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Some great sources and links to get you started

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Some great sources and links to get you started

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Use these questions to help you research this section:

What weapons and technology were used in this battle?

What strategies did each side use to try to win?

How did commanders organize their troops and attacks?

Were there any major mistakes or failures in tactics?

What does a map of this battle show about how it was fought?

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Use these questions to help you research this section:

What were the living conditions like for soldiers in the trenches?

How did weather and terrain impact the battle?

What types of diseases and medical issues affected soldiers?

What emotions might soldiers have felt while waiting for battle?

What were the biggest dangers soldiers faced daily?

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Use these questions to help you research this section:

Can you find a letter, diary entry, or quote from a soldier in this battle?

What do personal stories tell us that official reports do not?

How did soldiers describe their emotions and experiences?

Were there any New Zealand soldiers with remarkable stories in this battle?

How did soldiers remember this battle after it was over?

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Use these questions to help you research this section:

Who "won" the battle? Did it achieve its goal?

How many casualties (deaths and injuries) were there?

How did this battle change the war?

How did people at home (NZ and elsewhere) react to this battle?

What lessons were learned from this battle?

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In addition to this summary, there are lots of resources on this website including articles, photos, and firsthand accounts of the battle. Search for "Somme" in the search function to find more.

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At 7:30 a.m. on the 1st of July 1916, whistles rang out across Allied lines near the River Somme in Northern France. Thousands of men clambered out of their trenches and slowly began to advance towards German lines. Allied artillery had been pounding the German defences for a week hoping to cut their barbed wire, destroy their dugouts, and provide a long-awaited breakthrough on the western front. But there was a problem. The Germans were dug in deep and many of the British shells were either duds which failed to explode or shrapnel shells which did little to no damage. Allied soldiers anticipated limited resistance, but when the barrage lifted German machine gunners emerged from their intact shelters and mowed down the oncoming British infantry in their thousands.

That first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest day in British military history with over 57,000 casualties. For many people the story of the Somme ends there with unmitigated disaster, but the battle was by no means over. Britain would go on to take another 360,000 casualties the French over 200,000 and the Germans over 500,000 in a fight which would come to define First World War. If you truly want to understand the Battle of the Somme, you need to look at the fighting beyond the first day.

Before we do that though, a reminder to subscribe to the Imperial War Museums YouTube channel for more videos just like this every two weeks.

Of course, the Battle of the Somme is not just the first of July 1916. There's 142 days of action on the Somme and the rest of the battle is not like the first day. Had it been like the first day the British army would almost ceased to have existed.

To understand the rest of the battle, we first need to understand why the battle was being fought in the first place. 1916 was set to be a big year for the Allies with planned offensives on the Western, Eastern, Italian, and Balkan fronts.

Well, initially the Somme is supposed to be a French-led campaign, so the French army under Joffre have decided to fight on the Somme because at the Somme River the British and French armies meet. Haig however wants really to fight in Flanders, but that doesn't cut any ice with the French and the French are the senior partner here so the French drive allied strategy.

But when the Germans attacked at Verdun in February the French army was sucked in to defend it which changed the allied plans.

What happens is that switches the emphasis to the Battle of Somme to be primarily a British-led offensive. Haig, he wants to attack in the middle of August because by that time he'd have trained his army. Joffre says 'No way we cannot wait for this. We need to attack by the 1st of July at the latest'. So, Haig is now fighting a major battle on ground not of his own choosing and at a time not of his own choosing.

The Somme simply had to be fought. Mainly to take pressure off the French, but also to start wearing down the German army as part of grand allied strategy. This in part explains the disaster of the first day, but more importantly, it explains why fighting continued after that point despite British unpreparedness.

The British army is just not really ready for this battle. From Haig down people lack experience. It's almost like turning a corner shop into Sainsbury's overnight. Where have you got the experience at all levels to run that organization and to make that organization function properly? You haven't, you have to learn. You have to learn on a job and unfortunately learning on the job at war fighting a major battle means you are going to take casualties unfortunately.

Remember this is not the British army of old. It's primarily made up of Kitchener's volunteers who signed up in 1914 and alongside them are troops of the Empire Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Indians and West Indians all played their part on the Somme.

Australians famously at Poziers, they actually lose as many men at Poziers as they did in the Gallipoli campaign. There are also Indian cavalry. Indian cavalry make an attack and charge German machine guns near High Wood relatively successfully but there's no breakthrough. Behind the lines are men of the British West Indies Regiment. Unfortunately, not allowed to fight on the Western Front but they were doing great logistical work moving that ammunition forward for the artillery to keep the guns in action, digging trenches dugouts, forming camps for the men coming out in and out of the line, really important contribution from them as well.

So what was the situation like after the first day? Well, these were the Allied objectives on that day and this is where they actually got to after two weeks. North of the Roman road from Albert to Bapaume it had been a disaster, south of the road there had been some progress made, but the only places of real success were where the British could make use of French heavy guns and in fact below the river Somme French troops had done brilliantly, exceeding their objectives and exposing the clear differences between themselves and the green British army.

The next phase of the operation was focused south of the Roman road in an attempt to capitalize on previous half-successes. Repeated attempts to break through the German lines were made as the British took Bazentin, Longeuval and eventually Delville Wood. When that sector started to get bogged down in late August, the focus moved north of the road to the high ground around Thiepval and the heavily fortified Schwaben Redoubt. The fighting was brutal in places and the Germans did not give any ground often staying in their positions for weeks unable to be relieved. But throughout their time the British army was learning how to fight a modern war.

