Battle of Somme

WORLD WAR 1:
-Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by Serbian
nationalist, Gavrilo Princip.
-Mutual Defense Alliances entered into by different countries.
-Russia and Serbia
-Germany and Austria-Hungary
-France and Russia
-Britain, France, and Belgium
-Japan and Britain

USE OF AIRCRAFTS
-the idea of airplanes had not yet reached the ability to fight wars.
Since it is a fresh concept, the use of airplanes is still limited to aerial
reconnaissance and photographs.
-development of Vickers FB5 Biplace Pusher

The WESTERN FRONT

-it is a 475-mile long front which became the stage for the most
famous and known battles of World War 1
-the battles in Western Front resulted in millions of casualties and
economic implications to both Allied and Central powers
TRENCH WARFARE
-the lethality of artillery and machine guns forced both forces to
construct trenches to defend themselves, resulting in months of being
deadlock at the Western Point
-trenches were connected through communication trenches that
resulted in a complex system of trenches with dugouts.

USE OF TANKS
-first introduced in this battle

BATTLE OF VERDUM
-with the increasing number of Allied Forces, the German Chief of
Staff, Erich Von Falkenhayn wanted to destroy the French forces before
the combined with the British forces.

-France eager to defend one of its landmarks, dedicated

-Somme offensive was put into action to lessen the pressure

experienced by French forces at the City of Verdum

THE SOMME OFFENSIVE

-the Allied Forces were eager to break the deadlock at the
BATTLE OF SOMME
-north to south of France
-July 1-November 18 1916

ALLIED FORCES (France and Britain)

-GENERAL SIR DOUGLAS HAIG – bold and hasty
-Lord Kitchener’s Pal Battalion
-Characteristics of Troops: Newly recruited, overconfident, and high
morale
-Use of tanks, airplanes, and artillery shells bombardment
-2 allied infantry division and 16 British infantry division
-Communication: Messengers, flag signals, light signals, and even
homing pigeon. (not effective)

GERMANY:
-Chief of the German General Staff, Erich Von Falkenhayn – Cautious
nature and Highly Skilled
-Germany Army is composed and characterized as Veterans, well-
trained, and tactical
-Tactical use of trenches - fire, support and reserve trenches
connected through Communication Trenches and with thick belts of
barbed wire
-10 meters deep dug outs and telephone lines buried 6 feet deep.
TABLE:
July 1 1916

Bombardment:
Continuous seven-day preliminary artillery shells bombardment of the
Allied Forces to destroy the defense and artilleries of German Army
(1.6 Million shells)

Fog of War
-7-7:30: mines detonated and bombardment of artillery shells
-Sir Henry Rawlinson
-18 allied infantry divisions
-2 of which was a diversionary attack at Gommencourt

North
-3 places

Casualty:
FRENCH : 12 000
BRITISH : 57 000
GERMAN : 12 000

RESULT OF THE BATTLE:

- Four months intense battle (November 18 1916 – winter)
- Advanced 10 miles at a cost of
o German : 450 000 Casualty
o French: 200 000 Casualty
o British: 430 000 Casualty
- Inflicted serious damage to German strong position on France
spurring Germans to retreat to Hinderburg line

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
-with millions of total casualties from both sides, the Battle of Somme
showed the challenges brought by trench warfare
-without more developed technology, the forces involved had to rely
on armed men, bravery, and prayers
-“the lethality of weapons only resulted in shorter wars and more
casualties”
-The Battle of Somme, and WW1 in general, is one of history’s events
that showed to the global community the violence, destruction, and
effected caused by wars
-Also, battles like this

Decisive or not?
-decisive as it led to the weakening of the German forces
-led the Germans to take a gamble of focusing on submarine warfare
which, after the sinking of numerous American merchant and
passenger ships, made the United States join WW1.

Things that could have possibly changed the outcome of the battle
-Commanders realizing that the week-long artillery bombardment is
not effective
-development of a better logistics plan to support the soldiers giving
them the advantage of speed and mobility
-delaying the execution of the offensive to give time for new recruits to
train more and for tanks to be developed
-Germany winning the Battle of Verdum

TABLE: WHAT WENT WRONG/RIGHT

CONCLUSION:
-the Allied’s Pals Battalions are confident and with overflowing morale
yet inexperienced. On the other hand, German soldiers are veterans….
-allied forces are heavily reliant on aircraft to send instructions
-winter became a challenge for both forces and even forced
commanders to halt the…
-both sides have tried to develop technology that would give them
advantage
-AF relied on aerial photographs; Germans utilized…