*VIRTUAL TOUR - The Somme Offensive 1 Continued*

BATTLES OF THE SOMME OFFENSIVE


In the days that followed the launch of the Somme Offensive on the 1st July up to 13th July 1916, the limited gains of ground captured on the first day, South of the Albert-Bapaume road, were progressed in the German forward areas. The following fortified villages were captured by British forces:
  • Capture of Montauban 
  • Capture of Mametz 
  • Capture of Fricourt 
  • Capture of Contalmaison 
  • Capture of La Boisselle


On the extreme right of the Frontline, the British, in liaison with the French, reached the Southern edges of Trônes Wood, and came into contact with the second line German positions; over 6,000 Enemy prisoners were taken. However, in the Diversion Sector, North of the Ancre, the initial advances at Gommécourt, Serre, and on the Ancre could not be followed up; the Germans continued to hold Serre, Beaumont-Hamel, and Thiepval in force. 

Following the tragedy of the first day of the Somme Offensive, with its heavy British losses and limited gains in captured ground, the attempt to push the Germans back from their well-defended Somme Front had to be continued. From this time, however, a large-scale attack with many divisions and thousands of men was not an option, following the severe loss of strength in casualties to the British Fourth Army. The British Commanders were now only in a position to regroup the Units still available to them, and narrow their objectives to take strategic locations in the German defences one by one.

Battles continued over the following weeks as the British tried to break the German defences in a series of phased attacks with limited objectives in a bite and hold style operation. The names of villages and woods on the Somme Battlefields have become synonymous with the desperate fighting, and tragic losses to both the British and German Armies during the four and a half months of intense Battles:



Battle of Bazentin  ........................... 14th-17th Jul 1916
             Attack at Fromelles  ............... 19th Jul 1916
             Attacks at High Wood  .......... .. 20th-25th Jul 1916
Battle of Delville Wood  ................. .. 15th Jul-3rd Sep 1916
Battle of Pozières  ......................... .. 23rd Jul-3rd Sep 1916
Battle of Guillemont  ..................... .. 3rd-6th Sep 1916
Battle of Ginchy  ............................ .. 9th Sep 1916
Battle of Flers-Courcelette  ........... .. 15th-22nd Sep 1916
Battle of Morval  ........................... .. 25th-28th Sep 1916
Battle of Thiepval  ......................... .. 26th-28th Sep 1916
Battle of Le Transloy  .................... .. 1st-18th Oct 1916
Battle of the Ancre Heights  ........... .. 1st Oct-11th Nov 1916
Battle of the Ancre  ........................ .. 13th-18th Nov 1916

As the weather worsened, the Somme Offensive officially came to a close on the 18th November 1916. The ground gained by the British Fourth Army moved the British Front-Line to just a few miles further North-East of its original position. Casualties of injured and dead on both sides amounted to many thousands. The terrible irony of the situation would be that, within 14 months, the ground won at such great cost to the British Army in 1916 would be swept back under control of the German Army in the Spring Offensive of March and April 1918.

The Aftermath


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