Battle Of The Somme 57 Photos Of World War I S Bloodiest Conflict

In what would be one of the deadliest battles in human history, a million soldiers lost their lives at the Battle of the Somme as the British and French tried to unsuccessfully hasten the end of World War 1.

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1 of 53The French cavalry cross a swollen stream on the battle front.Ullstein Bild/Getty Images 2 of 53A 12-horse team pulls a big gun with the help of the gun’s crew.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 3 of 53A regiment of famous alpine cyclists occupy a garrison.Paul Thompson/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images 4 of 53A huge shell of ammuntion weighing in at 1,400 pounds.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 5 of 53Soldiers rest during the opening hours of the battle.Royal Engineers No 1 Printing Company/IWM/Getty Images 6 of 53A troop of British cavalry pass the remains of the Albert Cathedral during the second Battle of the Somme. Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Getty Images 7 of 53Canadian troops with fixed bayonets leave their trenches for a raid.Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 8 of 53A man builds barbed wire defenses.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 9 of 53British troops climb from their trench on the first day of the battle.Morgan-Wells/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 10 of 53Allied soldiers rest between active duty.Archive Photos/Getty Images 11 of 53The British air force, the Royal Flying Corps, was also involved in the battle and lost 800 aircraft. 252 aircrew were killed.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 12 of 53British troops rest in a captured German trench.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 13 of 53A telephonist killed at his post.Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 14 of 53Four photographs that document the facial reconstruction of a soldier whose cheek was extensively wounded during the Battle of the Somme.SSPL/Getty Images 15 of 53A Red Cross flag is affixed to a tree. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 16 of 53A six-inch howitzer hauled through the mud.Lt. Ernest Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images 17 of 53A parade of the walking wounded.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 18 of 53Wounded men wait to be taken away to a clearing station.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 19 of 53British gunners busily put over a curtain barrage. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 20 of 53King George V converses with wounded officers.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 21 of 53A monkey mascot lounges on the back of a horse.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 22 of 53The church bells of Montauban, France.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 23 of 53Australian troops return from the trenches with their mascot, a little white dog.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 24 of 53A sentry in the trenches looking through an improvised periscope.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 25 of 53The average soldier had to carry 66 pounds of equipment. Photo12/UIG/Getty Images 26 of 53German prisoners brought in from Contalmaison.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 27 of 53French statesman Georges Eugene Benjamin Clemenceau rests in a ruined village during a visit to the Somme front. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 28 of 53Roll call of the 1st Battalion.Lt. E Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images 29 of 53J.R.R. Tolkein came down with fever during battle and sat much of it out.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 30 of 53Canadian troops in a trench prepare their rifles with bayonets.Hulton Archive/Getty Images 31 of 53German troops outside their dugouts on the Somme. Hulton Archive/Getty Images 32 of 5390 percent of the battalion from Newfoundland, Canada, died on the opening day of battle.The Print Collector/Getty Images 33 of 53German machine-gun emplacement destroyed by British artillery fire.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 34 of 53Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps.General Photographic Agency/Getty Images 35 of 53On the first day of battle alone, nearly 20,000 men died.Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images 36 of 53Some 400,000 British military men were declared killed or missing by the end of the battle.Press Illustrating Service/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images 37 of 53German troops with Lewis gun equipment. Robert Hunt/Windmill Books/UIG/Getty Images 38 of 53German soldiers phone from the battlefield. Photo12/UIG/Getty Images 39 of 53A captured German railway carriage.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 40 of 53The battle suspended on Nov. 19, 1916, due to weather.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis/Getty Images 41 of 53A message chalked on the shell by one of the gunners. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 42 of 5360 percent of British soldiers involved in the first day of battle died.Lt. E Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images 43 of 53British soldiers rescue a comrade under fire. Geoffrey Malins/IWM/Getty Images 44 of 53Men of the Border Regiment rest in shallow dugouts.Lt. Ernest Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images 45 of 53Whole towns around the Somme were depopulated by the onslaught of chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas attacks.The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images 46 of 53A German cannon buried under uprooted trees.Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 47 of 53Three eight-inch howitzers fire in battle.Lt. J W Brooke/IWM/Getty Images 48 of 53The British Tank Mark I fought for the first time in Somme. The tanks were still new technology and maxed out at four miles per hour.Photo 12/UIG/Getty Images 49 of 53One-third of the soldiers who fought in the battle were either wounded or killed.Lt. J W Brooke/IWM/Getty Images 50 of 53One of the bloodiest battles in human history, the fight lasted a grueling 141 days.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 51 of 53World War I emergency services: stretcher cases lie beside the road with an ambulance.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 52 of 53One German officer wrote of the battle, “Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word.”

