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Trench Warfare at the Battle of the Somme
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Futility of Trench Warfare at the Battle of the Somme

by Andrew Curry

Battle of the Somme

Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest single battle in history.

It was too late to change course. At precisely 7:30 in the morning on July 1, whistles blew along the British front lines, which stretched more than 12 miles. In unison, infantry soldiers loaded with more than 70 pounds of clothing and equipment clambered out of their trenches and set out at a walk across no-man's-land in neat, orderly lines. They were tangled in barbed wire or cut down by withering machine-gun fire before they could come close to the German trenches. The toll was devastating: 19,240 men died in a single day. The British officer corps, expected to lead their men "over the top," suffered especially high losses.

The Battle of the Somme dragged on inconclusively for another five months. By the time winter set in, the British had gained two miles of ground - and lost 420,000 young men. Almost nothing was accomplished, and a total of about 1.5 million French, British and German soldiers were killed or wounded. The Somme defined the futility of trench warfare. It was the bloodiest single battle in history.

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