How Many Died During The First Day Of The Somme? | The Great War In Numbers | Timeline

hi everybody welcome to this timeline documentary my name is dan snow and here i am in a lancaster bomber cockpit one of the few remaining lancasters from the second world war to tell you about my new history channel it's called history hit it's like netflix for history hundreds of history documentaries on there and interviews with many of the world's best historians follow the information below this film or just search online for history hit and make sure you use the code timeline to get a special introductory offer now enjoy this show a war of numbers men ammunition guns ships aircraft quantity is the difference between victory and defeat and for the first time in history everything is recorded in exacting detail a billion artillery shells a million machine guns and 50 billion bullets 65 million men at war who die at a rate of 6 000 a day a war of numbers fought by calculating generals for whom no cost is too high [Applause] the first world war is almost a year and a half old the scale of death and destruction has already reached shocking levels but things are about to get worse much worse 1916 is the year of verdan and the killing fields of the song millions will die in terms of sheer carnage it is understandable why the year 1916 has been dubbed a descent into hell january 1916 bogged down in the trenches neither side has achieved a significant breakthrough generals decide that the only way they can begin making gains is to overwhelm their enemy with numbers vast numbers the numbers are staggering the scale is going to be carnage almost unimaginable the conflict has become a numbers game in a war started by monarchs and aristocrats ordinary men have become sacrificial pawns if one side orders a hundred thousand men into battle the other side will send even more and if that hundred thousand is slaughtered they will simply send in another hundred thousand to be cut down it was thought to be their role to charge and to die and over time they started to count more and more on each other but trusted less and less the decisions made by generals the men marching to war in 1916 are very different to those who were there at the start a lot of the old professional soldiers had been killed or wounded so on both sides many of the new forces were made up of more recently trained less we've experienced men large number of young people to come forward at the start of the war who want to play their part in world history this is their moment europe's ruling classes use forced conscription to expand their armies from 1914 to 1916 germany's doubles to over six and a half million the habsburgs triples to almost five million but britain france and their allies still massively outnumber the germanic powers traditionally britain has kept a small army of professional soldiers but after losses of four hundred thousand they need more men unlike other european powers britain at first relies on volunteers the government makes an appeal to patriotic pride and encourages men to sign up in groups with their friends and workmates in so-called pals battalions the idea of forming a pals battalion is that if the guy that lived next door to you the guy that worked in a factory with you the guy that you'd known since school signed up and you could sign up and you'd all go together that it would make you more likely to volunteer for war the pals recruitment drive is a resounding success 1500 people signed up from liverpool alone and then spread to over 50 towns across the united kingdom you had the atlington pals you had salford pals pals battalions weren't necessarily location-based we had things like the footballers battalion as well the record set on the busiest day of recruitment numbers 33 000 but by 1916 flag waving patriotism has given way to the horrifying realization of what war means and the british government introduces forced conscription in all 2.3 million british men will be compelled to fight the group that suffered the most in terms of casualties was definitely the working class they were on the front lines they were the tommies going over the top 1916's descent into hell begins in february verdun a french border town surrounded by 60 large and small faults german generals choose verdun for one simple reason they want to kill as many french soldiers as possible there's a huge amount of emotional investment in the town of adan for the french people it represented the frontier zone beyond which lay the territories of alsace lorraine the two provinces lost to germany in the war of 1870-71 a stinging humiliation which they were desperate to get revenge for the chief of the german general staff is eric von falkenheim his plan is to lure the french into defending verdun until the last man to defeat the french by killing them the conception of the dudan offensive on the german side attributed to falcon hang is this concept of vice bluden some idea that you could bleed france white by choosing a location in which they would throw their forces in and you could destroy them with artillery repeatedly day after day after day germany shifts more weapons to this single battle than any attacking force in military history they are bringing in so many guns that um it's a concentration that's never been seen before on the western front indian franklin warfare germans assembled 1200 guns and 2.5 million shells prior to verdun so great is the artillery concentration that it requires an entirely new railway line constructed in secret to supply it one thousand three 300 munitions trains bring the bullets and shells for a german fighting force 106 000 strong the french were all prepared for the