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57 Haunting Photos From The Blood-Ridden Trenches Of The Somme View Gallery

By the end of 1915, World War I had consumed the globe for nearly one and a half years. Most of that time was spent in a stalemate between enemies. The long and deadly gridlock had prompted leaders from the allied nations to come together for several conferences to coordinate their efforts and work together to finally end the war and defeat the Germans.

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Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 53 of 53Like this gallery?Share it:

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44 Bloody Photos From The Trenches Of Verdun, Modern History’s Longest Battle

‘The War To End All Wars’: 31 Haunting Photos From World War I

‘A Harvest Of Death’: 33 Haunting Photos Of The Battle Of Gettysburg

Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 53 of 53Like this gallery?Share it:

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44 Bloody Photos From The Trenches Of Verdun, Modern History’s Longest Battle

‘The War To End All Wars’: 31 Haunting Photos From World War I

‘A Harvest Of Death’: 33 Haunting Photos Of The Battle Of Gettysburg

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Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images 53 of 53Like this gallery?Share it:

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1 of 53The French cavalry cross a swollen stream on the battle front.Ullstein Bild/Getty Images

2 of 53A 12-horse team pulls a big gun with the help of the gun’s crew.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

3 of 53A regiment of famous alpine cyclists occupy a garrison.Paul Thompson/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images

4 of 53A huge shell of ammuntion weighing in at 1,400 pounds.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

5 of 53Soldiers rest during the opening hours of the battle.Royal Engineers No 1 Printing Company/IWM/Getty Images

6 of 53A troop of British cavalry pass the remains of the Albert Cathedral during the second Battle of the Somme. Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis/Getty Images

7 of 53Canadian troops with fixed bayonets leave their trenches for a raid.Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

8 of 53A man builds barbed wire defenses.Hulton Archive/Getty Images

9 of 53British troops climb from their trench on the first day of the battle.Morgan-Wells/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

10 of 53Allied soldiers rest between active duty.Archive Photos/Getty Images

11 of 53The British air force, the Royal Flying Corps, was also involved in the battle and lost 800 aircraft. 252 aircrew were killed.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

12 of 53British troops rest in a captured German trench.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

13 of 53A telephonist killed at his post.Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

14 of 53Four photographs that document the facial reconstruction of a soldier whose cheek was extensively wounded during the Battle of the Somme.SSPL/Getty Images

15 of 53A Red Cross flag is affixed to a tree. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

16 of 53A six-inch howitzer hauled through the mud.Lt. Ernest Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images

17 of 53A parade of the walking wounded.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

18 of 53Wounded men wait to be taken away to a clearing station.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

19 of 53British gunners busily put over a curtain barrage. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

20 of 53King George V converses with wounded officers.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

21 of 53A monkey mascot lounges on the back of a horse.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

22 of 53The church bells of Montauban, France.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

23 of 53Australian troops return from the trenches with their mascot, a little white dog.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

24 of 53A sentry in the trenches looking through an improvised periscope.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

25 of 53The average soldier had to carry 66 pounds of equipment. Photo12/UIG/Getty Images

26 of 53German prisoners brought in from Contalmaison.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

