Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme was a joint British and French offensive against German positions on the Western Front, fought from 1 July to 18 November 1916 along the River Somme in Picardy, France. Planned as a decisive breakthrough and, after the German offensive against Verdun in February 1916, as a means of relieving pressure on the French army, the attack opened after a week-long preliminary artillery bombardment intended to cut German wire and destroy their defenses; it failed to do so along much of the line, and 1 July 1916 became the deadliest single day in British military history, with 57,470 British casualties, including roughly 19,240 dead. The offensive continued for nearly five months, at a combined cost of some 420,000 British Empire, 200,000 French, and at least 450,000 German casualties, for a British advance of about seven miles. Tanks were used in combat for the first time on the Somme, in September 1916, and the tactics and lessons the battle forced, including the creeping artillery barrage, contributed to Allied operational improvements that showed in 1918; the German army's own losses of experienced officers and men there contributed to its strategic withdrawal to the fortified Hindenburg Line early in 1917.