coming storm of verdun they were distracted by their own offensive preparations at the riverside and perhaps they put unwarranted faith in the iconic fortress of verdun being able to withstand any german assault 4 am monday morning february 21st 1916. it begins with a massive artillery bombardment the largest in human history up to this point twelve hundred german guns rain down an incredible two million shells on a french defensive line just eight miles wide so great is the weight of bombardment so deafening so overwhelming that soldiers are reported as losing their minds desperate for it to end not only do the french endure the heaviest artillery bombardment ever they do it without steel helmets for them head protection does not arrive for a further four months much later than their british allies in sheffield have been making steel brody helmets since 1915. in 1915 british soldiers on the western front received the first of these this is the brody named after its inventor this helmet is very simple to make it's actually stamped cold from a single piece of metal that means that factories can make them in their tens of thousands in fact well over a million are made in the first batch what happens is there's a die this shape and it simply punches in punching it out in one piece you trim it paint it line it it's ready to go it's not the best helmet in the wall they won't stop a bullet but what they will do is deflect shrapnel balls and they'll deal with falling fragments this means that although the number of head injuries actually go up because they're feeling braver the number of fatalities goes down at verdun when the shelling stops the troops go in 80 000 german soldiers advance in the first wave in places they outnumber the french by ten to one within four days the french have fallen back to their third line of defense the germans are tracking the retreat from the skies the germans have also assembled the greatest concentration of aircraft yet seen in history allowing them to dominate the skies above the battlefield they actually have 168 aircraft which gives them the ability to control the air but more importantly they can now direct artillery fire they can locate french reserves moving in they can allocate resources where they're needed air supremacy has emerged as a key component in modern battles five days in and the battle appears to be going all germany's way their next objective is a fort the most important of the sixty forts protecting verdan fort du amor the french think fort du amor is impregnable so it just has a token force fort dormor is considered such a strong position that it only needs as far as the venture concerns the equipment two platoons about 50 odd men to hold it but the french are wrong once german artillery had flattened a ditch that was surrounding fort durmo and allowed german troops to enter the operation was fairly simple german generals face a dilemma according to their plan they should wait for the french to send reinforcements and kill as many as they can but now they're tempted to press home their advantage and push on into france whichever option they choose one thing is certain hundreds of thousands of men will die germany has unleashed the most ferocious bombardment in history and taken fort duomo the german plan had been to wait for the french to send wave after wave of troops who would be moaned down but the german generals now attempt to take verdun they call up more men throwing half a million into the battle it is a bad decision which will cost 300 000 french and german lives the german commanders became greedy what this resulted in was not the germans sitting in defensive positions and mowing down french attackers but instead both armies becoming locked into a seesaw battle for control of ever more devastated thoughts the result was a meat grinder of monumental proportions german general von falkenheim has badly underestimated the determination and spirit of the french once certain positions have been lost to simply admit defeat would have appeared a betrayal of those that have been killed when falcon hein has made a serious mistake he's underestimated the strength of french resistance he also underestimates french military skill on february the 25th the master tactician marshal philippe pattan takes charge of the french forces the appointment of nashua patan is significant because he approaches this in terms of a ruthless application of what resources are required and the rotation of units so that he's never exhausting one division or one core it's a rotated effort and this is sufficient to absorb the sheer power of the german offensive every spare french soldier is sent to push the germans back over the entire battle of 330 french infantry regiments 259 fight at verdan patel also persuades his political masters to give him more artillery turning the tables on the germans who take a pounding patan assembles a truly impressive counter battery force of french artillery and in an ironic twist it is the german infantry that finds itself thrown against french artillery concentrations suffering horrendous casualties by the end of april the battle has inflicted huge losses on both sides france has lost 131 000 men the germans 120 000 von falkenheim expects the french to hurl themselves against the germans and die in large numbers as a result what he gets instead is a two-way attritional battle where his troops attack as often as they defend and both germans and french suffer ruinous casualties together von falkenhein had planned the speedy slaughter of the french but verdun instead becomes an almost year-long killing zone for both sides [Music] shells fired number at least 40 million casualty figures are