Somme's First Day: 19,000 British Soldiers Killed
British commanders promised their troops that a week-long artillery bombardment had destroyed German defenses. It hadn't. When soldiers climbed out of their trenches at 7:30 a.m. and walked upright toward enemy lines carrying 70 pounds of equipment each, they met intact barbed wire and functioning machine guns. By nightfall, 19,240 British soldiers were dead and another 38,000 wounded, making July 1, 1916, the single bloodiest day in British military history. Many of the dead came from "Pals Battalions," units of men who had enlisted together from the same towns, meaning that entire communities lost a generation in a single morning. The catastrophe forced a complete rethinking of infantry tactics and artillery coordination.
July 1, 1916
110 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on July 1
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