There followed weeks of bitter fighting at Pozieres, High Wood, Delville Wood, Guillemont and Ginchy before the third position was breached. The British captured La Boiselle, Contalmaison and Mametz Wood, and a night attack on 13/14 July broke through the second German defensive position at Bazentin.
#Battle of verdun casualties series#
Over the next few days, a series of smaller attacks developed. The worst casualties were suffered by: Regimentġ0th West Yorkshire (Prince of Wales’ Own)ġ5th West Yorkshire (Prince of Wales’ Own)ġ6th West Yorkshire (Prince of Wales’ Own)ġ2th York and Lancaster (Sheffield City Battalion)Ģnd West Yorkshire (Prince of Wales’ Own) The Yorkshire regiments who took part in the attack on the first day suffered 9,000 men killed, wounded and missing, more than any other region in the UK. The volunteers of the New Armies advanced into battle in long, close-formed lines, presenting a perfect target to the German machine gunners. Some troops managed to reach their objectives, but others were unable to cross No Man’s Land in the face of heavy machine gun fire. In the north, however, German defences were largely undamaged, and the attacking infantry suffered heavy casualties. In the south, where the bombardment was effective, the Allies advanced rapidly and captured the villages of Montauban and Mametz. The aim was to cut the barbed wire, destroy the trenches and dugouts, and silence the enemy’s gun batteries. A further 230,000 shells were fired in the hour before the attack, and when the attacking troops rose from their trenches ten huge mines were exploded. In the 7 days before the battle, the British artillery fired 1,508,652 shells against the first German defensive position. For many of the men who had volunteered to serve in the ‘Pals’ and ‘Chums’ battalions, it was their first experience of war. The majority of the troops were volunteers of Kitchener’s New Armies: ordinary men from all walks of life, who were enthusiastic but poorly trained. There were only a handful of Regular battalions that had crossed the Channel with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, and a few more Territorials that had already seen action in 1915. The British Army that fought on the Somme lacked experience. The battle, which raged for four and a half months, was fought to relieve pressure on the French forces, who were engaged in the fierce struggle for Verdun, and to reduce by attrition the German army’s ability to fight. Soldiers go over the top at the Battle of the Somme
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