The Battle of the Somme (WW1 Documentary)

the battle of the P was one of the bloodiest of the first world war from July to November 1916 millions of men struggled to fight in mud under crushing shell fire or in a hail of machine gun bullets the PSAL has been a synonym for the futility of trench warfare but also the subject of fierce debate who really won the Battle of the S at the end of 1915 the Allies needed a plan the Central Powers had smashed the Russian army finally crushed Serbia contained Italy defeated The galipoli Landings and stopped the French offensives in the west at shantii Allied planners decided to use their advantage in numbers and agreed on massive summer offensives for 1916 in the east in Italy and in the west French Commander Joseph jofre decided the attack in the west should come along the Som River where the British and French sections of the front met since France had a much larger Army than Britain French forces would take the lead in The Joint operation but in February 1916 the Germans struck first at verun the French army held them off but at Great cost and as the weeks went by Allied planners were forced to adjust the partly untested British Army would now have to shoulder most of the load on the song what was not clear is exactly what the offensive was supposed to achieve other than relieving the growing pressure on Verdun jaf talked about a breakthrough past Pon and bom but the French did not have enough reserves for it British commander Douglas heg also had thoughts about breaking out of the German system of fortification after wearing them down but there weren't any significant Communications hubs or industrial targets immediately behind the German line heg would later say his goal was only attrition but this is still debated amongst historian other generals were more cautious British fourth Army Commander Henry rollinson wanted to advance in short stages to provoke wasteful German counterattacks the French six Army's Commander General Mar fol was frustrated do they want to break through what is the point of this battle attrition they say fighting to wear down the enemy is not enough I think that we simply can't stay inactive in the face of public opinion General dasto was more pragmatic as he informed French president Brian that the battle would take the initiative from the Germans spread out German reserves and bring fresh British armies into action the uncertainty stoked tensions French General Philip pan in command at Verdun demanded the British attack otherwise he might have to give up the city an exaggeration at best the British cabinet worried about French recklessness in the face of losses the French are short on men but they want to do something to further decrease the number the French worried that the British didn't have the stomach for a hard fight despite their suffering at we done what's disgusting is that the British don't give a damn about us the Allies method at least was more clear the failed defensives of 1915 showed that infantry attacking without enough artillery was doomed this time the Allies planned to blast the German defenses with such weight of fire that the Infantry would be able to advance with minimal losses they would do so behind a creeping barrage to keep the Germans heads down while the Infantry C Ross No Man's Land rollinson wanted to focus the Preparatory barrage on the German first line but heg insisted that British guns shell the Germans second lined as well and for Cavalry to move up to exploit a possible breakthrough the German defenses though were strong they' occupied The High Ground in 1914 and many units had been there for a long time they had two main lines of defense and were preparing a third behind that the chalky soil allowed them to dig shelters up to 12 m deep protected from all but the heaviest of shells and their barbed wire was up to 9 M thick their line included several fortified Villages and numerous labyrinth-like routs German second Army Commander Fritz fono planned to defend every inch of ground and retake any trench that was lost despite their strong position the first German line was in plain view of Allied artillery observers and they had too many troops in the vulnerable forward trenches so the stage was set for an Allied offensive on both sides of the s a battle that would see the British Army's worst day in history on June 24th the Allied bombardment began with a weight of fire never before achieved over 2 million shells in the first week alone it impressed stressed and sometimes angered German soldiers like Adolf Shan the superiority of the enemy is immense the buggers want to wear us down and smoke us out using only their technical means it's a lunatic way of War which money and America have created simply to destroy everything and not to advance with a single man the Allies were indeed Superior there were 26 British divisions with, 1300 guns 467 of which were heavy and 12 French divisions with 1,400 guns including 732 Heavies and 309 aircraft they faced eight German divisions with 850 guns of which just 18 were heavy and 104 aircraft some British troops were so confident their artillery had crushed the German positions they expected to be able to Simply occupy the empty enemy trenches but others many facing action for the first time were afraid Captain Charles May wrote to his wife Bessie I do not want to die the thought that I may never see you or our darling baby again turns my bowels to water if I die know through all your life that I loved you and baby with all my heart and soul that you two sweet things were the world to me on July 1st 1916 at 7:30 a.m. British troops went over the top straight into a hail of machine gun and rifle bullets the British artillery barrage had been spread too thin and there weren't enough heavy or high explosive shells not only that but perhaps 30% of British shells were Duds and hadn't even exploded at all the German wire was mostly intact and German dugouts mostly untouched even the massive underground Hawthorne mine that the British blew brought little results German troops came up from their dugouts and opened a murderous fire into the British ranks in no man's land German machine guns and shrapnel cut down the inexperienced British units who walked towards them at a measured Pace according to their training and cut down the experienced British units who used more sophisticated tactics in most places the British didn't even get into the German trenches and where they did the few survivors were no match for German counterattacks the New Finland regiment attacking at buo for example barely made it into no man's land before it was nearly wiped out suffering 86% casualties in the first 20 minutes only in the South did British units manage a reasonable Advance where they had the Good Fortune of help from French artillery a British Sergeant recall called a typical experience