Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest wars ever - Presentation by Julian Engel

1. Battle of the Somme
By Julian Engel 3A - 2014

2. FACT FILE
German name – Schlacht an der Somme
French name – Bataille de la Somme
Bloodiest War of WW1
Britain and France against Germany
Start 01.07.1916
End: 18.11.1916
Both sides of the Somme
1.000.000 men wounded or killed
Julian Engel 2014

3. Map of the Battles

Germany Invades
VERDUN

The Plan – summer 1916
-> British and France
forces attack the
German empire

Germany go out of
Verdun
Julian Engel 2014

4. Tactics
Huge artillery bombardment and
mines devastate Germans
Captured German Dugout
Germany’s barbed wire would be
cut
Dugouts smashed
BEF and French troops walk
across no man’s land
With repair equipment restore
the German trenches
Stop Germany retake lost
territory
Julian Engel 2014

5. Did it work?
Germans had a good
position – good visibility
Trenches along the Somme
30m barbed wire – no
possibility to penetrate
Dugouts far under the
ground
Bombardment didn’t
work out perfectly
Julian Engel 2014

6. The phases
Phase 1 – 1-20 July
•
•
•
Phase 2 – July –
September 1916
Battle of Albert 1-13
July
•
•
Battle of Fromelles
19-20 July
Battle of Pozieres
Ridge
•
Battle of
Guillemont
Battle of Ginchy
•
Battle of FlersCourceltette 15.922.9
•
Battle of Morval
25.9-28.9
•
Battle of Transloy
Ridges 1.10 -11.11
•
Battle of Delville
Wood
Battle of Bazentin
Ridge 14-17 July
•
Phase 3 – September –
November
Battle of Ancre
13.11-18.11
Julian Engel 2014

7. The first day – 1.7.1916

7:30 am – first explosion

27 Divisions : 16 Divisions
Britain
: Germany

French moved to front
quickly

Germans emerge from
dugouts

British slower – heavy bag
packs

Germans set up machine
guns

Wire undamaged -> Easy
Target


Chaos on every side
Germans started tacking
the BEFs down -> stuck in
Barbed Wire

No one knew what to do

Many men fell

Many men fell
Julian Engel 2014

8. Somme
Boom
Julian Engel 2014
France
BEF
Germany

9. The next battles
Many lessons were learnt
at the first disaster
25km land were gained
by the BEFs
Haig bitterly criticized
Total Cost of causalities:
Britain : 420.000
France : 200.000
Germany : 500.000
Different area -> usage of
tanks first time in that
battle
The attacks were ended
on 18/11/1916
Julian Engel 2014

10. The Aftermath
Haig was criticized
Butcher of Somme – His
new unwanted nickname
Verdun was saved
Attitude of population to
war became worse
Commanders lost their
confidence
Media started speaking
about the chaos in the
first days
All in all, the battle got
Verdun back, but many
men were lost.
The relations between
Haig and the prime
minister got worse
Attitude got worse
Summing up, it was more
of a disaster than a
victory
Julian Engel 2014

11. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS PRESENTATION
CREATED BY JULIAN ENGEL
IMAGES FROM:
GCSE MODERN WORLD HISTORY PG.33-36
2014
Julian Engel 2014