What most people get wrong about the Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st of July 1916. After a week-long artillery bombardment of the German lines, tens of thousands of Allied troops went 'over the top' in an attack that would become synonymous with the horrors of trench warfare. The British army took over 57,000 casualties on the first day alone making it the bloodiest day in British military history. But who really won the Battle of the Somme? To find out, we have to look at the Somme beyond the first day.

Despite heavy losses on both sides, fighting continued for another 141 days. During the rest of the battle, the British experimented with new tactics like creeping barrages and new technologies like the tank. By the end of the battle the British had advanced a maximum of 7 miles, but they had taken a sizeable chunk out of the German army.

In this episode of IWM Stories, Alan Wakefield looks at the Battle of the Somme with the help of archive film, photographs and battle maps.

Correction - 00:02 - The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st of July 1916.

0:00 Intro/The first day
1:50 Why fight on the Somme?
2:56 British unpreparedness
4:41 Beyond the first day
5:50 Infantry tactics
6:27 Artillery tactics
6:51 Tanks
7:36 End of the battle
8:06 Impact on Germany
8:44 Impact on Britain
9:55 Conclusion

Order and license the HD clips used in this video on IWM Film’s website:

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[westwonic]

My grandfather was a sniper in the Anglian Regiment at the Somme, so he didn't go over the top with his 600 man regiment. His job was to pick off any Germans that showed themselves. At the end of that day his 600 men were down to six. They were all absorbed into the Middlesbrough regiment.
He survived the war, despite being wounded 3 times, and being caught up on the barbed wire in no man's land twice. He fought at the Somme, Ypres and Mons.
I was told all of this by my grandmother, as he never once spoke to me of his experiences

[kiwiwifi]

My wife’s great grandfather was a Kiwi who spent his 21st birthday in a Somme trench. His position was shelled that very day. Without his knowledge, he was blown out of his hole and woke up in a hospital behind the
lines. He had physical injuries that healed over a six month period in England. From there he returned home. His 21st present from the Germans troops was a huge blessing for us all.

[nickgooderham]

My great uncle was killed at the Somme during an attack on the German trenches around Courcelette. He was a member of Canadian Corps serving with the 31st Battalion Alberta Regiment. He is buried in Adanac cemetery. Adanac is Canada spelt backwards.

[evandavies]

This is one of the few battles in history, where both sides seem to have claimed defeat!

[sctm]

Gaining 7 miles for the cost of 600, 000 casualties cannot be claimed a success by any standards, especially considering that all of it was lost in the spring offensive within weeks.

[Volcano-Man]

My maternal grandfather survived the Somme, three brothers (my great uncles) didn't. Grandad saw one brother vanish just a few yards to his front. None of them have a known grave. Mother told me long after granddad died. He never talked about it. RIP all those who fell.

[robertcooper]

The film "The Battle of the Somme" did have an effect on the public's perception of war, but not the one the authorities hoped for. It was meant to be a morale booster but instead women were fainting in the cinemas and men were saying " this can't be happening or it can't be true".I watched a very good documentary about it a few years ago but can't recall its title.

[rogerhwerner]

No one can ever understand the carnage on the Western Front without visiting it. I've been to the Somme Battlefield Memorial. It isn't difficult to cite statistics but to see those names, the graves. The feeling is impossible to describe and I had read dozens of books on the war. Nothing can prepared me for what I saw. 25 years later and seeing pictures of the bring back what I felt then.

[richardmoss]

The more I learn about this the more I understand why my grandfather never spoke about it.

[ADRAPER]

My grandfather fought at Gallipoli, Ypres and the Somme in the Australian army. Lucky him, he didn't miss out on anything.

[moistmike]

Question: "What most people miss about the Battle of the Somme"
Answer: "All the poor, young souls who never got a chance to live"

[mikelitorous]

My great great uncle died at the Somme originally he was a child soldier in the British army because he was so tall for his age about 5 foot 11 at 16 he would constantly get harassed by soldiers which later was found out to be a tactic used by the army in order to get as many conscripts as possible. Also, older women would go mad with him call him a coward since they didn’t know his age. He lied about his age and signed up and then ended up dying at 18. He got blew up by an artillery shell when he went over the top and his body was never found. He never even got to know his baby sister properly, my great grandmother since she was only 2 when he left since she was born on the day the titanic sank. She never remembered him aswell which is sad since it was her only sibling.

[stephenbesley]

My grandfather lost half a leg on the Somme. I'm certain he carried a lot of mental scars also. He died in 1937 so I never got to meet him, one of my lifes great regrets.

[artistjoh]

My grandfather was a machine gunner at the Somme. He was wounded by a shrapnel shell that went off directly above him. He came back with a metal plate in his skull, and one leg shorter than the other with a metal pin down its length. As bad as his injuries were, had he not been wounded, and removed to a hospital, he may have been killed on another day of fighting, and I wouldn’t be here. I have huge respect for his bravery and cannot be certain that I would have had similar courage.

[georgekaragiannakis]

600, 000 Allied v 500, 00 German casualties can’t be classified as a victory when your gain around 10km. Or to quote Blackadder “We've been sitting here since Christmas 1914, during which time millions of men have died, and we've moved no further than an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping.”

[ImperialWarMuseums]

We want to know what you think! Who really won the Battle of the Somme?

*NOTE* - The narration at 0:02 should be "First of July 1916".

[stevegray]

My great grandfather died on day 1 of the Somme. He was a Lance Serjeant with the Northumberland Fusiliers, Tyneside Irish battalion. They were effectively wiped out as a fighting unit.

[peterfenwick]

My Grandad went over the top on the 1st day with the Tyneside Irish I never met him but I can only imagine the horrors he must have seen.

[Werrf]

When considering the Battle of the Somme, it's worth bearing in mind some numbers.

In 1914, the Allies fought the First Battle of Ypres. In that battle, the British forces number 163, 897, and they took 58, 155 casulaties. That's a horrifying 35% casualty rate - and the Allies won that battle. Compare that to the Somme, and that infamous first day, when British forces numbered around 390, 000 and took 57, 000 casualties. That's around 15%. It's horrible, and by no means am I trying to downplay the suffering and loss of that day, but it _is_ a much lower casualty rate than Ypres - around 15%.

There's this image of WWI, of generals just doing the same stupid thing over and over. As Blackadder put it "Would this brilliant plan involve us climbing out of our trenches and walking slowly towards the enemy sir? [...] It's the same plan we used last time, and the seventeen times before that". But the numbers don't lie - things were changing by the time of the Somme. Casulaties were far worse, proportionally speaking, in the earlier battles of manoeuvre.

[lahts]

My grandfather was 20 years old when he lost an arm from shellfire on the Somme. He was with the Prussian Guards opposite the French. He joined up in 1914 and won the iron cross first and second class in that first year and was wounded three times in total. Being invalided out probably saved his life, as his unit went on to serve at Verdun where the rest of them were killed except for the cook. He died before I was born so unfortunately I never met him.