The+Somme+and+Passchendaele



=**﻿ **= = **__By Ryan Chan, James Yen and James Yang __** =

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The Somme and Passchendaele are two of the most important and acclaimed battles of World War I. Both battles were launched by the British in hope that they could achieve a breakthrough against the Germans. The Battle of the Somme was launched in 1916 and The Battle of Passchendaele, the following year.

The Battle of the Somme started on the first of July 1916.A period of artillery bombardment preceded the infantry attacks, the first time this tactic has been used by the British. Over 1500 guns attacked the German trench lines continuously for a period of 7-days. Sir Douglas Haig, commander of the British soldiers on the Western Front believed that the artillery bombardment could destroy the barbed wire and kill the enemy. However, the attack only worsened the situation, tangling barbed wire and informing the Germans of an imminent attack. Hiding in dug-outs, most of the German soldiers survived the bombardment. As the shelling ended, the Germans quickly took up their positions at the machine gun posts. The first of British soldiers ‘went over the top’ at 7:30am. They were told to ‘form waves’ and could walk slowly across No Man’s Land as there would be no more enemy survivors from the shelling. As the first of the British soldiers reached the barbed wire, a hail of machine gun bullets met the men, instantaneously killing all that were ‘over the top’. This day was the worst slaughter the British army has ever suffered- nearly 20,000 people killed and an additional 40,000 wounded on the first day.

Despite the immense losses, Haig, under pressure from the French, continued the offensive. In September, tanks were used for the first time but were ineffective. Using a new tactic, the creeping barrage whereby the infantry attacked at the same time as the artillery bombarded German positions, the villages of Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt were successfully captured. Bad weather finally ended the battle in November. The Germans had been pushed back slightly but there had been no breakthrough. The British and imperial forces suffered over 400,000 casualties

The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres was another major attempt to achieve a major breakthrough on the Western Front. The beginning of the attack took place on the 31st of July 1917. There was no breakthrough and within a week, the British had lost 30,000 men. By October, the fighting had reached the village of Passchendaele, about 11 kilometers from the starting point. On the 6th of November, Canadian troops finally captured the village but because it was so late in the year and the worsening of conditions on the battlefield, the offensive had to be called off. After three years of trench warfare, both sides had suffered heavy casualties but neither achieved a breakthrough. The British had lost 250,000 men during this battle. The Germans however were in a more serious situation. The citizens of Germany were not only running severely short of food, but the USA had also entered the war on the Allied side. The arrival of new, fresh American troops would reduce all chances of winning the Western Front for Germany.

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