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Answer from Cameron Greene:

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British troops advancing through front line trenches during the Battle of the Somme, 1916

The Battle of the Somme would go down in British history as one of the worst days of combat ever experienced on the battlefield. The actual conclusion of the battle is still very much debated by historians to this day, many seeing that the Allies could’ve broken through in a few more weeks time and just as many seeing the attack as utterly futile and needless, failing in its declared objectives. In my opinion, I consider it a defeat due to the failure of the Allied forces to achieve their strategic goals and the overall horrendous loss of life suffered.

The battle itself was a culmination of both British and French planning that sought to relieve the intense pressure that the French Army was facing at the Battle of Verdun just 155 miles to the southeast of Somme. The French had begged the British to press an attack on a new part of the front to relieve pressure as French casualties were reaching horrendous heights that could not be sustained for long. The British appointed Commander in Chief Douglas Haig to devise a plan to hit the Germans where it hurt in the hopes of forcing their retreat from Verdun.

Haig’s plan had called for an intensive, week-long artillery bombardment of the German defensive positions before the infantry began their waved assault on the German lines, preceded by artillery fire. When the line was broken, cavalry would be sent in to force the complete rout of the German line and make way for a lightning charge deep into German territory. The plan was foolproof in the mind of Haig, and he expected it to go off without a hitch. What followed was far from expected.

The artillery bombardment proved massively ineffective despite over 1.6 million shells being lobbed, and many of the German fortifications were left intact. The Germans had built deep dugouts for their troops, and most of their forces were in these dugouts when much of the bombardment was occurring. When the shelling stopped, the Germans knew that the Allied infantry was to commence their assault and left their dugouts to man their defensive positions. The first day proved disastrous for the British, having suffered 60,000 casualties with 20,000 dead alone. This would not deter Haig, who thought a breakthrough was still possible despite the fact that his plan was suffering setbacks along the entirety of the 25-mile front they were attacking.

A small sampling of the 1.6 million artillery shells lobbed by the British into German lines during the Battle of the Somme, 1916

Over the course of 141 days, British, as well as Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and French troops threw themselves at the German lines to relatively little effect, garnering only 7 miles of territory out of the targeted 24 miles. By the end of the battle, the combined casualties of the Commonwealth and French troops amounted to over 790,000 with 140,000 dead. This means that the Allies spent around 89,000 men for every mile of territory gained. The Germans suffered 465,000 casualties with 160,000 dead for a loss of 7 miles. The battle was seen as a success by Haig, a proponent of attrition warfare, but was seen as a disaster by the public and political establishment of Britain. No one could justify the loss of 420,000 men to the public, and many spoke of them as the “lost generation,” an entire generation's worth of 18–22-year-olds being killed in action.

The battle was a disaster.

"The tragedy of the Somme battle was that the best soldiers, the stoutest-hearted men were lost; their numbers were replaceable, their spiritual worth never could be." - Unidentified Soldier

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