27 of 53French statesman Georges Eugene Benjamin Clemenceau rests in a ruined village during a visit to the Somme front. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

28 of 53Roll call of the 1st Battalion.Lt. E Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images

29 of 53J.R.R. Tolkein came down with fever during battle and sat much of it out.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

30 of 53Canadian troops in a trench prepare their rifles with bayonets.Hulton Archive/Getty Images

31 of 53German troops outside their dugouts on the Somme. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

32 of 5390 percent of the battalion from Newfoundland, Canada, died on the opening day of battle.The Print Collector/Getty Images

33 of 53German machine-gun emplacement destroyed by British artillery fire.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

34 of 53Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps.General Photographic Agency/Getty Images

35 of 53On the first day of battle alone, nearly 20,000 men died.Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images

36 of 53Some 400,000 British military men were declared killed or missing by the end of the battle.Press Illustrating Service/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images

37 of 53German troops with Lewis gun equipment. Robert Hunt/Windmill Books/UIG/Getty Images

38 of 53German soldiers phone from the battlefield. Photo12/UIG/Getty Images

39 of 53A captured German railway carriage.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

40 of 53The battle suspended on Nov. 19, 1916, due to weather.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis/Getty Images

41 of 53A message chalked on the shell by one of the gunners. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

42 of 5360 percent of British soldiers involved in the first day of battle died.Lt. E Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images

43 of 53British soldiers rescue a comrade under fire. Geoffrey Malins/IWM/Getty Images

44 of 53Men of the Border Regiment rest in shallow dugouts.Lt. Ernest Brooks/ IWM/Getty Images

45 of 53Whole towns around the Somme were depopulated by the onslaught of chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas attacks.The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images

46 of 53A German cannon buried under uprooted trees.Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

47 of 53Three eight-inch howitzers fire in battle.Lt. J W Brooke/IWM/Getty Images

48 of 53The British Tank Mark I fought for the first time in Somme. The tanks were still new technology and maxed out at four miles per hour.Photo 12/UIG/Getty Images

49 of 53One-third of the soldiers who fought in the battle were either wounded or killed.Lt. J W Brooke/IWM/Getty Images

50 of 53One of the bloodiest battles in human history, the fight lasted a grueling 141 days.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

51 of 53World War I emergency services: stretcher cases lie beside the road with an ambulance.Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

52 of 53One German officer wrote of the battle, “Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word.”

Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

53 of 53Like this gallery?Share it:

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57 Haunting Photos From The Blood-Ridden Trenches Of The Somme View Gallery

57 Haunting Photos From The Blood-Ridden Trenches Of The Somme

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Then in July of 1916, British General Sir Douglas Haig joined forces with French commander General Joseph Joffre to launch a major Franco-British combined counter-offensive known as the Battle of the Somme with the hopes of retaking lost ground.

The Somme offensive lasted for four months and would become both one of the brightest and darkest times in British military history. By the end of the battle, more than one million soldiers would be killed or wounded from the fight and the British would ultimately fail to make much ground, but it would at least spell the beginning of the end to the Great War.

Leading Up To The Battle Of The Somme

Robert Hunt Library/Windmill Books/UIG via Getty images

British General Sir Douglas Haig, who was in command of the British Expeditionary Force, launched the joint British and French attack on the Somme river months ahead of his preferred plan because of the precarious state of the French army at Verdun. By some accounts, Haig had preferred not to attack on the Somme at all but instead planned to attack in Flanders later in the same year.

But because of France’s heavy losses strategies had to be changed. Even with the revised strategy, Haig had wanted to wait until the end of summer to begin his efforts in the battle of the Somme and give his forces more time to train and prepare. But the situation at Verdun, which stretched over 10 months, was dire.

In his personal papers, Haig wrote about the pleas for help he had received from France’s General Joseph Joffre.

“The French had supported for three months alone the whole weight of the German attacks at Verdun… If this went on, the French Army would be ruined. [Joffre] therefore, was of the opinion that the 1st July was the latest date for the combined offensive of the British and French,” the British general noted.

