The Battle of Somme lasted for four months and 12 days as the British and French forces fought the Germans around and north of the River Somme. The 13 British Divisions fought north of the river while 11 French divisions fought to the south.The Battle began on June 24 as artillery was called in for 6 days to hopefully destroy some of the German fortifications. However of the 1,400 British guns only 500 were considered heavy and only 34 were 234mm or greater. This meant that only 900 of the 12,000 tons of explosives fired were capable of actually doing any damage to German bunkers.The artillery lacked the accuracy to hit the German trenches only 300 yards from the British Forces and roughly 60 yards from the French. This meant that most of the troops in the trenches were unharmed and when the artillery stopped on July first they were able to inflict terrible damage to the initial infantry charge. As the allies advanced believing that the artillery had weakened the German forces considerably they were quickly gunned down and it became the single bloodiest day in British history with nearly 58,000 casualties. The Newfoundland and Irish regiments North of the British advanced only to have nearly no survivors.In my opinion they were asking for heavy casualties when they started advancing immediately after the inadequate artillery barrage without quickly surveying the damage done to the defenses.The first day of the actual battle was a different story for the French south of the Somme. The more experienced French artillery had a large effect of German defenses. They were able to overwhelm the trenches and met all of the first day objectives. They were able to capture 14 miles of German front from Mametz to Fay along with 3,000 prisoners.After 10 days of fighting the French had advanced nearly 6 miles in some spots and took the entire Flaucourt Plateau. They also captured 12,000 prisoners, 85 artillery, 26 Minenwerfers, and 100 machine guns. The British however continued with many small attacks without considerable gains.The French seem to be a lot more ready for the war then the British and they seem to have better tactics even with fewer men then the British.The last major push occurred on Sept. 15, this was the last time they were going to try and make a hole in the German line. This was a significant battle as it was the first time that the tank was used in battle. These early tanks were unreliable and of the 49 tanks available for the push only 32 made it and only 21 fought in the battle. The tanks supported the infantry as they pushed forward ever farther. One tank in particular smashing through the barb wire around Flers and driving across the main trench and shooting defenders out of buildings as it drove up Main Street.The battle finally ended on Nov. 13 with the Allies only gaining about 7 miles at the deepest point and suffering 620,000 casulties and 100 tanks lost.Advances in the Allied Lines during the Battle
Early tank
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWsomme.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_SommeThe Battle of CambraiThis battle was between the British and German forces at Cambrai between Nov 20 and Dec 6.The battle began with a well planned artery barrage on key German defenses located around the city. As this was going on, infantry used smoke to cover their advance toward the Hindenburg Line. Some intelligence had told some of the smaller cities between the two forces to be on alert for a possible attack.Flesquières in particular was one tough city in the way and one British forces fought here until they eventually forced the Germans to flee in the night. They lost nearly 40 tanks here to artillery but continued on. Other forces swept through Havrincourt and Graincourt. At the end of the first day 180 of the 476 tanks were out of action although only 65 had been destroyed. In places they had pushed the Hindenburg Line back nearly 5 miles.One of the main goals of the battle was to capture Bourlon Ridge. On the 23rd the British invaded the woods on the ridge only to find it heavily occupied. After three days fighting they finally reached the top.However far they got the Germans soon realized that a break in the Hindenburg Line was highly unlikely and they considered a counter attack. They wanted to achieve retaking the old positions of the line by incorporating their new tactic of a short and intense artillery barrage and then a quick assault.As the Germans advanced around the ridge they found the little resistance. They made progress at first as the British couldn’t account for their speed in attacking. However they were stopped as soldiers were pulled back to form a line and the late arrival of tanks. At the ridge itself the Germans were halted as 8 divisions of fire support shelled the ridge.The battle ended as British forces retreated on Dec 3 and most gains were abandoned except for a part of the line around Havrincourt, Ribécourt and Flesquières. There were roughly 45,000 casulties. This battle was acknowledged as the first successful use of tanks in a combined arms operation.British Advances
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