The First Day of the Battle of the Somme - A Day of Carnage and Futility
July 1st 1916 marked the beginning of one of the bloodiest battles in human history - the Battle of the Somme. On this fateful day, the British Army suffered its highest casualty rate in a single day, with over 57,000 men being killed, wounded or missing.
The Battle of the Somme was intended to be the Allies' decisive breakthrough on the Western Front after two years of trench warfare. The British commander, General Douglas Haig, amassed a huge force of over 100,000 men and unleashed an intense week-long artillery barrage on the German lines prior to the infantry assault, believing it would decimate the enemy defences. However, the bombardment was ineffective and the German troops waited safely in deep dugouts underground.
At 7.30am, after a deafening mine explosion, the British troops climbed out of their trenches and began advancing slowly towards the German lines. They were met with a hail of machine gun fire and artillery shells from the intact German defences. The mowed down soldiers crumpled into the mud and barbed wire of No Man's Land in their thousands. Some battalions suffered casualties of over 90% in the very first hour.
The true horror of the Somme offensive was exemplified by the fate of the Newfoundland Regiment. After seeing an earlier attack repelled, the Newfoundlanders tried to advance but got stuck in the British barbed wire. Exposed and bunched together, they were mercilessly gunned down by German machine guns. By the end of the day, they had suffered over 90% casualties with hundreds dead. A whole generation of young men from a small community wiped out in one morning.
The First Day of the Somme highlighted the mismatch between outdated British tactics and modern weaponry. The generals believed that an artillery barrage followed by waves of troops marching slowly in formation would smash the German trenches. However, technologies like the machine gun, which could fire 400 rounds per minute, made traditional frontal assaults suicidal. Attacking soldiers were scythed down in swathes as they tried to cross No Man's Land.
The Somme Offensive continued for four grueling months and resulted in over 1 million casualties on all sides for minimal gain. The First Day set the scene with over 19,000 British soldiers being killed - the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army. These shocking losses were due to the stubbornness and ineptitude of the British High Command, who repeatedly ordered soldiers to march into machine gun fire.
Despite the catastrophic losses suffered by the British battalions on July 1st, the Generals were slow to realize the extent of the failure. They believed the artillery barrage had wiped out the Germans and waves of reinforcements were thrown into the meat grinder. It was a grave error and wasted thousands more lives.
The devastation wrought on the Somme was unimaginable to those back home. The doomed soldiers were lions led by donkeys according to some. New technologies brought untold suffering and one can only imagine the bravery required for soldiers to advance into such destructive firepower. The Battle scarred both the landscape and people's minds. 100 years later, the enormity of the losses on that First Day still beggar belief. It was a day of futility and carnage that should never be forgotten.
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