I mean even on the first day, 18th division, their divisional commander actually gets them to go into no man's land at night lie down in no man's stand lightly equipped and as soon as the barrage lifts at zero-hour rush across no man's land and take those German trenches. That works, they get in there and capture those trenches. They also move troops up at night and start to launch attacks at night that happens in the middle of July into August/September.

These experimentations were not army-wide. It was often divisional or core level commanders trying new things and learning on the job. Likewise, artillery tactics were also developing.

Even if you've got a lot of artillery, if you spread it over a lot of targets it's not going to crush any of your targets. So the idea is you attack a smaller portion of the line so you can group your artillery together, hit fewer targets, but it means more shells per yard of battlefield so you're hitting those positions harder and harder.

One of the most famous instances of this experimentation came on the 15th of September when tanks were used for the first time at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.

If you want to find out more about those tanks, I've linked our video on that in the description.

Because it's a new weapon a lot of the Germans absolutely freak out on the battlefield and abandon some of their positions. The big problem is only 36 tanks get to the start lines because mechanically they're very unreliable and by the end of that day there's really none left to use in subsequent days. All of these things are tried and the British army is on a learning curve through the Somme. There are going to be more big battles, more heavy casualties, but these are the seeds of battlefield success in 1918.

As the weather deteriorated into sleet and snow the final part of the battle in October and November was an attempt to bite off a few more German positions. The village of Beaumont Hamel, an objective on the first day of the battle, was finally taken in mid-November bringing the fight to a close. The British army had advanced a maximum of seven miles, but they'd learned a lot in that time and they had taken an important chunk out of the German army.

If you look at the German casualties alongside Verdun the Germans lose about 1,500,000 men in 1916. And in fact, if we look at what the Germans do in 1917, firstly they retreat to the Hindenburg Line because they just don't have the manpower left now really to hold the front line securely, the other thing they do of course is they go for unrestricted submarine warfare. The reason they risk doing that and potentially risk bringing America into the war is they cannot take another Somme battle and both Hindenburg and Ludendorff say we are doing this to prevent more Somme fighting, so the Somme is the key thing in the German army.

For the Allies though the heavy casualties did take their toll back home. Many towns and villages were forever changed as so-called 'Pals battalions', made up of people from the same area or profession, concentrated the losses in particular areas.

So, some of these towns are absolutely decimated by the Somme, almost everybody knows somebody if they haven't had a casualty themselves, they know somebody who has and it's normally somebody they personally know. They don't recruit Pals battalions after this it's just not worth it really.

Despite those casualties though, on the first day and beyond, the British soldiers and the British people remained entirely behind the war effort. This was in part thanks to propaganda films like the Battle of the Somme, a feature-length documentary shot within the trenches.

The Battle of Somme film was released really within weeks of the battle starting and it's seen by millions of people in Britain and people flock to this because it's their first chance to see something of what it is like to be a soldier on the Western Front. And of course that film the Battle of the Somme is one of the gems of the IWM collection.

Since then though the British public has started to have a different view of the events on the Somme. For many people it's an example of the so-called 'lions led by donkeys', generals who didn't care about the deaths of their own men. Although the horrendous losses on the first day of the Somme have never been surpassed, since the 1970s academics have started to form a different view of the battle.

Okay, we don't have a successful decisive breakthrough as Haig was hoping but unfortunately, if you want to defeat the main enemy in the main theatre of war you have to wear down his ability to fight. That means both sides are going to take heavy casualties. We've just got this fixation with that first day and those 57,000 casualties and we really need to look at the other 141 days of this battle which will lead, ultimately, to Allied victory in 1918.

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The Battle of the Somme (1 July - 18 November 1916) was a joint operation between British and French forces intended to achieve a decisive victory over the Germans on the Western Front. For many in Britain, the resulting battle remains the most painful and infamous episode of the First World War.

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One of many (many!) resources on the BBC if you do a bit of searching...

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What was life like on the front line in World War One? - World War One - KS3 History - homework help for year 7, 8 and 9. - BBC Bitesize

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Find out about life on the front line in World War One with BBC Bitesize History. For students between the ages of 11 and 14.

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A collection of articles and multimedia content reflecting on the battle's centenary (1916-2016).

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ne hundred years ago today remains the worst day in British army history, as 19,240 soldiers lost their lives on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Guardian readers have been sharing wartime letters, diaries and photographs passed on to them by relatives or friends who were involved. From young recruits to a nurse and a chaplain here are some of their stories about the Somme.

The 19-year-old barman and Lancashire clerk who died on the first day

Born in 1897 in Plaistow, Essex, Pte Charles John Harvey was in the No 1 section, 64th company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry). He had three sibings and worked as a barman before he enlisted. Charles was killed during the advance on the village of Fricourt on 1 July.

His last letter home was written four days before he died:

Dear Mother and Dad,

I now take the pleasure of writing to you hoping the letter will find you in the best of health as it leaves me at the time of writing. Also to let you know that I have just got your letter with the birthday cards and I thank you very much for them - they both have very good tokens on them and are very pretty. I will look after them and each time I look at them will remind me of the first birthday I have ever had away from my home. But I am living in great hope that by next June 1917 I will be with you all at home and enjoying myself.

Well I am very pleased to hear that you are getting on a bit better and that Dad is at work again, and I must say that i am getting on with the life well. I think I shall soon be a regular pipe smoker which will be better for my chest as you know I am very short winded and it's a great trouble to me out here. I would be glad if I could get my wind back again. Well I am quite satisfied with the cards and I won't forget that home and Mother and Dad are my best friends when I am in trouble again. I think I done wrong when I joined up the second time but all being well, and with God's help, I will soon be with you all again.

