Battle+of+the+Somme

**Battle of Somme Black=Cory purple=Maya **


The British, France, and Germany. (//Cory)// **The French were under the command of Joseph Joffre and the British were under the command of Sir Douglas Haig and the Germans led by Erich von Falkenhayn.** The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest and harshest battles in history with a casualty count exceeding that of 1.5 million. Most remembered for its first day where Brittan suffered 19,240 dead and 38,230 wounded it was one of the costliest battle of WWI whose total death count would only be toped in later years by WWII. //(cory)// ** The British and French had a whole pkan to take down the German troops; but it was a failed attempt. They were going to bomb the German side as well as use a creeping barrage, in hopes that most of them would be dead, so that they would then be able to walk across the land and kill the rest and then claim the territory. **
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This battle took place just North of the Somme River in Picardy France. Which is between Arras and Albert, France. __WHEN__**
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 * This battle lasted from July 1, 1916 to November 18th, of the same year. But the plans and arrangements had taken a year to come up with. The British and French started planning back in 1915. **

**The French Commander in Chief, Joseph Joffre, was the one that wanted to go with the tactic of attrition (wearing down of troops) of the Germans. It was then approved by the British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig. They felt as if wearing down the Germans would be best; it would make it mush easier ot take them over. Claiming land and terrritory, was just secondary to them.**
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The offensive started 7:30 A.M., July first 1916 with artillery barrages and bombardments for around the time of seven days, the British having fired 1.7 million shells from 1500 cannons on the Germans. Despite one of the largest artillery barrage seen by the world at the time, a large percentage of the German soldiers had been able to survive in deep bunkers and then used their fortified position to tear and rip through the venerable foot solders advancing with 70 pounds of supplies on their backs. **The British and French's many bombardments were not even affective enough to break through the German barbed wire fences.** **After the failed bombings, the Germans were able to effectively use theie machine guns from their trenches and bunkers to take out many of the British and French troops. This mostly happened when they walked out into the open, thinking their bombings were sucessful.** Such weapons as mines the largest of which had an exsplosive power of 20 metric tons were also heavily used, many weapons such as the tank also made their first battlefield appearance in the Battle of Somme. ** The tank played a big part during it's appearance because, while German's were still able to take them over, some tanks were able to clear out enemy troops, and reinforce other lacking ally troops. ** The first day of the battle having been the most brutal and assault packed, after that point the battle consisted of small offensives with each side trying to conserve as much resources and men as possible. **The German general, Erich von Falkenhayn thought that the French, much less the British would be fighting again, that they would be playing a more defense battle because of the many deaths from the first day. But, with the small offensive battles that they fought, slowly but surely they were able to defeat their enemies and reach their goals.** it was not until the end of the war that this battle ended. //(cory)//  this was one of the most important battles of WWI because it was a terrible tole on both the Germans and the Brittish it lost the war for Russia. The troops and resources that were committed to the battle would have been much more effective if used to reinforce the Russian front and could have delayed or even prevented their retreat which had much to do with the Russian change in government and the war's eventual end in a stalemate. Aforementioned weapons such as the tank evolved into some of the most influential weapons of war in their later lives playing intigral roles in such conflicts as WWII and the Gulf War. //(cory)//
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"First World War.com - Battles - The Battle of the Somme, 1916." __First World War.com - A multimedia history of World War One__. 22 Mar. 2009 .

they, June the French were in a desperate situation. As a result. "The Battle of the Somme." __Ramsdale Family Register: genealogical research and worldwide__. 22 Mar. 2009 .