The Battle of the Somme (jul 1, 1916 – nov 18, 1916)

Description:

The British wanted to break the stalemate on the Western Front and to draw the German forces away from Verdun. In the battle, tanks were introduced to war, being first used by the British forces. However, they had no impact on the battle and were not very efficient. Britain failed miserably in the offensive, with around 57.470 causalities alone on the first day, as the Germans attacked British troops with machine-guns and artillery fire. Despite this, the battles continued, resulting in 420,000 British, 200,000 French and 500,000 German causalities. The battle of the Somme had become a war of attrition despite it not being the initial attention of the offensives. The Allies had only advanced 13km in some places.