away to my left and right long lines of men then I heard the pitter patter of machine guns in The Distance by the time I'd gone another 10 yards there seemed to be only a few men left around me by the time I'd gone 20 yards I seemed to be on my own then I was hit the French had much more success in the South they had more heavy guns had concentrated their fire and were generally more experienced they also had the element of surprise since the Germans did not expect the French could Mount such a large attack while holding it for done they took the German first line on July 1st then the second line the next day advancing up to 7 km and taking 8,000 prisoners for a moment it seemed the town of Pon might be within reach but the French didn't press their advantage since Army Doctrine was now cautious and methodical July 1st 1916 was the worst single day in the history of the British army 57,000 casualties with 19,24 men killed among them Captain Charles May the French lost about 7,000 killed and wounded while the Germans suffered just 10 to 12,000 the reasons for the British disaster have been debated but several aspects are clear the shelling did not destroy enough wire or dugouts to suppress German Defenders and the rolling barrage moved faster than the Infantry could follow some British units though not all As has become a widespread myth Advanced too slowly and the men often went to ground once their officers were hit the British home front was shocked at the scale of the losses especially as many of the new Army's community-based Pal's battalions had badly suffered July 1st had seen British failure and limited French success but the Germans were under pressure both sides prepared for more fighting despite the German success their commanders were still concerned as they had badly underestimated ated Allied strength on July 3rd General fono issued a stark order on the victory of second Army on the S hangs the outcome of the war the battle must be won by us despite the momentary superiority of the enemy and artillery and infantry for now everything depends on holding on to our current positions at all costs and on improving them with small counterattacks I forbid the voluntary evacuation of positions only over corpses May the enemy find his way forward heg briefly considered stopping the offensive and attacking in Flanders which provoked French fears of weak British resolve in a heated meeting on July 3rd jaf smashed his fist on the table and ordered heg to attack London worried that France would collapse without continued help and so they attacked again on July 14th this time things went better for the Brits who after a 5minute hurri hurricane artillery barrage and well-timed rolling barrage captured most of the German second line some Cavalry even saw action near high wood but the Germans forced them to withdraw over the next 2 months the battle then evolved into a series of local British attacks and both sides funneled in reserves given the Russian Italian and French redun offensives were putting pressure on the Central Powers and Romania entered the war on the Allied side in August there was some hope in London and Paris that Germany might crack the British peace meal attacks did inflict losses on the Germans but they were disjointed and only began to shift the balance of attrition in September typical of the many smaller actions to capture tactically advantageous Villages Woods or important trenches was the South African brigade's 5-day stand at Delville wood or the Australian first division's capture of poier many of the assaults failed or broke down into isolated small unit actions in the face of command and control issues once British troops left their own trenches still the British superiority and artillery took its toll the artillery thumps down onto our positions shattering the ground and our nerves with it thankfully the British infantry is useless we can repel their attack with the help of just a single machine gun and a few rifles but their artillery never stops they keep pounding us day and night I really don't know how we're going to survive the Germans counterattacked hundreds of times to retake every position they lost and reorganized their armies the fighting was bitter and both sides regularly shot surrendering enemy when one falls into enemy hands No Quarter can be expected everyone here knows this is the moment of truth and the bitterness is Extreme why take prisoners when one has to lead them back through the shelling the British army did gain valuable experience and practiced new tactics like better coordination between Aviation and artillery improved communication and Logistics more accurate rolling barges and aerial strafing of German trenches they were slowly learning to deal with Kon clus ofit's friction of battle what to do when your plan goes wrong or you cannot exercise direct control over units in contact with the Enemy the French on the other hand didn't have the Reserves to exploit their early success so they conducted smaller attacks to grind down the Germans the much awaited s offensive had bogged down into peacemeal fighting over the summer but that all changed on September 15th with the arrival of a new weapon on the battlefields the British had been working on a weapon to break the trench deadlock for some time an armored vehicle on tracks they referred to as a water tank for secrecy British High command decided to commit its 49 available mark1 male and female tanks to the assault Focus fed on The Villages of flair and coret many British soldiers were as surprised as the Germans just before H hour we heard an unbelievable Racket and I remember saying to myself what the devil is that and the tanks appeared one in our front one farther away we were all absolutely stunned we didn't know what they were because no one told us anything about them it was a Stupify Vision the panicked Germans fled like rabbits British forces captur Flair while Canadian troops stormed coret and took it at the bayonet a local but limited success the tanks however scary they were proved not to be game changers there were too few of them most of them suffered mechanical breakdowns or got stuck before getting into action and they proved vulnerable to German artillery some British officers felt an opportunity had been wasted by giving away the secret weapon before there were enough of them to make a difference the grinding British attacks continued with another large operation on September 25th bringing tval under British control an objective of the very first day but as usual there was another imposing German position waiting right behind it in this case the shra and redout parallel French attacks also made some gains in the south for the men involved like Dr Lou MRE these minor footnotes of History meant a lifetime of trauma images of the prz farm obsessed me bodies piled up in the sap trench