Battle of the S omme museum

1. Click on the objects in the museum to learn more about them Battle of the Somme museum NEXT

2. The battle of the Somme By Alex Richardson movie Statistics

3. Sir Douglas Haig Sir Douglas Haig was the man in charge of the British army in the battle of the Somme. He has been known throughout history as both a brilliant tactician or one of the worst generals of all time. The controversy between these two characteristics is due to his strategy in the battle of the Somme. General Haig believed that firing a record breaking amount of artillery would defeat the Germans and quickly win the battle. However, after a constant barrage of 1.7 million shells being fired over the duration of a week the German army was still alive and well. They were protected in their bunkers and suffered little casualties. General Haig (believing the Germans to be dead) ordered the troops to go across no mans land at a steady walking pace. This lead to the massacre of thousands of troops. Over 60,000 British troops were recorded to be dead or seriously wounded that day.

4. Map of the Battle of the Somme This map depicts the battle of the Somme. The darkest red line shows where the British line was originally situated. The dashed red line shows the total distance gained by the end of the battle : only six miles in the area with the farthest progress.

5. The implementation of tanks The battle of the Somme was the first battle that tanks were used. General Haig ordered almost 40 tanks to be used. However only about 27 worked. The others broke down or malfunctioned before they could be used. Despite this the tanks were able to work relatively well against the Germans. They did not win the battle as the British thought they would but they still were able to put a dent in enemy defense. This was significant because this was the first time tanks were ever used in a real battle. Tanks were later used in more effective areas and ultimately ended trench warfare. Without the testing of tanks in the battle of the Somme we could have never tried using tanks and the war could have continued much longer.

6. The End result of the battle The battle of the Somme ended when French troops seized the town of Grandcourt. While the allies considered this to be a victory the battle was long and destroyed both sides. The allies and the central powers had roughly the same casualty count. The Germans had 650,000 and the French+ British total was about 615,000.