Was the battle of the Somme a complete failure? IntroductionThe 1916 Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles

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Bradleigh Harris

Was the battle of the Somme a complete failure?

 

Introduction

The 1916 Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War, with more than one million casualties. The British and French forces attempted to break through the German lines along a 25 mile (40 km) front north and south of the River Somme in Northern France.

Purpose

One purpose of the battle was to draw German forces away from the battle of Verdun however by its end the losses on the Somme was bigger of those at Verdun.

Weapons used

The weapons had a big roll to play for the british soldiers as without them they would have been slowly killed of one by one. The main weapon used by British soldiers in the trenches was the bolt-action rifle. 15 rounds could be fired in a minute and a person 1,400 meters away could be killed. However new weapons were being made and the British army introduced tanks, planes, machineguns, grenades and artillery guns. As well as on land attacks there were naval forces. Which Britain specialized in as they used battle ships and submarines. One of the most famous battle ships was the dreadnought. It had a max speed of 21-knots and had 10 guns which measured 12 inches each. The ship was built in 1906 winning the race over Germany who didn’t manage to complete the build of their battle ship until three years latter, 1909. The English made a total of 34 and the Germans only made 24. At the end of the war the British lost a total of 5 dreadnoughts. Planes also played a big roll in the war as they were used in attacks and to transport guns and rations ECT.

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 Tactics

The British used many different tactics which varied, the main ploys included:

Bombarding the enemy trenches causing it to collapse or kill soldiers going over the top.

Tunnel under ground and attack the enemy by surprise. This was mainly done at night.

They also used barbed wire to protect there trenches and stop the enemy soldiers gaining access to their trenches under cover of night.

Success or failure?

The battle is best remembered for its first day, 1 July 1916, on which the British suffered 57,470 casualties of which 19,240 lives were lost. It remains the ...

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