I think this is all I can tell you at the time of writing. So I close this letter with best love to all at home wishing you all the very best prospects of the year.

From your Loving Son,
Charlie

Kisses for Dollie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From her Loving Brother Charlie

Tell Aunt Lizzie that I thank her for the card she sent.

A loving heart but far away but thinks of home every day, though the war may last long I hope to come home well and strong.

Submitted by great-niece Elizabeth Dean
Born in Ulverston, Lancashire on 8 November 1889, Cpl Frank Porter was a clerk in an estates office when he enlisted in the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. He and his twin sister, Ethel, were the youngest of five children born to Robert and Jane Porter.

Frank went to Ulverston National School and worked for a solicitor after he left. He then joined the Old Volunteers in which he served for three years, and was a corporal in the new territorial force for 12 months. He died aged 26 at Serre on the first day of the battle of the Somme.

A letter to Frank's mother from one of his comrades said:

It is with deep regret I write these few lines informing you of the death of your son Frank, which occurred on 1st July, 1916. He was in the same platoon as myself, and we were very great chums, and I think it my duty to write to you. He was well liked by all in the company, and by his death we have lost a good comrade. He died doing his duty - leading his section in action, and I can assure you he got a good name and a proper burial, and the platoon and myself share our sympathy with you in your sad bereavement.

Submitted by great-nephew Andy Porter
The capture of Trônes Wood: the missing soldier and the prisoner of war

Harry Norman Snape, born in 1893, was a prisoner of war (POW) after being captured at the battle of Trônes Wood. He wrote many letters during his time at the front until his capture on 10 July 1916.

One of them dated 20 June refers to "The Day", which was to become the first day of the battle of the Somme:

We are training for 'The Day'. We are only here for a day or two and then back. I can't say when it'll come off but when it does I think that we all shall be ready. Honestly, kid, I am going to try and do something. Nothing rash of course but I'm going to have a good try for honours. There are three of us here pals together, Clem Nixon, a chap we call 'Ginger' (H Rogers) & myself. The aforesaid Ginger is in for a Military Medal for attending the wounded under shell fire ... This is the last letter I can write for a bit for post is stopped from here after tonight.

Best Love Harry.
Don't worry. I shall be A1.
Love to all.

A few days later Harry's battalion assembled in Maricourt, just west of Trônes Wood, as part of a strategic offensive to capture the village of Guillemont. Although they crossed the first 200 yards of no man's land without incident, they encountered heavy shell fire from the Germans.

The Germans retaliated and Trônes Wood came under heavy bombardment. The allied troops found themselves locked in and were eventually bombed out. All were killed or, as in the case of Harry Snape, captured. Over 200 men were missing after the battle of Trônes Wood.

Due to wounds on his hands and wrist Harry was hospitalised before being transferred to the POW camp in Hammelburg. He continued to write during his time there until his release and subsequent return home.

Submitted by John Willmott
John Patrick Connolly was 23-years-old when he went missing during the assault. What follows is an extract from the regimental diary of the 2nd battalion Yorkshire Regiment.

The Attack on Trones Wood, Somme, 8th July 1916.

5-45am - The battalion moved off up the valley by Talus Boisse to a position just west of Bernafay Wood with orders to attack and take the southern portion of Trones Wood.

This accomplished the Wiltshires were to attack from Maltz Horn Alley their right joining up with the left of the French who were attacking at the same time.

The 19th Manchesters were in trenches behind available for support and the 18th Kings Liverpools were detailed to provide carrying parties, battalion HQ was at the Briqueterie.

7-15am - "C" Company under Capt Maude entered Bernafay Wood followed in succession by the bombing sections, "D" Company under Capt Belcher, "B" Company under 2nd Lt Hubbard and "A" Company under Capt Colley.

8-00am - Under severe shellfire which caused casualties before starting and added to some confusion caused by the passage through the wood.

"C" Company emerged from the wood and commenced to cross the open space between it and Trones Wood.

For about 80 yards rising ground gave some cover but immediately this was topped a very heavy machine gun and rifle fire was opened from the edge of Trones Wood and the front line was practically hit to a man.

Some men got into Trones Alley a communication trench between the two woods and Lt Field with the battalion bombers made an attempt to bomb up it and get into the wood, snipers in trees defeated this and seeing that without further and more powerful artillery support a direct attack was hopeless and a withdrawal to Bernafay Wood was ordered at 8-30am

The Germans now commenced a heavy and constant bombardment of Bernafay Wood with guns of every calibre.

Cover was poor and for the rest of the day the battalion could do nothing but hold on under heavy punishment.

Casualties were numerous and the removal of wounded was a matter of the greatest difficulty.

Mens nerves were subjected to probably the greatest strain the battalion had yet to bear in this war and it was with great relief that at 7-00pm orders were received to withdraw.

Casualties were,

Officers killed = 3

Officers wounded = 4.

Other ranks killed = 19

Wounded = 116

Missing = 17.

Submitted by great nephew Martin Renwick
The nurse who worked on an ambulance train that collected wounded from the front line

Ruby Chapman (née Cockburn) worked as a British Red Cross service nurse on the No 16 ambulance train that collected the wounded from the frontline during the battle of Somme in 1916.

The train was fitted with wards, kitchens, a dispensary, office, storerooms and accommodation. Ruby worked on the train for six months travelling to and from the casualty clearing stations near the front. Her pay throughout the war was £1 1s 0d a week, which is roughly £370 in today's money.

Working on an ambulance train was hard work and there was a high illness rate among the personnel. The train often travelled at a snail's pace. Air raids were frequent and the windows blew in with the force of the explosions.

