On the first day of the Somme, shortly after the bombardment ceased, three mines that had been strategically placed were to be detonated. At 7.20am, the mine under the “Hawthorn Redoubt” was detonated, slightly ahead of schedule. This meant that the German’s had ten minutes to realise when and where the attack was going to take place. At 7.30am the other two detonated on time, and the British Army’s 750,000 men left the trench spanning 14 miles and began to walk across no mans land, straight into a blizzard of German machine gun fire.
Some Divisions managed to complete their preliminary objectives regardless of the fierce German fire, for instance the 36th Ulster Division managed to capture a trench, but most of the other troops failed and resorted to small attacks on certain areas of the line. Some cavalry charges were attempted, but they were merely cut down by the German fire.
By the end of the day, casualties were worked out at around 38,000 men, and about 19,000 men died – the single most casualties ever received in one day in British military history. The Germans, however, only suffered 8,000 casualties.
By November, the British had not even reached Bapaume, which was the primary objective and the location of the German headquarters. In four months, the British suffered 420,000 casualties and only gained 7 miles of territory. The French had suffered 200,000 casualties and the Germans 500,000. That is a 62:50 ratio. In relations to the 7 miles gained, it seems the Germans, though they obtained more casualties, were slightly worse off in terms of their war plans.
Soon the British began to lose hope on breaking the German lines and began to focus on the battles of attrition, especially at Verdun, where they soon came to relieve the French. In February 1917 the Germans retreated to their pre-prepared Hindenburg Line 18 miles back. The Hindenburg line was on high ground and was well fortified.
The battle served quite an important purpose to the British, and that was training the somewhat rookie troops. By the end of the Somme, the survivors were well trained in attrition and trench warfare, making them more of a match for the better-trained Germans. The Somme also pressured the Germans to take up a defensive strategy on the Western Front.
So, all in all, the Somme should definitely not be thought of as a failure on the British part, because despite losing a lot of men, the British did seem to come out on top.