filled with po poison gas dead and wounded scattered pel Mel the lack of water that even prevented us from washing our hands the smell of blood urine and [ __ ] the lightly wounded who crouched on the steps of the Dugout the dark masses of flies that covered the ceiling I'll never forget it once again the decisive PM offensive had come to a standstill at the end of September and once again the French grew frustrated with what they saw as British hesitation jafra again pressured heg to attack but this time the British won't launch any more General assaults they felt the troops were exhausted and the fall Reigns have turned what was a muddy Battlefield into a brown swamp smaller costly attacks for tactical improvements though continue the Canadians for example take Regina trench after several failed attempts but the 22 French Canadian Battalion is nearly wiped out to close out the battle Scottish units also managed to take the village of Bulma Amel in November yet another objective originally planned for July 1st after 4 and 1 half brutal months the battle of the psalm was over it may have been the bloodiest battle of the first world war and one of the most controversial casualty figures have been part of the debate today most historians accept 420,000 British Empire troops and 24,000 French soldiers were killed or wounded with German losses between 430 and 500,000 some have claimed German losses were over 600,000 but this was likely to justify the idea of the S as a successful Allied Battle of attrition and the German Army did suffer terrible losses on the S Hindenberg and ludendorf both said so after the war some have called the battle the muddy grave of the German army or even Germany's verun despite the heavy Allied losses the British could replace casualties more easily than the Germans could and the British army learned much from the battle as part of it so-called learning curve the battle did have an impact on German morale as well Alli superiority in men artillery and Aviation didn't result in a breakthrough but for the first time many Germans from regular soldiers to senior officers began to doubt that Germany could win the war psychological casualties amongst the Germans tripled during the battle the Germans concluded that although the battle was a material SCH what really mattered was morale and fighting Spirit but the attrition argument has weaknesses the Allies lost more men than the Germans and the Germans actually suffered fewer losses overall in 1916 than they did in 1915 the German Army also grew in 1917 though it lost somewhat inequality although the Germans did stop their attacks at verun they also still had the ability to transfer 15 divisions East during the S offensive to deal with Russia's brusilov offensive and Romania's entry into the war in August if measured by the standard of heg and joff's alleged desire for a breakthrough through the Som was an Allied failure they only penetrated about 10 km deep and 25 km wide into the German lines and captured no operationally significant objectives and when they did Advance they couldn't get through the German defenses faster than the Germans could prepare new ones just a bit further back given the Allies used 106 divisions on the p and the Germans only 57 and a half it cannot be said that the Allies succeeded in applying their Superior Force effectively from the German point of view they prevented a breakthrough and stopped an offensive of 2.5 million Allied troops using just 1.5 million of their own even so after the battle General heg declared Victory but not just yet the enemy's power has not yet been broken nor is it yet possible to form an estimate of the time the war May last before the objects for which the Allies are fighting have been attained but the S battle has placed Beyond doubt the ability of the Allies to gain those objects the battle of the S wasn't decisive but the Allies failed to achieve their most important objectives they did relieve pressure on Verdun but they didn't break the German Army by attrition and they didn't achieve a breakthrough the Germans on the other hand prevented a breakthrough and inflicted more casualties on the enemy while retaining their ability to move reserves East a result that can be considered a defensive victory for Germany even though their overall strategic situation was still bleak the battle also had an impact in other ways the Germans decided to prepare the shorter Hindenburg line and to adopt new tactics to conserve Manpower it contributed to the removal of jaf and falkenhein as commanders and chief it led to Germany embarking on an accelerated arms building program to keep Pace with the allies and it began the age of armored Warfare the psalm also marked the start of a much more important role for the British Army on the Western Front and was the first time that British Society was faced with the full horror of mass casualties of industrial warfare that's why more than any other battle the psalm still dominates British memory of the war more than a century on not every battle has the same place in British history as the S not even in the second world war for example you might not have heard about the last setpiece battle in the west where the Allied Forces under Bernard Montgomery attacked from the Dutch border into the German re and eventually cross the mighty Ryan River operations varsity and plunder often get overlooked in World War II document countries even though they were the last large scale engagements on the Western Front of 1945 featuring intense fighting of British Canadian American and German forces and resulted in the biggest single day Airborne drop of the entire War if you want to learn more about the Battle for the Ry check out our documentary series rhin line 45 which was filmed on original location features detailed maps and animations and expert and Veteran interviews unfortunately we can upload Rin line 45 to YouTube Because of its uncompromising portrayal of the vicious fighting so where can you watch Shand 45 on nebula a streaming service we're building together with other creators where we don't have to worry about YouTube's advertising guidelines and the mighty algorithm if you sign up at nebula.com also produce original content that they couldn't upload on YouTube if you want even more second world war content check out the Battle of Britain series by real engineering for example that's nebula.jpg and this is a production of realtime history the only History Channel that doesn't flee like rabbits at the sight of a tank

Channel: The Great War

Views: 132,854

Keywords: History, World War 1, WW1, First World War, Documentary, Documentary Series, The Great War, Indy Neidell, 1919, Interwar Period, 1920s, Educational, Russian Civil War, Revolution, Interbelum

Id: 9BD1EcPZjCM

Length: 22min 25sec (1345 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2024