Battle of the Somme The battle of the Somme began in the summer of 1916. The British saw their opportunity to look good and be the saviour of the moment. However, this did not occur. A four hundred and fifty mile trench network, stretching from the Swiss border up and into Belgium, was opened up and the battle had truly started. The battle soon deteriorated into trench warfare causing no progress to either side. The Generals decided to forge an all-out offensive on the weaker points of the German lines and started a forty-eight hour bombardment on these points. However, due to poor weather, the forty-eight hour period was stretched to seven days of heavy shelling. The idea was to wipe out the German barbed wire and the majority of men. The Germans overheard a radio conversation and discovered the British plan. They dug deep trenches and practiced on setting up their machine guns quickly. They were ready for anything the British and French could throw at them. In truth, a third of the shells failed to explode and the few that did, hit æno manÆs landÆ or the unused trenches. After seven days of complete bombardment, the majority of the six foot high barbed wire was still standing and in good condition. The British generals, who believed that blood was the price of victory, were preparing for the final assault, the æbig pushÆ. At 7:22 am, the biggest man-made explosion was set off underneath the Germans. This went wrong with nearly half of the mine not exploding or exploding in the face of the minelayers. However, six minutes later, the mind numbing bombardment stopped and, for the first time in just over a week, the bird song could be heard. Only a mere two minutes after that, the æbig pushÆ commenced as thousands of men walked over the top. The
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