unprecedented on average both sides lose a thousand men a day a staggering seven hundred thousand first one side take the upper hand then the other the battle seesawed over its ten month duration some villages changed hands up to 15 times as they were first captured by the germans and then liberated by the french just as industrial production has changed war on land so a new generation of ships will do the same at sea another momentous battle is about to begin it will be fought off the danish peninsula is a clash between the most powerful weapon systems in the world the largest most heavily armed and most heavily armored ships in human history to this point are about to engage one another it's also the only time that british and german dreadnought battleships exchange fire with one another britain's dominance at sea is hurting germany a highly effective british naval blockade is starving the german people of food and german industry of raw materials in early 1916 the german high seas fleet is told it's time to smash it what can the expensive much-lauded high-seas fleet do to break this blockade germany's big problem is the royal navy the royal navy is the first line of defense for an island nation they police the seas they don't call her the senior service for nothing in 1914 the royal navy's fleet is almost twice the size of germany's at jutland the numbers involved are slightly more balanced but the royal navy's force is still a third larger british warships number 151 germany's 99 british naval dominance is not new what is new are the battleships being built in british and german dockyards the revolution begins when in 1906 the royal navy launches hms dreadnought a mighty new killing machine for the industrial age heichmas treadmill was armed with 10 12-inch naval guns able to fire at ranges of up to 20 000 yards and it was quick hms dreadnought was driven by modern steam turbines which allowed it to move at an unprecedented speed of up to 21 knots dreadnaught lends its name to a new class of heavily armed very dangerous and very expensive battleship in today's money each costs over 300 million pounds to build at the start of the war the germans have 16 compared to britain's 28. despite having fewer ships germany wants to take on britain's fleet but not all at once the high seas fleet does not want a pitched battle with the entire royal navy what it wants to do is isolate a small portion of the royal navy a squadron perhaps and destroy it and then retreat back to its bases before the bulk of the royal navy can arrive to extract retribution the germans hope to weaken the royal navy by ambushing its 52 strong battle cruiser squadron before the 99 ships of the main fleet can join them but the germans are communicating in a code which has been deciphered by the british [Music] unbeknownst to the germans the royal navy had a crucial intelligence advantage the british not only managed to capture the german code books they'd also managed to keep it secret so the germans had no idea that the british were reading their signals a royal navy group of cryptographers known as room 40 were reading german naval traffic and they knew the german maneuvers before the german fleet had even left harbor [Music] but when the two fleets come face to face that intelligence will count for little what follows is so devastating it will be the last battle of its kind in military history northern germany may the 31st 1916 1am a scouting group of 40 german ships leave port they are followed an hour later by 59 ships of the german high seas fleet the british are already at sea at 2 20 pm the german scouts are spotted west of jutland royal navy battle cruiser hms galatia signals enemy in sight this is the moment the royal navy has been waiting for for the entire war the british battle cruisers give chase to the scouting ships the british are being lured toward germany's main high seas fleet by the time they realize it's too late though outnumbered at the outset of the battle the germans have the best of the fighting the advantage lies with them the visibility favors the german gunners and they are able to reign accurate fire upon the pursuing british battle cruisers with the sun behind them the british battle cruisers are easy targets for the german guns and so begins one of the most terrible naval conflicts in military history the epic battle of jutland begins with a german direct hit on hms line the flagship of the british battle cruiser fleet it blows the roof off a gun turret the blast rips through the turret's armor and penetrates as far as the ammunition chamber of 101 men working here 99 are killed instantly there are only two survivors one of whom is major francis harvey mortally wounded he gives the order for the turret to be flooded with himself still in it to put out the fire and prevent a catastrophic explosion that would surely have destroyed the flagship [Music] until this war the naval battle in british history that has cost the most lives is trafalgar times as many royal navy sailors will die in the battle of jutland within minutes hms interfaticable and hms queen mary both sync with the loss of 2 200 lives massive explosions are ripping the ships apart despite their giant guns and tons of armor the british ships have an achilles heel british battle cruisers are proving to be extremely vulnerable and part of the reason for this is that large amounts of of cordite propellants have been kept next to the guns there's a reason why the british battle cruisers blew up at the battle of jutland cordite was retained in large silk bags like this tiny fragment i've got here this actually is a hundred years old going to imagine every time you fire one of these guns cordite