History why did the british lose so amny lives at the somme

The first 200 words of this essay...

On the 1st of July 1916 the great battle of the Somme began. It was a British offensive against the Germans on the western front. All organised by Sir Douglas Haig on the British side as the British general and Flakenhayn as the German general. It was a lasting war fought in trenches with very little advance on either side. The Germans had planned to attack the French at Verdun so they could ferry through ammunition and heavy guns towards the Somme. They met strong resistance from the French. On the first day 58 000 British soldiers were injured and out of that figure 21 000 were killed. Overall 419 000 soldiers were lost in the Somme battle alone and 650 000 Germans. The battle ended on the 19th of November 1916 with a British victory despite all the men that were lost. There are many reasons as to why so many British lives were lost for example; poor training and bad planning. These are just two of the many reasons.

There were many tactics employed by the British such as; to look out for any German artillery by use of plane and then come back and bomb