Ironically, going over the top at the Somme was the first taste of battle many of these men had, as
many were part of "Kitchener’s Volunteer Army" persuaded to volunteer by posters showing Lord
Kitchener himself summoning these men to arms to show their patriotism.
The battle at the Somme started with a weeklong artillery bombardment of the German lines.
1,738,000 shells were fired at the Germans. The logic behind this was so that the artillery guns would
destroy the German trenches and barbed wire placed in front of the trenches.
In fact, the Germans had deep dugouts for their men and all they had to do when the bombardment
started was to move these men into the relative safety of the deep dugouts. When the bombardment
stopped, the Germans would have known that this would have been the signal for an infantry advance.
They moved from the safety of their dugouts and manned their machine guns to face the British
and French.
The Allied troops climbed out of their trenches and moved over no mans land towards the German
front lines. Many were gunned down in no man’s land. However due to the huge number of troops
attacking the German line soldiers did get through. They were followed by cavalry. This was not a
great success. The muddy conditions made horses a slow and riders easy targets. The man to man
combat that followed was bloody and horrific.
By the end of the battle, in November 1916, the British had lost 420,000, the French lost nearly
200,000 men and the Germans 500,000. The Allied forces had advanced along a thirty-mile strip that
was seven miles deep at its maximum.
Lord Kitchener was a supporter of the theory of attrition - that eventually you would grind down
your enemy and they would have to yield. He saw the military success of the battle as all-important.
However, it did have dire political and social consequences in Britain. Many spoke of the "lost generation".
Many people found it difficult to justify the near 88,000 Allied men lost for every one mile
gained in the advance
"The Daily Chronicle" published this report on the battle on July 3rd:
At about 7.30 o'clock this morning a vigorous attack was launched by the British Army. The front extends over
some 20 miles north of the Somme. The assault was preceded by a terrific bombardment, lasting about an hour
and a half. It is too early to as yet give anything but the barest particulars, as the fighting is developing in intensity,
but the British troops have already occupied the German front line. Many prisoners have already fallen into
our hands, and as far as can be ascertained our casualties have not been heavy.
