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The British
pushed ahead with plans for the Somme offensive
and built up huge stockpiles of munitions and
supplies. The activity and the build-up
indicated to the Germans that a big attack might
be coming and they spent the spring repairing
defences and building additional trenches,
strong points and generally reinforcing the
line. Before long they were firmly entrenched
along the British sector and ready for the
attack.
The problem
for the offensive power on the Western Front
during the First World War was that in order to
smash the defensive positions that were well dug
in, a massive bombardment would have to take
place before the attack in order to soften up
the defence. This could temporarily or partially
dislodge the defenders but it also destroyed any
suitable terrain that could be used to pass
follow-up troops through to the breakthrough
point. The road to complete victory was in
essence destroyed by the tactics of achieving
the first phase of that victory.
One of the
novel techniques that the British forces
employed for the Somme attack was to dig tunnels
under the German lines and fill them with high
explosives so that just as the attack was about
to commence the tunnels could be blown up and a
route right through the destroyed German lines
created for the attackers. Unfortunately this
tactic once again made the terrain almost
impassable for the attackers as well as the
defenders.
On July 1st
1916 at 7:30b AM the artillery barrage ceased
and the whistles, which signified the beginning
of the infantry attack, blew. A forty kilometre
long line of men rose from the trenches and
began a moderate march across no man's land
which separated them from the German trenches
and the attack was underway. The Germans had
scrambled back into their defensive position and
in most of the Northern British sectors they
were waiting to mow down the Empire's finest
soldiers. About 57,500 British troops were
killed, wounded or missing on that first day of
the attack.
In the
Northern sector the 1st battalion of the
Newfoundland regiment attacked into the teeth of
withering German fire and within 30 minutes
about 2/3's of the Newfoundlanders were
causalities. The attack was to continue over the
following weeks.
The middle of
July brought in Byng's boys, which was a
Canadian contingent, and like other
reinforcements they were also thrown into the
meat grinder and suffered over 2600 causalities.
The attacks
went on until November by which time the Allies
had suffered nearly 650,000 causalities. The
muddy bloodbath of the Somme proved to be a
moral defeat for the Germans but also an
expensive lesson for the British, Canadian and
French forces.
This was the
first step for the Canadian units in their
development of a unique Canadian identity and
although they suffered 24,029 casualties, they
had gained a reputation as tough shock troops.
The British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
wrote "they played a part of such distinction
that thenceforward they were marked out as storm
troops; for the remainder of the war they were
brought along to head the assault in one great
battle after another. Whenever the Germans found
the Canadian Corps coming into the line they
prepared for the worst." |