Coping with large amounts of wounded men on the move made work incredibly intense. When not needed Royal Army Medical Corps staff sometimes went on long walks or played cricket and football with teams from other trains. Unlike military nurses, Red Cross nurses were allowed a degree of freedom when it came to mixing with men. Sometimes personnel returned to find the train no longer in the sidings and had to hitch a ride to get back on board.

In June 1918 No 16 train was hit by a bomb during a heavy raid in Etaples and it caught fire but luckily nobody was killed or badly injured.

In 1918 Ruby was awarded a Royal Red Cross second class. After the war she married Lt Philip Chapman in June 1919 and they moved to Yorkshire. Ruby was widowed in 1923 and moved south to support her young daughter. She died in the late 1960s surrounded by family in Bournemouth.
Submitted by granddaughter Sheila Brownlee with notes from British military nurse historian Sue Light
The RAF pilot with a bird's eye view

Second Lieutenant EJ Watkins was a Canadian pilot in the Royal Air Force. He became an instructor after having survived a number of aircraft failures. Examples can be found in his logbook where he wrote that on two separate occasions the, "propeller came off [and he] ran out of oil".

As part of his role taking pictures of the fronts Watkins flew many most of the RAF's aircrafts. Based at the Canadian Forces Base Borden in Ontario, he kept the last telegraph order on the last day of the war, which said, "all flying to cease immediately".

Submitted by grandson Jim Watkins
An order of battle for September 1916

The document shows an order of battle for 12 September 1916 belonging to Arthur John Cooper. Born in 1892 he worked in Norwich as a shoemaker before fighting as a young man in the Norfolk Regiment.

The map shows the German positions (the flags) at the time as well as the position of the frontline. On the same day as the order, Ginchy was captured from the Germans by the French Sixth Army in what was its biggest attack of the battle so far.

Orders of battle were created to show the organisation, formation and command structure of armed forces. They recorded tactics employed and mapped the locations of friendly and enemy forces, as well as attempting to estimate their capabilities and their plans.

Submitted by granddaughter Jenny Downing
The Irish chaplain who died during service

Fr Donal O'Sullivan was a Roman Catholic chaplain to the forces who died at the age of 26. Born in Killarney, Ireland, he was not assigned to any specific regiment nor did he limit his care solely to Irish soldiers or Catholics.

Donal kept a diary; a brief but moving record of four months in 1916 between his departure from Killarney on 28 February and his death on 5 July. He used to set up a field altar, visit the wounded and distribute general absolution to the troops along with "sweets from home".

Two days before his death, he wrote: "Ulster Division Rifles under heavy fire. Heavy casualties. Wounded, wounded, wounded! Busy day for chaplains."

Donal was killed by a shell at the front as he gave an English soldier the last rites. The soldier survived and after the war made the long journey to Killarney to visit Donal's mother, Hannah O'Sullivan, and give a first-hand account of his death. The Englishman described Donal hearing confessions on horseback at the front while the shells flew and the penitent held the reins.

Submitted by great niece Jean O'Sullivan
The German pharmacist and keen photographer

Born in Münster in 1883, Gottfried Darup served as a pharmacist and was deployed in France. As a pharmacist he had more spare time than most and, as he had a good camera, he took many photographs during the war.

He survived the war and returned to Bremen where he owned a pharmacy until his death in 1956.

Submitted by grandson Jens Darup
The letters sent home from the frontline

Second Lieutenant Arthur James Sloan enlisted into the Royal Field Artillery in 1914 and trained with his division until they went to France in May 1915.

In 1916 he was in action during the battle of the Somme, including the attacks on High Wood and the battle of the Ancre, capturing Beaumont Hamel and taking more than 2,000 prisoners.

During his time at the front he sent several letters to his wife, Margaret. One is dated 3 September 1916 and recounts his worry as he tried to find his twin brother, Andrew, who was also at the front.

Dearest Margaret,

I am sorry to say Margaret that we have had no further word of the poor boy. Father has written to quite a number of the ones who were in the charge with him, & who are now in various hospitals, but they have all much the same tale to tell. He seems to have been one of the last survivors of his lot & the man who seems to have seen him last states that when he was wounded & crawling back he passed Andrew, who was rolling up some bombs.

He says that Andrew was alright then & gave him a nod & shout in passing. So, whether he got knocked over or taken prisoner after that we must just wait & pray for the best. The only thing is, if he is a prisoner & badly wounded he won't get the attention that would have been given him if he had been under British doctors.

Altho' I don't even yet realize it Margaret dear, I have had more time to think about it this last week & I sometimes try to think what like it would be after the war & we all get back to things again, if we had to do without Andrew, but there's no use talking like this just now darling, we must just wait & whatever it is to be, will, I suppose, be for some good purpose, altho' it may not seem so to us at present.

Thanks so much dear for wanting me to get a short rest, but it was just what I wanted, a spell that time to write, even few lines to you dear one & pour out my thoughts, for they were sore & there is no one that I could write to, as I can to you. Well I must stop now, my lights should have been out ten minutes ago & if I'm much longer there will be a row, so good bye just now darling.

With all my love, your own loving Arthur.

After 18 months in France, Arthur became sick and was sent home. He recovered and returned to France in the spring of 1918. He was killed in action while leading his men in the second battle of Arras.
Submitted by Jimmy Brammer

The painter whose brushstrokes recorded the battle

Reginald Hanson Fawcett served in the Royal Engineers in France and Belgium. He travelled with a small artist's pad and watercolour paints recorded his experiences of WW1, including the battle of the Somme.