is consumed the bags simply vaporizes at the normal rate of fire you bring up one projectile one bag a jutland to speed up the firing they did away with all those protocols and they packed the turrets with projectiles and propellants what that meant was if a german shell hit the turret there was a shower of fragments even just the tiniest bit of red hot metal something like this would happen as britain's beleaguered battle cruisers make their escape the german ships follow but now they in turn are lured into an encounter with the main british fleet the lead german battleships emerge from this swirling mist of gun smoke only to see the british fleet lined up right against them and they're looking straight down their barrels for the germans it's almost a hands up moment but the british are just as surprised giving the germans just enough time to make a swift about turn and disappear back into the mist if only they had responded quicker they could have wiped out the german fleet in one glow it should have been an utter annihilation but the british hesitated and as a result the germans were able to take advantage of all that mist and smoke and with some skillful maneuvering managed to make their escape he turned away from the british fleet and escaped into the darkness the battle of jutland was a shock to both fleets 25 ships and 8 500 lives were lost the tally suggests a german success in paper terms the battle of jutland appeared to be a german victory it was the bloodiest battle ever fought by the royal navy and they lost more ships than their german opponents all told the germans sank 14 british ships and killed 6 000 crew the germans lost 11 ships and 2 500 men but the heavy losses mattered so much more to the germans the germans simply don't have the capacity to lose any more ships in a full-scale battle the german navy is now absolutely crippled and as a result they now have to fall back on the use of u-boats so ultimately britain is the victor of jutland jutland lasts just 36 hours but the bloody land battles of 1916 are lasting for months across europe they will change the course of history and nowhere more radically than on the eastern front in a year the czarist regime will be overthrown in a revolution but in 1916 for a time the russian army seems to be riding high thanks to a brilliant aristocratic general who will soon join the red army alexei brusolov is a pioneer of a new kind of warfare which will culminate in the nazi blitzcree the bristle of offensive is named after its architect general alexi brazilov he was known as the broom to his soldiers due to the fact that he was tall thin and had spiky hair but on the eve of the bristle of offensive he would acquire a new nickname the new brew because he brought new ideas that swept away many of the old inefficient methods the russian army had been using in 1915 half a million russian men had been slaughtered as the tsar was driven out of poland the tsar sent them into battle with just two rifles for every three men almost a year on general brucilla has seen to it that russian troops under his command are properly armed and equipped he plans to use them to attack the armies of the austro-hungarian empire germany's allies along a 200-mile front in modern-day ukraine brusilov is a clever tactician he sends out planes to photograph the enemy's lines calculating the distance of key targets with forensic accuracy he will use his artillery to devastate the enemy's rear supply lines and forward defensive positions and when the battle begins brucelove wants his soldiers to be close enough to see the whites of the enemy's eyes brussy loves army burrow their way towards the austro-hungarian trenches in what are called russian saps forward trenches that extend into no man's land in some cases these saps are able to get within 10 yards the austro-hungarian line general brucilov assembles a massive force over 600 000 troops and almost two thousand artillery guns but the austro-hungarian armies are also huge at least five hundred thousand troops and only slightly fewer big guns conventional military wisdom says that to be successful an attacking force should be at least twice as big as the defending force brusolo's slim numerical advantage is nowhere near enough but brusolov is about to change the rules of war as usual the battle will start with a massive artillery bombardment but this one is different one of brazil's new ideas is to use a hurricane bombardment rather than a slow prolonged methodical artillery assault rather than shell enemy lines for days brusilov orders a hurricane bombardment lasting just hours the hurricane bombarment completely stuns the austro-hungarian defenders who'd expect the bombardment to last five six or even seven days and when the bombardment lifts suddenly and abruptly they are in no way prepared to defend their positions from the russian infantry that comes swarming across the parapets the infantry are up and forward onto the austrian positions but they have a chance to counter attack or indeed in some cases even emerge from their dugouts to fight off the russian attack brusolov strategy results in one of the most lethal offensives in military history by the end of day two the russians have advanced 50 miles and captured 26 000 prisoners this is an extraordinary victory for the russian army the first 48 hours of the brazil of offensive are the most devastating assault ever launched on the central powers on the eastern front brucellops army pushes on taking 200 000 more prisoners austrian commander archduke joseph ferdinand only just manages to escape but his army suffers casualties of 600 000 men as he desperately calls up reinforcements the imperial forces of