French General Joffre had even allegedly shouted at the British officials during a joint meeting, that “the French Army would cease to exist” under their losses at Verdun if much more time passed without receiving help.

Some visual facts about the Battle of the Somme.

After much discussion and pressure from French leaders, it was agreed that July 1, 1916, would be the key date to launch a combined attack of British and French forces against the Germans in the battle of the Somme.

Some visual facts about the Battle of the Somme.

The downside to the planned Somme attack, which was going ahead much earlier than Haig had anticipated, was that the British troops he took into battle were hardly trained.

Compared to France’s troops, which underwent compulsory service requirements prior to the war, England’s soldiers were amateurs. But what they lacked in combat training they made up for in numbers. As late as 1914, the British army stood at about 250,000 soldiers. By the time the Somme offensive kicked off, the number of British troops in battle had swelled to over 1.5 million.

An interesting fact about the battle of the Somme is that the British army consisted of a mix of trained soldiers combined with entirely volunteer units. Some of these voluntary troops were assembled in the so-called “Pal’s Battalions,” in which groups of friends from the same town or region would enlist, train, and fight together. This approach was key to rapidly grow the British military.

In addition to British forces from the United Kingdom itself, the combined effort in northern France that converged on the Somme included units from across the broader British empire, namely from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and India.

The Bloodiest Battle In The Great War

PA Images/Getty ImagesBritish infantrymen on the march.

July 1, 1916, remains the single bloodiest day in the entire history of the British armed forces. It was the day that the battle of the Somme was launched by the Somme river in France from the combined forces of Britain and France.

The conflict began with a heavy pour of gunfire. Artillery rained on the Germans relentlessly until precisely 7:30 a.m. — the hour set for the Franco-British attack.

Then, the heavy guns shifted their ranges to fire further back into German territory and 100,000 men from General Lord Rawlinson’s Fourth Army went “over the top” of their trenches to cross the territory to the German front line, which they believed would surely be crushed by the week-long artillery barrage.

But the Germans, now seasoned in their defensive tactics, had dug in deep. Their lines were strengthened by underground bunkers that the allies believed would be crushed by the artillery, but many of the bunkers held and the Germans were ready to fight.

When the artillery changed targets and the infantry rush began, German machine gunners were still alive and ready to receive the attack.

Scenes of carnage from the battle of the Somme.

While a few Franco-British units reached their objectives, particularly the more veteran French units, as a whole the army could not advance much and the units that did advance further found themselves isolated. The bloodiest day in British military history gained an extra three square miles of land for the allied forces.

Scenes of carnage from the battle of the Somme.

Historians record that after the first day of the battle of the Somme, many British commanders were horrified by the losses and intended to abandon the attack. But Haig, with the impending destruction of the French army at Verdun in his mind, felt that the effort had to continue.

Britain could not win the war alone and the urgent pleas from Joffre and French Generals Petain and Nivelle who were mired in Verdun made it clear that France would be lost if the Germans were able to concentrate all their strength there.

By the end of the first day at Somme, 57,000 British soldiers had become casualties of war while 19,240 were dead — a shocking loss of nearly 60 percent of the attacking force.

Facts About The Battle Of The Somme: The Death Toll

ullstein bild/Getty ImagesFrench forces at the Somme.

The British suffered approximately 420,000 casualties—including 125,000 deaths, while French casualties numbered about 200,000 and for the German army about 500,000.

One important fact about the battle of the Somme is that major new technologies were introduced here, including the first use ever of tanks in combat.

The riverfront battle also marked the first American death of World War I, although the U.S. would not join the war until much later in 1917. Harry Butters who was killed by artillery at the Somme, left America and joined the fight on his own, joining the British Army and serving as a line officer there.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself had heard the story of Butters and invited the young lieutenant for a personal dinner inside his bunker, where Butters confessed that he had joined the war by lying about his place of birth and pretending to be British born so that he could join.