Born in Wilsden, near Bradford, he worked in signals, which involved laying cables close to the front. Surviving the war, Reginald was discharged in 1919 and returned to his hometown to become the village's postmaster.

Submitted by grandson Tim Brown
The apprentice draughtsman and the Canadian soldier who survived

Herbert Scott joined the army in 1914 with several of his school friends from Manchester Grammar School. He fought at the battle of the Somme, was wounded twice and lived to the age of 95 but never married.

Born in Horsforth near Leeds, he became an apprentice draughtsman after school and went to Wodecote Farm Park Camp, Epsom for training when he enlisted. During his time in the Somme he was wounded on 29 October 1916 and returned to the UK to recover.

Soon after the war he emigrated to Canada and became a chicken farmer. He moved back to the UK in December 1926, and set up a small restaurant in Norwich called the Cloverleaf until it closed in 1975.
Submitted by goddaughter Mary Blathwayt
John Meaney had six siblings, two of whom were in active service during the first world war. Born in Ireland he emigrated to Canada in 1912.

After being wounded in South Africa during the Boer War, his military experience also included six years in the Inniskilling Dragoons and more than a year with Remington's Scouts. His regiment also spent time in India around 1908.

During the first world war John was part of the Second Canadian Mounted Rifles. He was killed in the Somme area on 15 September 1916.

Submitted by great grandnephew John McMahon

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'Heavy casualties. Wounded, wounded, wounded': stories of the battle of the Somme

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ne hundred years ago today remains the worst day in British army history, as 19,240 soldiers lost their lives on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Guardian readers have been sharing wartime letters, diaries and photographs passed on to them by relatives or friends who were involved.

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New Zealand's participation at the Somme

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New Zealand's participation at the Somme

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After a period of rest and reorganisation following the Gallipoli evacuation, the newly formed New Zealand Division left for France in early April 1916. Sent to the Flanders region to gain experience of new trench conditions, they spent the next three months guarding a 'quiet' sector of the line at Armentières before moving south to the Somme battlefields and their first large-scale action on the Western Front.

A truly nightmarish world greeted the New Zealand Division when it joined the Battle of the Somme in early September 1916. The division arrived to take part in the third big push of the offensive, designed to crack the German lines once and for all. When it withdrew from the line a month later, a decisive breakthrough had not been achieved.

Eighteen thousand members of the division went into action. Nearly 6000 men were wounded and more than 2100 lost their lives. Over half New Zealand's Somme dead have no known grave - their names are on the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, near Longueval. New Zealand brought one of these men home in November 2004; his remains lie in the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in the forecourt of the National War Memorial in Wellington.

The battle was a pivotal event in the Great War. In retrospect, it laid the basis for the Allied victory two years later, though at huge cost. Ten decades on, the numbers still have the power to shock. At the end of 4½ months of fighting, some 1.2 million men were dead or wounded; about 8500 casualties for each of the 141 days of conflict. Some days were especially costly. The opening day of the offensive, 1 July 1916, was arguably the worst day in British military history: 19,000 men were killed and another 38,000 wounded. By the end of the campaign on 18 November 1916, the Allies had advanced, at most, 10 km into German-held territory - a distance a fit young man can run in less than an hour.

Armentières: the quiet sector
Armentières sector 1916 (Geographx)
The New Zealand Division began arriving in Marseilles on 11 April 1916. The men had no time for sightseeing, immediately boarding trains north to Flanders where the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was concentrated. After a three-day journey, the New Zealand soldiers set up camp around the town of Hazebrouck.

The New Zealanders were soon introduced to the new tactics that had been developed by the BEF during 18 months of fighting. Officers and NCOs attended courses on grenades, trench warfare, and machine-gunnery, amongst other things, so they could circulate new ideas to the ranks as soon as possible.

The BEF also used pamphlets and circulars to disseminate information. New Zealand officers had to read and absorb far more official material than they had been required to in Gallipoli or Egypt. Censorship increased, and rules tightened around the use of personal cameras in the front line (private photos of the Western Front are very rare compared to those of Gallipoli).

A new environment also meant new equipment. The New Zealanders received British-made 'PH Hood' gas masks for protection against chlorine and phosgene poison gases, and everyone had to practise new gas drills and attend live demonstrations at British gas warfare schools. New Zealand soldiers began wearing the new rounded 'Brodie' pattern steel helmet and, unlike at Gallipoli, were well supplied with grenades - Mills Bombs. Each battalion was equipped with eight Lewis Guns, significantly bolstering the firepower of New Zealand infantry.

Retrained, reorganised and re-equipped, the New Zealand Division moved to a 'quiet' sector of the front near the town of Armentières to gain experience in the trenches. The trench systems here were stable and well-designed, although prone to flooding due to the low water table. A support line 180 m behind the front line was backed up by another 540 m back; the three lines were linked by a maze of communication trenches, which allowed men to move between them under cover. Observation posts, machine-gun posts and other strongpoints were sited at carefully chosen spots, and dugouts provided shelter from the elements. Belts of barbed wire protected the British lines.

The New Zealand Division was integrated into the British garrison system. Only two of the division's three brigades (increased to four in 1917) were in the trenches at one time. The third was stationed in reserve in Armentières, as was divisional headquarters. Each brigade spent 10-14 days in the trenches, followed by a week in reserve.