austro-hungary will never be the same again within two years the empire will collapse the effects of the brutal offensive is to neutralize the ability of the austrians to have any real fighting power of an offensive nature for the rest of the war they are on the defensive but the rapid russian advance also highlights its own army's frailty its supply lines are over extended to breaking point the russian imperial forces certainly suffer from infrastructural weaknesses the railway system is beginning to collapse the logistical chain is failing to make matters worse germany turns its attention from verdun and sends eight divisions east to take on russia the german reaction to the bristol offensive is pretty critical because the arrival of fresh german divisions is sufficient to turn the tide and once the russians lose the initiative and go on the back foot it makes it much easier for the germans to sustain this counter-offensive such that by the end of the campaign the russians find themselves pretty much near their start point russolov's lightning offensive is a stunning military victory but the cost in russian lives is horrific up to one million are lost to satisfy the tsar's vain imperial ambitions lives are being thrown away like confetti and russian generals struggle to supply and feed those who survive the entire russian war effort by the december of 1916 is in dire straits all of this culminates in a sense of despair increasing anger disillusionment amongst ordinary russian soldiers a dozen regiments mutiny no fewer than 58 000 russian soldiers deserved [Music] even the aristocrat brucelov blames the plight of his troops on the tsarist system the winds of change are blowing in the east revolution is coming meanwhile in the west it is the turn of britain to take on the german forces in france it will result in a battle so terrifying it will become one of the most famous in human history the song saturday july the 1st 1916 7 30 in the morning it should be the start of a glorious summer's day but in a moment the battle of the song will begin within hours the world will have changed forever it is still the blackest day in british army history thousands die on the first day alone the idea behind the song is simple it's about a british offensive aimed at relieving the french at ferdan in order to relieve pressure on the french it was necessary the british find a place where they could launch their own offensive possibly in conjunction with other french troops to draw german reserves from verdun up to the north the british bombardment lasts seven whole days the generals aim to kill as many entrenched germans as possible and destroy the rows of barbed wire protecting enemy lines to do that they fire an incredible 1.7 million shells i've got here is the standard british 18-pounder shrapnel shell this one is designed to explode not when it hits the ground it goes off on a timer you pick your target you work out when you want it to detonate when you do that you're able to set a timer here from naught seconds to 22 seconds at 22 seconds this thing will activate roughly 9 000 yards from the firing point when that happens it actually fires out of the nose over 360 metallic balls over an area the size of a modern tennis court if you're caught in the open you've probably had it when the bombardment ends the troops stand ready to go in 120 000 british soldiers have been assembled many of them volunteers who have never fought in combat one can only imagine what emotions the ordinary soldiers waiting in the trench to go over the top must have felt anticipation fear resolution fatalism it was not uncommon to write a last letter to your loved one to leave your watch and your wedding ring behind general hague believes the scale of his artillery bombardment means that not even a rat will be alive in the german trenches hague and the british high command were very optimistic they thought that this was going to work in fact hague referred to it as the big push by a few weeks in the soldier started to call it the big f up to make doubly sure that the german trenches will be empty the british have a secret weapon the royal engineers were tasked with digging a series of shallow trenches towards the german defenses and there at the end of these trenches they lay a series of 19 huge mines 7 28 am the mines are detonated the largest containing 60 000 pounds of explosive blows a crater 140 meters wide obliterating nine german dugouts when these mines go off the noise is so loud it's said to be the loudest mad made noise ever made and it could be heard apparently in london but rather than kill the enemy the gigantic mines only serve to alert them it's like a signal to the germans they know what's going to happen next the british are going to advance 7 30 am zero hour the whistles blow british troops stream over the top the result is carnage on the most horrific scale it's going to be the bloodiest day in british history general hague could not have been more wrong the shells have failed not only are the trench rats still alive so are the germans on the som when over a million of these things are fired the enemy are in trenches or they're in dugouts it doesn't touch them it looks effective it isn't though it was horrific and the germans suffered a lot a lot of the time they were far far below ground and although mentally they were ravaged by this bombardment physically they were still able to come out and fight when the british went over the top and worse still one of the jobs of these shells on the sam was cutting barbed wire it proves to be almost totally ineffectual against wire british soldiers advance into a hail of bullets those who managed to get any distance become caught