Battle of the Somme – A Timeline
On July 1st1916, at precisely 7.30am, a few moments after the simultaneous explosion of several huge mines (“Hawthorn” in Beaumont-Hamel,“Lochnagar” at La Boisselle, “The Tambour” at Fricourt, etc…), and moving close behind the barrage of the Allied artillery, the British and French infantry advanced from their trenches. The French units south of the river attacked two hours later, as a diversionary tactic.
By that evening the French 6th Army under General Fayolle had reached its primary objectives. In the British sector, however, the situation was disastrous. General Allenby’s 3rd Army and General Rawlinson’s 4th Army, consisting of new and inexperienced troops, were shattered on the slopes of Thiepval and Beaumont-Hamel.
On the next day, the number of casualties suffered on July 1st proved to have been appalling: 58.000 men fell, including 20.000 killed. Thirty-two battalions had lost more than 500 men (out of an average strength of 800); the Newfoundlanders lost 700 men in thirty minutes. Never before had Britain and her Empire faced a conflict of such proportions, never before had they suffered a catastrophe on so great a scale. The left wing of the British army lost so many men that Haig briefly abandoned the attack to the west of the Pozières-Thiepval ridge.
July ended with a slow general advance, its uneven progress revealing the varied results of the two armies’ encounters along the line.
Costly and limited attacks were launched in August, the combined French forces gaining control of the 2nd German line but the natural strong-points of Thiepval and Beaumont remained impregnable. The Germans swiftly created a third line of trenches; they were also forced to transfer some of their artillery and aviation forces, and four infantry divisions to the Austro-Hungarian front, a move that defeated their plans for a counter-attack on the Somme.
A fresh general offensive was launched in September, particularly to the east of Pozières. The British launched their first tank attack and finally captured Thiepval. The German front, however, remained unbroken. The third German line, from Gueudecourt to the Somme was captured at the beginning of October, but the British were halted at the Butte de Warlencourt. The French were held at Sailly-Saillissel and in the woods of St Pierre-Vast, where they suffered heavy losses. Beaumont-Hamel did not fall to the British until mid-November, four and a half months after the first launch of the offensive.
Incessant torrential rains turned the ground into a morass in which men, animals and weapons were trapped. The battlefield became a “foul brown mush which swallows everything” (Pierre Loti). The waters overwhelmed the warfare, the armies took to their winter quarters and reformed their units.
The British advance, after four and a half months of battle, was approximately 12 kilometers, and between 5 and 8 kilometers for the less numerous French. Of approximately 3 million men in the line during this period, some 1.2 million were killed, wounded or missing in action, and the Allied objectives set out in December 1915 remained out of reach.