Definition of Battle of the Somme

World War I can very quickly be summed up as a series of very bloody battles whose overall result was... nothing? Good, or almost nothing.

One of these terrible massacres was the Battle of the Somme, baptized as the river with the same name, where the war front was and developed.

The Battle of the Somme was the product of the attempt of the Franco-British troops of the Entente to break the front German in the area of ​​the river Somme, with the aim of relieving the pressure of the German imperial forces in Verdun.

The offensive on the Somme began half a year after the Battle of Verdun began, and ended a month earlier. Was the objective you were pursuing achieved? There is division between historians, who affirm that it does not, and those who even affirm that the victory of the Entente in the war was due to the result of this episode, which although it did not move the lines, caused serious casualties to the army German.

The latter lost more than 400,000 men, but the Franco-British allies lost more than 600,000, thus the casualties (between dead and wounded) exceeded one million men.

The sector chosen to start the offensive was not chosen by chance, not even because of the terrain, but because it was the point of union of the French army with the British expeditionary force.

Together, it was considered that both forces could exert greater pressure and be more successful than if only one was in charge of the offensive action.

Initially, the draft of this attack of "fun" to divert attention and resources Germans of the Battle of Verdun was English, and he intended to expel the Germans from the Belgian coast, giving greater Liberty of action to the Royal Navy. However, the French imposed their demands to vary the ultimate goal of the action.

The battle began with an artillery preparation (that is, crushing enemy positions by bombardment of cannons to destroy pieces and positions thus facilitating the subsequent attack) of a week of duration.

It was common at the time, although of doubtful effectiveness, since the trenches on both sides provided safe havens and countermeasures to minimize the impact of the projectiles.

With this preparation done, the British infantry divisions launched into the assault, with the help of a dozen mines dug under German trenches, designed to blow them up. The French, further south, were also taking action.

Despite the intensive bombardment, the Germans had been able to take cover and were in a position to make the Allied troops pay dearly for their affront.

On the first day of battle, the progress made by the Franco-British allies was limited to the southern flank.

Lack of coordination was the rule of the attack, and the imposition of Dantean sacrifices by the commanders on their troops, rule general throughout the war, caused a large number of casualties in various units.

Few successes for an attack in which 13 British and 11 French divisions were added, doubling the German troops in that section of the front (10 divisions). Throughout this entire campaign, the numbers would always be twice as many allies as the Germans.

The only achievements were concentrated in the French sector, where there was less endurance by the Germans, and the Gallic troops possessed greater experience than their enemies.

Opportunities were lost because of the bad coordination and the lack of information on the part of the commanders, opportunities that would not be known until much later.

The German imperial army began to send reinforcements to the attacked front to level the disproportion of troops in favor of the allies. In mid-July, the Franco-British tried to retake the initiative.

And they did it with limited attacks, such as the Battle of Bazentin, which was a success on July 14, conquering several positions and some towns to the Germans, although again a certain lack of information coordination prevented the Allied troops from conveniently exploiting the opportunities that were opened before them. they.

During August and September, the Allied progress was little, and the Germans took advantage of the technical tie to fortify themselves.

On September 15, British troops launched the last major offensive of the campaign, using a new secret weapon. that had just arrived: some armored vehicles that moved on the basis of tracks and that looked like real ships sailing in land. Indeed, tanks were born.

The British, pioneers in the use of these weapons, did not know how to see the potential they would have a posteriori, and They used them in a limited way and more to protect the advance of the infantry than as an offensive weapon effective.

This did not prevent them from causing a profound psychological effect on the German defenders, and from being a key player in the occupation of some areas.

From here on, everything again bogged down in a continuous drip of casualties.

While the Somme did not relieve German pressure at Verdun as much as expected, it did inflict heavy punishment on German arms, even at the cost of bleeding the Allied ranks as well.

In total, there were a million victims suffered by both sides in this battle, one of the bloodiest of the warfare (some veterans later described it as the closest thing to hell on earth), with a proportion similar to 40% for the Germans, and 60% for the Allies.

Of these casualties, some 310,000 were killed, those of the Entente approaching 150,000, and the Germans surpassing this figure.

In this section, the German army lost out.

Although the Somme was apparently a technical draw between the two sides, after a few months the German high command decided to vacate the area, leaving the field at the hands of the Allies.

This withdrawal responded to pragmatic reasoning, having in this way to control a smaller front line.

The Somme swept away the best of the Kaiser's troops, ultimately resulting in a strategic victory for the Franco-British.

Photos: Fotolia - Staoist520 / Volodymyr

Themes in Battle of the Somme