on barbed wire as they struggle helplessly to break free the german machine guns turn the british artillery fire was simply to imprecise to take out all the machine gun positions that were dispersed along the front lines german machine gunners squeeze the trigger and swing their guns snuffing out lives with the horrifying ease of a crop sprayer exterminating pests the scale is almost unimaginable 57 000 casualties on the first day 19 000 dead one soldier is going to die every 5 seconds whole pals battalions are wiped out the communities from which they were recruited will be devastated in some areas it will seem a whole generation of men are lost sons lovers husbands fathers acklington is a good example 75 at least of the men have been either killed wounded or missing in action so there's not a street in akron thing that hasn't been hugely effective by the opening day of the battle of the song 720 acrington pals fight that day just 136 survive it's not just common soldiers on the first day three quarters of the officers leading them into battle are killed or injured officers led from the front with a pistol in one hand and a whistle in the other so they were right at the front of these attacks britain's imperial officer class had been among the most enthusiastic supporters of the war their numbers swelled by recruits from britain's elite private schools looking forward to the adventure but this class too will be devastated even before the end of 1914 you find george the fifth exclaiming that all of our friends are dying in this horrible war this was the literate class the class would go into politics the natural leaders of society by 1916 the composition of the officer class in particular had changed significantly instead of aristocrats you're having to go to the middle classes and even below to find officers to lead men undoubtedly both in terms of a percentage of a demographic and even individuals killed you can say that the losses amongst the aristocracy had an impact on british society as thousands of men are sacrificed thousands more are sent to replace them the somme becomes another bloody futile statement in an effort to break it the british introduce a new spectacular weapon of war the battle of the sun saw the arrival of a major military innovation the tank the official name of the tank was the land ship but when they were being built they resembled large water tanks that's very much what they looked like as they were being put together and so they started being called tanks in order to maintain the secrecy around them and that name has stuck ever since 28 tons a top speed of 3.7 miles per hour the british mark 1 tank is armed with two six pounders and three machine guns on september the 15th 1916 the tanks spearhead an allied assault on fleur corsolet 36 managed to reach the front line but the tanks are so hopelessly unreliable only a few penetrate the german trenches just six tanks were able to reach their objectives the remainder suffered a variety of mechanical breakdowns or became ditched in the shell holes and mud between the trenches most broke down some lost their way and even fired on their own men but the new tanks did land one important psychological blow to the enemy it put the fear of god the tank represented a new and terrible manifestation of industrial warfare as they came clanking and grinding to the smoke and fire of the battlefield bullets simply bounced off them while their own halls were lit with gun flashes as their many weapons engaged the german defenders for the german infantry facing these oncoming behemoths there seemed to be no weapon that could harm them and they were forced to flee in some cases in absolute terror from these metal monsters during the war britain and france will produce six and a half thousand tanks the germans show little interest and make only 20 and they do eventually figure out how to disable them by the battle of amion in 1918 the allies will have over 500 tanks at the end of the first day only 30 percent are still in action the tank makes no significant impact at the sam which ends on saturday november the 18th 1916. the british have lost 420 000 men the french 200 000 but in the end the germans suffer most losing over 600 000 in all 1.2 million men killed or wounded and for what temporary possession of a small area of blood-drenched farmland it is difficult to assign victory or defeat to the battle of the song it was a battle so vast and so costly that it is not easily classified the experienced core of the pre-war german army died in the mud of the somme and the battle from there on will be born increasing by inexperienced conscripts in 1916 combat casualties alone amount to over seven and a half million killed or wounded and for all that sacrifice the territory occupied by the competing imperial powers remains largely unchanged war weariness is setting in not only in the trenches but at home you put everything into 1916 you thought you were going to end the war and you realized that actually no it's going to go on for at least another year we're going to go into 1917 and we're actually going to have to do all of this again next year and the hardship is going to continue the casualties are going to continue and i think for that reason at the beginning of 1917 there's a really subdued atmosphere and a real war weariness setting in at home [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 195,931

Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, ww1, somme offensive, great war, britain's darkest day, bloodiest battle of the war, trench warfare, first day of the somme

Id: WmvPpwux8mw

Length: 44min 58sec (2698 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 10 2021