Figure 1.--Figting in the Somme Valley continued on a smaller scale after the First Battle of the Somme (1916). This photograph apparently taken in 1917 shows British children partying in a recently liberated French village. The British Army caption reads, "A merry party in a newly captured village. The Hun's bitterness does not upset the British Tommy." Bitterness refers to the slogan painted on the wooden wall--Gott strafe England. That translates as 'God punish England'. The village appears to be Vraignes. There are two villages near Aimens with that name. Photograph caption No. C.1416.

Some of the greatest battles of Europen history were fought on the Somme. This was dictated by geography. Many rivrs flow from the French interior to the English Channel. The Somme is an especually important on, midway between Pariss and Flanders. Attacks fron the North have to cross the Somme. And this proved the case in World War I. The First Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was one of the largest battles of the First World War. Fought between July 1 and November 1, 1916, in the Somme River Battle of northern France. It was one of the bloodiest military battles in history. The battle is best remembers for the terible British lossess, On the first day alone, the British suffered more than 57,000 casualties. By the end of the campaign the Allies and Central Powers would lose more than 1.5 million men. These lossess would lead to major British Army reforms which in the Second Battle of the Somme (1918) would launch the war-winning Allied Hundred Days Campaign that would force the Germans to seek an armistice.

The Somme River

The Somme is not a larger river, but it is a historical one. The Somme is located in nortern France. The name Somme is derived from the Celtic samara, meaning 'tranquil'. Tis refrs to the flow of the river certainly not its history. It is one of several rivers that flows from the interior of France west into the English Channel. The Somme begins in the hills at Fonsommes, near Saint-Quentin in the Aisne D�partement. This is near Amiens which became famous during World War I. The River flows gently and generally westward for over 150 miles to the Channel. A d�partement is named for it in the ancient province of Picardy. From Amiens, near the headstreams, the Ancre and Avre converge. The Somme follows the floor of what is basically a trench across the chalk country. Beginning with the River�s upper valley there are canals to the Oise and Escaut/Scheldt rivers which connecting with the navigable waterways that link Paris and Flanders. This was vital rade routes in the era before rilways, ut were still important t he time if World War I. The Somme Valley is a marshy belt. This and location creates an important barrier to any army in Flanders to appoach Paris from the north which made it of strategic importance during World War I. The basin of the Somme covers about 2,300 square miles. Below Abbeville the Somme enters a sand-encumbered estuary. This requires constant dredging to keep it navigable. The port of Saint-Val�ry-sur-Somme is located t its mouth.

Historical Battles

Because of its location, the Somme had featured in some of the most important European battles. The invasion fleet of Duke William assembled in the Bay of the Somme at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme (1066). This of course led to the Norman conquest of England. The river featured in the withdrawal of Edward III's English Army which forded the river at the Battle of Blanchetaque. That campaign led to the Battle of Cr�cy (1346), one of the most important medieval battles. Another Engish Army commnded by Henry V crossing the Somme a century later. That campaign led to Battle of Agincourt (1415), another major medeval battle. During the Franco-Prussian War, the Prussians crossed the Somme ter fighting a battle at Amiens (1870).

Trench Line

The upper basin of the Somme was the scene of heavy fighting during World War I, particularly the First Battle of the Somme (July�November 1916). This was because after the Miracle on the Marne (September 1914), the Germans wuthdrew to the north and began building trenches. The Allies did the same. The trenches snaked across northhern France from Switerland to the Sea. And a considerable portion of thetrench line ran through the Somme Valley. As a result, it was inevtanle that balttles would be b=fought to control the Somme.

Conscription

The all volunteer British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was rapidly dispatched to France to stop the German drive through Belgium (August 1914). They did just that. In the First Battle of Ypres (November 22, 1914). By the end of th year after the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Aisne and Ypres, the BEF was essentially destroyed. This is often calld the First British Army. The war had to be continued by a Second Army formed while the battles in Belgium were being fought. The enormous casualties suffered by the British volunteers in 1914 and 15 and difficulties in recruiting more voluteers forced the British to introduce conscription, something that they had not done during the Napoleoic Wars. The British unlike the other World War II combatantants began the War with a volunter army. Parliament passed the Military Service Act (January 1916). A Third British Army was formed after the introduction of conscription. Some of the first draftees had just begun to reach the trenches at the time of the Battle of the Somme. By the end of the War, the British Army had reached its maximum strength of 4 million men and could field over 70 divisions.

First Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916)

The Battle of the Somme is one of the major engagements of the War. The BEF supported by the French attempted to take the German's strong defensive position in the Somme valley. The French convined the Brittish commander Douglas Haig to launch an offensive to relieve the German pressure on the French at Verdun. It was fought on both sides of the upper reaches of Somme. The Battle is primarily remembered for the enormous casualties. The British casualties were horrendous. It is probable that if modern media existed at the time that the War would have endeded at Verdun and the Somme. The British public if they had fully understood what had happened might have demanded an end to the War as the American public did after the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. The same can be said of the French at Verdun. The Somme was a terrible bloodletting. After the Somme there was no longer any illusions in Britain about what war meant. In many ways the Somme was the turning point of the War. It was a massive catastrophe for the British Army. The first day on the Somme was the worst day in the history of the British Army, which suffered 57,470 casualties. By the time the offensive ground to ahalt (November), the British had suffered some 420,000 casualties and the French about 200,000. It is the Brtish casualties that are remembered, but the Germans also took heavy casualties. Here accouts vary, but may have totaled some 465,000 men.

Army Reforms

A major result of the Battle of the Somme was needed reforms in the British Army. British commanders did not have experience commanding mass formations. Britain had an all volunteer army. It was highly professional, but much smaller than the contunental armies. Before the War, the largest formation any serving General in the BEF had commanded on operations was a single division. The expansion of the British Army required rapid promotions of inexperienced officers. And the commanders had to cope with new tactics and battle conditions. Trench warfare was unlike any other battle environment fought by Britain. New weapons such as machine guns required tactical adjustments, basicaly shift from rapid manoevre to static trench warfare. The infantry and the artillery had to learn more closly togther than ever before. The Machine Gun Corps and the Tank Corps were added to the order of battle, adding to the complex forces that had to be coordinated. The Somme was a proving ground for new weapons, tactics and soldiers. It also caused commanders to rethink tactical dictrine and to reform and innovate. Many historians maintain that it was on the Somme battlefield that the British Army learned how to gain the victory it achieved in 1918.

Second Battle of the Somme (late-August - early-September 1918)

The Second Battle of the Somme was fought from late August to early September like the first 1916 Battle in the basin of the River Somme. It began as part of a series of successful counter-offensives against the German Spring Offensive which the Germans planned to win the War after their victory in the East over Russia. Engagements fought in places Villers Bretonneux would stop the Germans. The Allies reinforced by the American Expeditionary Force not only stopped Germans, but forced them on the defensive. The second phase of the battle formed the central part of the Allies' Hundred Days Campaign that that smashed through the iegfried Line leading to the Germans seeking the Armistice. As a result of the British Army reforms after the First Battle of the Somme when the war was decided in 1918, the Germans faced not only a new American Army, but a much more formidable British Army. The British infantry was supported by increasingly effective tanks to spearhead attacks and the Germans had no effective answer to th attacks. Amines straddled the Somme. The Battle of Amiens was the opening phase of the Hundred Days Offensive (August 1918).

Created: 10:19 AM 2/2/2018
Last updated: 9:41 PM 2/2/2018