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Battle Of The Somme Essay

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The Preliminary Bombardment Of The British Empire On The German Empire In The Battle of The Somme
The Battle of the Somme, also known as The Somme Offensive, was a battle fought in the First World War by the allied forces headed by the British Empire in support of France against the German Empire on an approximate 30 kilometer front near the upper reaches of the Somme river in France. The Somme Offensive is attributed as starting on July 1st 1916 with an infantry attack and concluding on November 18th 1916 for a total of 141 days ending in an inconclusive stalemate leading to a war of attrition between both empires. Before the infantry attack on July 1st the Allied forces conducted an artillery bombardment designed to reduce the German defenses …show more content…

Haig settled late on a plan with a five day artillery barrage leading to an infantry attack on June 29th. The artillery barrage was designed for the first two days to reduce the Germans wire defenses to create freedom of maneuver for the infantry across the no man's land. The last three days of the barrage would be used to reduce trenches, emplacements, strong points, and artillery pieces, as well as fire smoke and gas canisters to confuse the German forces about their intentions. Even with over 1,500 artillery pieces at his disposal this would not be enough to make enough of an effect on German defenses. Haig tasked his artillery to too many areas on the front wires and in-depth along the 30 kilometer trench system. After the five day artillery bombardment a majority of wire was intact and many trenches and emplacements were still usable and manned. The plan would have had better results if Haig would have focused on the wire obstacles for the infantry attack and not try to remove all the trenches, emplacements and strong points by artillery. By the end of the fifth day the Allied forces were close to being out of artillery

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