As the New Zealanders grew accustomed to their surroundings, they began sending out patrols into no-man's-land and launched a series of aggressive trench raids against the German lines in their sector. During three months at Armentières, the New Zealand Division made 11 trench raids and was the target of four. A raid by the 2nd Rifles Battalion on 24 June was a textbook success: a 73-strong raiding party supported by artillery and mortars killed 29 Germans and captured nine prisoners. In contrast, a raid by the 1st Otago Battalion on 13 July was a total failure. Forewarned, the Germans ambushed the Otago men as they crossed no-man's-land. Devastating artillery and machine-gun fire killed or wounded 163 of the 181-man raiding party.

In late August, the entire division withdrew from Armentières and moved south to the Somme. Here it joined XV Corps of the British Fourth Army, which was still waging a bloody offensive begun the previous month.

Somme battles 1916: prelude
The Western Front 1916-17 (Geographx)
Somme battles 1916: July-September

Sir Douglas Haig, the British Expeditionary Force's commander-in-chief, oversaw preparations for the offensive. The opening stanza would be a five-day preparatory bombardment of the enemy line (bad weather would extend this to seven days), expected to leave the defenders incapable of resisting the waves of infantry that would follow. Once the line was breached, waiting cavalry divisions would charge into the German rear areas. The trench warfare stalemate would be permanently broken.

The plan failed on several counts. A breakthrough was never going to happen in the conditions existing in 1916. The preparatory bombardment alerted the Germans to the impending attack, giving them the opportunity to move reserves to the threatened area. These were in position to fill any gaps and prevent a decisive advance even if their forward lines broke.

As more than 1½ million shells rained down on their positions, the defenders of the German front line had a hellish experience. But, contrary to British and French expectation, the preparatory bombardment failed to disable them. They cowered in their deep dugouts, virtually impervious to the shelling. Despite its ferocity, much of the bombardment consisted of shrapnel shells, which were ineffective against men in shelter. When the shelling finally stopped, the Germans had ample time to emerge from their bunkers and take up position behind their machine guns as the waves of Allied infantry came across no-man's-land towards them.

The Allies' inability to suppress the enemy's artillery compounded this failure. Locating enemy batteries would become an essential prerequisite for attacks later in the war, but in 1916, both sides were still developing the means to do this. For the time being, aerial spotting was the prime method. On 1 July, many enemy batteries were still in a position to pour fire on infantry advancing in the open.

The result was a tragedy of unparalleled proportions. On 1 July, men from 11 British and six French divisions 'hopped the bags' and headed towards the German lines. Shrapnel shells were soon bursting above them. Machine guns added to the carnage, cutting swathes in the long lines of infantry. Mere flesh never stood a chance. By the end of the day, nearly 60,000 British men were wounded, dying or dead.

Despite the heavy toll, the attack made progress in the southern sector. Both the French and the rightmost British corps managed to secure part of the German first line. Haig decided that this 'success' should be exploited by pushing forward to the next line in this sector (the German defences consisted of three lines, with a fourth being constructed behind them as further insurance against a breakthrough). On 14 July, a major push managed to secure part of the German second line. This effort was notable for an important tactical development - the creeping barrage, which provided a curtain of fire in front of the infantry as they crossed no-man's-land.

Somme battles 1916: September-November

With part of the German second line breached, it now seemed to Haig that a final breakthrough had become feasible. Capturing the third line and breaching the much weaker fourth line would open the way for the Allies. This would be the objective of a third major push on 15 September. Hopes were raised by the advent of a new weapon - the tank - that would support the infantry as they crossed no-man's-land.

This renewed assault, which involved 11 divisions (including the New Zealand Division), made further inroads into the German defence system. Part of the third line was breached, and in further attacks in ensuing weeks troops managed to grab parts of the fourth line. But the Germans always had sufficient reserves to plug gaps and prevent the hoped-for breakthrough. Despite proving useful at times, especially in crushing enemy barbed wire, the tanks failed to have a decisive impact. They were, at this stage, too few, too ponderous and too vulnerable to artillery.

For the troops involved, the new push rapidly became a nightmare. Rain from the second day quickly turned the shell-torn battlefield into a quagmire. Soldiers huddled in their trenches, sometimes knee-deep in mud and often without proper cover.

During October and November, the Allies continued to nibble away at the German defence system. Small gains were made in places, but nothing that offered hope of a breakthrough. After a final push, which secured Beaumont Hamel, Haig shut down the offensive on 18 November.

At huge cost, the 4½-month British and French effort had pushed the line forward about 10 km. In one sense, the offensive was an abject failure. The fact that no killer blow had been landed dashed expectations that this battle would end the war.

But in another sense the battle did play a key role in the ultimate Allied victory. Industrialised warfare ensured that no victory was possible while either side maintained sufficient reserves to prevent breakthroughs. Only attritional warfare could reduce these reserves, and the Somme battle had been hugely attritional. While the Allies had suffered more than 600,000 casualties, Germany's losses were equally serious, estimated at between 450,000 and 600,000.

Losses on this scale, coming on top of the Verdun bloodbath, left the Germans unwilling to face a resumption of the Allied offensive in the spring of 1917. Early that year they abandoned the Somme battlefield, pulling back some 40 km to a formidable defence line prepared over the winter, the Hindenburg Line. The losses suffered by the Germans on the Somme became more significant shortly after this withdrawal with the entry of the United States into the war. While the Allies could look forward to an eventual huge boost in their numbers on the Western Front, the Germans struggled to refill the ranks of their depleted battalions. Little wonder that the Somme was described as 'the muddy grave of the German field army'.

Impact of artillery
New Zealand gunners loading artillery shells onto limbers near Albert, September 1916 (© IWM Q1250)
On the Somme in 1916, New Zealand troops experienced the full horror of industrialised warfare. While machine guns were lethal for troops in the open, artillery ruled the static battlefields along the Western Front. The war was characterised by not only a growing scale of artillery but also increasing sophistication in its use.

