The Battle of Somme

The Battle of the Somme started on 1st July 1916 and ended on 18th November. General Douglas Haig planned to attack north of the river Somme and break through the German lines using 750,000 men to attack Germany's Front line. They only pushed the German's back 2 miles and it cost them 620,000 men. At this rate with still 490 miles to go they would not reach Berlin for over another hundred years. The battle of the Somme was the bloodiest war in history for the British Army and as they had no plan B and the first attack had a large period of time between the artillery fire and army attack the Germans were ready to shoot men down as they came across No Man's Land.