Somme, Battle of the

Somme, Battle of the (World War I) (1 July–18 Nov. 1916) The bloodiest battle in history, orchestrated by General Haig to relieve pressure on the embattled Allied positions at Verdun. Fighting extended over a twenty-mile front, and the brunt of the offensive was borne by the British. A preliminary eight days' bombardment pounded 52,000 tonnes of ammunition onto the German positions. This loosened the soil to such an extent that heavy rainfall transformed the area into a sea of mud, in which countless soldiers drowned when the attack was ordered on 1 July. Contrary to Haig's calculations, the German positions were not weakened sufficiently by the initial bombardment, so that on the first day of the Allied attack, the British suffered 57,470 casualties, with over 19,000 dead. On that day, the Germans lost just 185 men. Instead of stopping the slaughter there and then, Haig continued the attack. After twenty weeks, around 10 km (6 miles) had been gained, while the Germans held on to the strategically important railway junction of Bapaume. Revisionists have argued that the battle was crucial in that it weakened the German troops, while new forms of warfare were introduced during the battle, particularly tanks, though their success was limited by the difficult terrain. Nevertheless, this hardly justified the slaughter of one million men, 600,000 of which were on the Allied side (400,000 British). This ‘mule-like’ stubbornness earned Haig the sorry reputation of a donkey leading heroes.