The gunners shaped the battlefield. Relentless shellfire reduced villages, woods and fields to drab wilderness. No-man's-land became so featureless that it was easy to get lost and blunder into the enemy's lines.

The development of quick-firing guns able to deliver large quantities of high-explosive shells made such a war possible. The harnessing of economies to the demands of total war from 1914 enabled the deployment of growing numbers of these guns. Initial problems with shell supply were overcome during 1915. Massive munitions stocks were increasingly available: the BEF received 16 million shells in the second half of 1915. The war had become a clash between machines as much as between men.

To protect themselves from both machine-gun and artillery fire, the troops had no alternative but to go below ground level. Both sides dug for their lives. During 1915, trench systems grew ever more complex, with specific styles for front, main, reserve and communication trenches. The Germans dug deep dugouts, which would serve them well when the Allies attacked them on the Somme. The Allies, committed to pushing the enemy out of France and Belgium, developed far less extensive underground works, on the assumption that they would soon be moving forward.

Although artillery was essential to any attack, men on foot had to secure the ground. They faced seemingly impossible odds. Many were killed before an attack even began by shells landing in the assembly trenches. Both sides also fired poison-gas shells when the wind was blowing in the right direction. After going over the top, or 'hopping the bags' as the troops called it, the advancing infantry often had to negotiate their way through mud and shell craters. Facing them were extensive barbed-wire obstructions, hopefully so shattered by artillery fire that they could be easily penetrated.

New Zealand's Somme experience
The New Zealand Division on the Somme, 1916 (Geographx)
The Battle of the Somme was New Zealand's first major engagement on the Western Front and remains its mostly costly. It took a huge toll on the 18,000 members of the New Zealand Division who were involved. More than one in nine of the New Zealanders who fought on the Somme were killed, and about one in three were wounded. Whereas New Zealand's eight-month campaign at Gallipoli had cost nearly 2800 lives, more than 2100 men were lost in just 45 days on the Somme. Scores more were killed while fighting as members of British imperial units.

The New Zealand Division was one of 55 BEF divisions that took part in the battle. It moved south and joined the Fourth Army's XV Corps in early September. On 10 September, the division moved into the line between High and Delville woods. The infantry found the sappers and pioneers busy digging communication trenches in readiness for the assault.

The gunners were also already in action. They had entered the line on the night of 5-6 September. They began preparing advance positions to support the attack and worked on their fire-plan for the assault. In addition to standing barrages on the objective line, 16 guns (a puny number compared with attacks in 1917) would provide a creeping barrage that moved forward in a series of lifts at a speed calculated to allow the infantry to follow it closely. On 12 September, the New Zealand gunners joined the preparatory bombardment.

All was in readiness when the men of the assault battalions moved into position during the night of 14-15 September. Morale was high, but the soldiers did not know what to expect, 'and perhaps it was just as well that we did not'. The Somme would be a very different battle from the one New Zealanders had fought on Gallipoli. Poison-gas shells, relentless artillery fire and a highly professional opposition would take a physical and psychological toll.

The New Zealand infantry 'hopped the bags' at 6.20 a.m. on 15 September. Their immediate goal was the German Switch Trench, about 400 m away. Once 2nd Brigade secured this line, 3rd Brigade's four battalions leapfrogged through to seize the portion of the German Flers trench system (the German third line) that lay in the New Zealand sector, just to the left of the village of Flers. They also helped secure Flers, which had been taken earlier by the neighbouring British division. The riflemen were unable to secure the final objective, Grove Alley, a communication trench along a spur behind the Flers support line, an attack which involved a wheel to the left. This position would be taken next morning by troops of 1st Brigade, which had followed the other brigades forward.

Although a successful assault, it was, like all set-piece Western Front attacks, very expensive. Of the roughly 6000 infantry involved, some 1200 were wounded or missing and about 670 were dead or dying. Among the casualties were 52 members of the Pioneer Battalion (which included the Maori Contingent), which was helping to build vital communication trenches under heavy artillery fire. At the time, this was the greatest loss of life in a single day in New Zealand's post-1840 military history, but in 1917, the horrors of Passchendaele would surpass this dubious record.

Although significant progress was made on 15 September, the hoped-for breakthrough remained elusive. In the following three weeks, the New Zealand Division made three more assaults - on 25 and 27 September, and 1 October - and grabbed part of the German fourth line (the Gird Trench system). These attacks, coupled with the incessant German artillery bombardment, began to take their toll on the men.

Sickness spread, and exhausted men wondered what they were becoming: 'I shook off our conditioned callousness, shook off the feeling, now taking root, that this world of arbitrary violence and random death was the real world, and that justice, mercy, peace and love were phantasms that had never been.' Cold was added to exhaustion and, once the rain began on 16 September, a wetness that soaked to the bone.

Although encouraging progress had been made, no breakthrough was in sight when, on 5 October, the New Zealand Division began to pull out of the line. For the soldiers, the end of the battle could not come soon enough. Rifleman Sidney Gully described some of his fellow soldiers as 'half demented during the last couple of days. Unshaven, unwashed, covered in mud and lastly but [not] leastly almost devoid of energy and only half fed'.

Short-term exhaustion, soon overcome with rest, was matched by a sense of satisfaction. The New Zealand troops had been through the crucible of what they considered real warfare (on a different scale to Gallipoli) and emerged with flying colours, highly praised by British generals. They believed they had the measure of the Germans, and looked forward to a resumption of the offensive in the following spring.

