from the French Army in the sector of the Somme, from south of Arras to the Somme river. In the early spring of 1916 into June 1916 this area was the scene of a huge build-up of British forces and material in preparation for a large-scale offensive on the German defensive line. The attack was to be carried out jointly with the French Army astride the Somme river. It was conceived as a plan to relieve the tremendous pressure on the French Army holding out at Verdun by forcing the Germans to move divisions away from Verdun and westwards to defend their Somme front.

Prior to the start of the offensive there was an artillery bombardment onto the German lines starting on 24 June, such as had never been witnessed before. Bad weather during the last week of June delayed the launch of the attack until the early morning of 1 July. Zero hour - the official start time for the attack - was 7.30am on 1 July. Thousands of British troops moved forward into No Mans Land making for the German front line north of the river Somme between the villages of Gommecourt and Maricourt.

At the end of the first day of the battle the Germans had successfully defended their positions at the northern end of the battlefield. However, the British broke through the German front line in the south between Mametz and Montauban. For the British Army it was a tragic day. There were some 60,000 casualties by the end of the day, 20,000 of whom were fatalities. Although the Germans suffered relatively few casualties defending their line in the northern part of the battlefield two of their regiments in the south section, where the British broke through, were decimated.

Battles continued in this sector from July through to November as the British tried to break the strong German defence. The names of villages and woods on the Somme battlefields have become synonymous with the desperate fighting and tragic loss of both the British and German Armies during the four and a half months: Gommecourt, Serre, Beaumont Hamel, Thiepval, Ovillers, La Boisselle, Courcelette, Fricourt, Contalmaison, Mametz, Montauban, Bazentin, Longueval, Delville Wood, Martinpuich, High Wood, Flers, to name just a few.

The Battle of the Somme finally drew to a close as the winter weather worsened. It officially ended on 18th November.

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing commemorates over 72,000 soldiers of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died during the 1916 Battles of the Somme between July and November 1916.

A new Visitor Centre, officially opened on 27 September 2004, is located near to the Memorial. The centre contains display boards giving an overview of the Great War and explaining the role of Thiepval in the battles.

The German military cemetery at Fricourt contains the remains of German soldiers killed during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Second Battles of the Somme, 1918

21 August - 3 September 1918

Acknowledgements

Photograph (1): Photo courtesy of the WW1 Image Archive

Photograph (2): © www.greatwar.co.uk

Copyright Joanna Legg & Graham Parker © 2004 All rights reserved