Churchill later wrote a memorial to Butters in the London Observer: “We realize his nobility in coming to the help of another country entirely of his own free will.”

For all the bloodshed of the campaign, the maximum advance of the Franco-British forces during the fight was no more than six miles into German territory. The conflict ended without a clear victory as did so many battles during that war, and the commanders, particularly General Haig, would go down in history with controversial reputations.

After four grueling months of battle, the British and French successfully claimed victory.

After the war, many questioned the decisions that were made by commanders like Haig which led to the worst blood bath of British soldiers during the battle of the Somme.

After four grueling months of battle, the British and French successfully claimed victory.

The battle at the Somme ended simply after Haig had decided that his troops had seen enough action and called a cease-fire to any further attacks in the area. The Germans, equally exhausted and devastated by heavy casualties, did not pursue.

When it comes down to it, however, German forces were halted. The battle of the Somme had severely depleted British forces but it also put a heavy toll on German units and resources, much of which had been detracted from their troops at Verdun.

Most importantly, the Somme campaign had at least succeeded in saving what was left of the French army in the south.

The surviving British soldiers emerged as hardened veterans with a new understanding of the technologies of modern war and the tactics to put to use towards eventually winning the war two years later.

In this regard, while the cost was enormous and the outcome far from glorious, the battle of the Somme is remembered by some historians as possibly the most substantial and important “victory” ever accomplished by a British-led coalition of armies.

Notable Fighters At The Somme

Robert Hunt Library/Windmill Books/UIG/Getty imagesSoldiers at the Battle of Somme.

While the Battle of the Somme was one of the largest and most iconic of the Great War, among the hundreds of thousands who fought there were some whose fame or infamy outlasted the battle.

Anne Frank, the young Holocaust victim whose diary outlived her, is known across the world now for her journal, which described in harrowing detail life as a Jew in Nazi-controlled Germany. What is less known is that her father Otto Frank fought for the German army in World War I and took part in the Battle of the Somme.

Frank was drafted into the German Army in 1915 and served on the Western Front and eventually received a promotion to Lieutenant. Frank then fought on the same side as another young German soldier whose name will forever be linked to the Frank family’s memory: Corporal Adolf Hitler — who was injured during the battle.

The stark violence at the Battle of the Somme also left its mark on literary giant J.R.R. Tolkien. Another interesting fact about the battle of the Somme is that a few experts believe that memories of the war-ravaged battlefields there were crucial in the creation of Tolkien’s legendary Lord of the Rings epic.

In fact, drafts of his literary masterpiece were written “by candle light in bell-tents, even some down in dugouts under shell fire.”

Tolkien served for four months as a battalion signals officer with the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers in Picardy, France. Inspired by the heroism he saw among his comrades on the battlefield, the New York Times wrote that the Hobbits in his books were “a reflection of the English soldier,” made small of stature to emphasize “the amazing and unexpected heroism of ordinary men ‘at a pinch.’”

A lot of lives were lost during the fight on the Somme, but their sacrifices will continue to be remembered long after they have gone.

Now that you’ve taken a look at these photos and facts about the Battle of the Somme, read about the battle of the Alamo. Then, discover 31 remarkable photos from the World War I trenches.

In what would be one of the deadliest battles in human history, a million soldiers lost their lives at the Battle of the Somme as the British and French tried to unsuccessfully hasten the end of World War 1.#

Leading Up To The Battle Of The Somme#

The Bloodiest Battle In The Great War#

Facts About The Battle Of The Somme: The Death Toll#

Notable Fighters At The Somme#

In what would be one of the deadliest battles in human history, a million soldiers lost their lives at the Battle of the Somme as the British and French tried to unsuccessfully hasten the end of World War 1.

Leading Up To The Battle Of The Somme

The Bloodiest Battle In The Great War

Facts About The Battle Of The Somme: The Death Toll

Notable Fighters At The Somme