The New Zealand Division now returned to Flanders, where they helped man the sector of the front line near Armentières and Sailly-sur-la-Lys. As troops recovered from the ordeal of the Somme, reinforcements arrived to bring units back to full strength. By late October, the onset of winter brought further challenges to morale and well-being.

Remembering the Somme
The Somme bell at the National War Memorial Carillon (Ministry for Culture and Heritage)
New Zealand's losses on the Somme were felt for years to come. One casualty there meant mourning or suffering for entire families and communities at home. These men were more than soldiers; they were also sons, fathers, brothers, husbands and lovers. To this day, countless families and communities in New Zealand carry scars on their hearts from the bloody battlefields of the Somme.

More than 2100 New Zealanders are buried on what was once the battlefield of the Somme or near the sites of casualty clearing stations or hospitals behind the lines. Those with known graves now lie in carefully tended Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries throughout the area.

More than half the New Zealanders who died on the Somme in 1916 have no known grave. Some, unidentified, lie in cemeteries with their headstones inscribed 'Known unto God'; the rest remain lost on the battlefield. The names of all of these missing soldiers, more than 1200 in all, are inscribed on the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing in the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, west of the village of Longueval.

New Zealand's Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial in Wellington contains the remains of a New Zealand soldier who was killed on the Somme in 1916 and buried in a 'Known unto God' grave in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery. The remains were interred in the tomb in November 2004.

Further information

This web feature was written by Bronwyn Dalley and David Green and produced by the NZHistory team. It was revised and updated by Ian McGibbon in 2016.

Links

Books

J.R. Byrne, New Zealand artillery in the field 1914-18, Whitcombe & Tombs, Auckland et al., 1922

Damien Fenton, New Zealand and the First World War, 1914-1919, Penguin, Auckland, 2013

Andrew Macdonald, On my way to the Somme: New Zealanders and the bloody offensive of 1916, HarperCollins, Auckland, 2005

Ian McGibbon, New Zealand's Western Front campaign, Bateman, Auckland, 2016

Ian McGibbon, The Western Front: a guide to New Zealand battlefields and memorials, Penguin, Auckland, 2015

Christopher Pugsley, The ANZAC experience: New Zealand, Australia and empire in the First World War, Reed, Auckland, 2004

H. Stewart, The New Zealand Division 1916-1919, Whitcombe & Tombs, Auckland et al., 1921

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Following the Gallipoli withdrawal, the newly formed New Zealand Division left for France in early April 1916. Sent to the Flanders region to gain front-line experience, they spent the next three months guarding a 'quiet' or 'nursery' sector of the line at Armentières before moving south to the Somme battlefields and their first large-scale action on the Western Front.

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The living conditions for soldiers were incredibly harsh and brutal.

The weather for the soldiers was rainy, and the trenches would flood, and in some cases, soldiers would drown.

Diseases in the trenches were mainly lice and trench fever that soldiers would pick up from being in the trenches all the time.

soldiers got really sad and depressed knowing that they would have to sacrifice themselves in the war for their country.

The biggest dangers the soldiers faced were the machine guns, continually killing, and the chances of survival after crossing no-man 's-land territory.

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Use these questions to help you research this section:

How many New Zealand soldiers fought in this battle, and what units were they part of?

What was a key moment or achievement for New Zealand troops during this battle?

What challenges or dangers were unique to New Zealand soldiers in this battle?

How did this battle impact New Zealanders at home (families, newspapers, government)?

How is this battle remembered in New Zealand today (memorials, Anzac Day, ceremonies)?

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How many New Zealand soldiers fought in this battle, and what units were they part of

Approximately 18,000 New Zealanders of the New Zealand Division took part in the Somme offensive between mid-September and mid-October 1916.

The New Zealand Division was an infantry formation of around 15,000 men.

What was a key moment or achievement for New Zealand troops during this battle

On 15 September 1916, the New Zealand Division captured the strategically vital Switch Trench and advanced toward Flers, achieving their first major objectives on the Western Front .

Over the 23 days engaged, they advanced roughly 3 km, captured or consolidated 8 km of German trenches, and took many prisoners.

The New Zealand Rifle Brigade played a leading role in the attack at Flers-Courcelette.

What challenges or dangers were unique to New Zealand soldiers in this battle

The New Zealanders endured extremely high casualty rates: of 18,000 troops over 2,100 were killed, and around 6,000 were wounded.

In just 23 days, the toll mirrored that of the eight-month Gallipoli campaign, exhausting the troops physically and mentally a spent force, no sleep, no food, very little water.

Battling in heavily bombarded, trench-riddled terrain added to the difficulty. Additionally, over half of those killed (about 1,205 men) have no known grave and are commemorated at the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery Memorial

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Use these questions to help you research this section:

Where and when did this battle take place?

Who was involved in the battle? (Countries, commanders, armies)

Why was this battle fought? What was the strategic goal?

How long did the battle last, and how many soldiers fought?

How did geography (hills, trenches, weather) affect the battle?

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Where and when

Northern France, along the River Somme.

1 July – 18 November 1916.

NZ troops fought 15 Sept – 4 Oct 1916.

Who was involved

Allies: Britain, France, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India.

Germany .

NZ Division led by Major General Andrew Russell.

Why was it fought

Break German lines.

Help the French at Verdun.

Wear down the German army.

How long and how many

141 days.

3 million Allied soldiers took part.

18,000 New Zealanders involved.

Geography effects:

German trenches on higher ground gave them an advantage.

Open farmland meant little cover.

Autumn rain turned ground to mud, slowing attacks.

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Weapons and technology: Machine guns, rifles, poison gas, tanks and Grenades