Battle of the Somme: The Deadliest Battle of WW1 

"If you ever drive the motorways from Paris to Calais and you're not in any rush to move along just take a little side-trip through the green and the rolling hills down through Vimy, Passchendaele, and to the Somme. Stop your car and stand a while and listen to the wind and you just might hear it sing the soldier's song. A distant roll like thunder, and the muffled march of feet, and a ghostly army singing this old song..."

The first day of the Somme was devastating for Newfoundland. The (Royal) Newfoundland Regiment was fighting in Beaumont-Hamel. When they climbed out of the trenches, the German machine guns picked them off. Of the 780 who went to battle, only 68 answered the roll call the next day. They were essentially wiped out. This is why Newfoundland observes Memorial Day on July 1st, the same day as Canada Day. The battle site is now a Canadian national historic site, one of only two sites outside Canada (the other being the Vimy Memorial).

My Paternal Grandfather served in the Marine Corps during WW I. He saw a decent amount of action especially in Belleau Wood in June of 1918. I was fortunate enough to grow up with him and his account of history from the early 1900 through WW II and his return to service as a DI. I was always impressed by what Americans and European people went through during the war. Very difficult times.

My Great Grandad went over the top 3 times at he the Somme and survived til the end of the war. Came back a changed man although he was still a good father to his 7 kids the light had gone from his eyes. He despised Churchill too, blamed him from getting his best friend killed at Gallipoli. Staunch Labour man too.

My current town of residence, Salford (suburb of Manchester) was decimated by this battle. A bunch of guys from Salford fought in the "Salford Pals" in the battle of the Somme, they were some of the first to go over the top. There's a legend that two days after the battle started, a train pulled up in the station and a guy from the train called out "Is this Salford!?" and someone on the platform calls back "Yeah it is!" and train guy calls back "Your guys are all dead!" and then the train pulls out of the station and leaves. Salford Pals had been almost entirely destroyed in the first few hours, and that was most of the young male population. There aren't many Salforders left anymore, the suburb leans almost entirely on immigrants, that is to say usually University students like myself or entrepreneurs looking to make or work in businesses supporting the university.

As a Canadian I'd love a video on Vimy Ridge, which is generally seen as the moment Canada distinguished itself from the British command. The monument there is considered Canadian sovereign land, and even Hitler ordered that the monument be preserved in WWII, himself laying a wreath at its base

I visited WWI's most prominent battlefields in 2017. The most humbling and horrifying things you can still see today in places like Verdun and Passchendaele is absence. What once stood there vanished not to ever return. Trees growing out of still visible craters where entire villages once stood and were all but wiped out by artillery barrages. Enormous graveyards filled with thousands of fallen soldiers. The Lochnagar Crater is pretty impressive even today. I recommend everyone interested in WWI to drive across those field. It is extremely educational as well as eye opening.

On the first day of the Somme, of the 800 men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who went forward, only 110 survived. Their losses were so great that in WWII Newfoundland couldn't field their own regiment.

I'll be honest... every WW1 documentary I have watched in the last 25 years just brings me immediately back to Blackadder Goes Fourth....that series finale...heart wrenching.

Thank you for identifying Pozieres. A ferocious battle for the Australian 1st Division. Extraordinary bravery under heavy shelling. The village and the adjoining Mouquet Farm deserves a full episode on their own.

The first 7 minutes of this video spent talking about the 1st day perfectly set up the rest of the video. The emphasis on lost life, the failures, and the successes set up the truly grand scale of this battle. This is one of my favorite history youtube channels right now for sure.

Honestly, I would love a video on Belleau Wood. With it happening during the Spring Offensive, it would be very interesting in seeing how important it may have been for both sides

Another excellent video! Would love to see more videos about WW1.

We should all be glad we were born after the world wars. What a horrible period of history

7:20 Royal Newfoundland Regiment. On July 1st, 801 went over the top, 68 answered roll the next day The advance on Beaumont-Hamel was the one time in the entire war that the RNFLDR was assigned an objective and failed to reach it

Siegfried Sassoon - Memoirs of an Infantry Officer. He could hear the Welsh fighting in Mametz wood. P.s. Please do the Third Battle of Ypres next!

After going to Belgium and seeing these places, as well as all the mass graveyards and memorials, I can never watch these kinds of videos without getting emotional. Thank you Simon, and the whole Warographics crew for being so honest and frank about the massacre that was the Somme, and the impact it had

The leader of the Australian army, General Sir John Monash, came up with a lot of battle strategies that were used for the first time in WW1. Scary thing is that he almost got pushed out of his job because he was Jewish and born to German parents. He even had to ask his family to write to him only in English because they were checking all his letters...imagine what a difference it could have made 🤔

Both my great grand fathers and both my great grand uncles fought in the Great War (French Army) My great grand Uncle Camille was killed between the 2nd and 3rd Battle of Artois (while digging lateral trenches with his men - he was a Sargent - , preparing for the 3rd assault) ... My great grand Uncle Adrian was at the Battle of Verdun, and survived.... Both my great grand fathers we're not sent to the front, due to their age, and served in the auxillary regiments.... Would be great if Simon could do a video of the Battle of Verdun, where the German Empire's aim was to "Bleed France White", which miserably failed, and bled itself instead....

The British Army fired over a million shells a day for 3 days at the beginning of the Somme. The Germans responded by cutting entire corps when the charge came. It was a meat grinder.

Simon could you cover the role of a few irish regiments during the Somme, the best known is the 36th Ulster Division who were one of the first to successfully reach a German trench

Kind of sad that this is the loss it took for the higher ups to take the lives they threw away more seriously. It's also a big part in what made the Canadian divisions so effective in WW1, their training and competent leadership

Excellent Simon! So much information packed into a relatively short time. As for the battle, such a horrible waste of young men's lives on both sides.

Vimy Ridge needs to be a video. The battle that effectively birthed a nation and proved commonwealth troops were far better than given credit for. Please add in the failures of other nations to take the ridge before the Canadians and the British failure to exploit the victory by being to drunk to fight assuming the Canadians wouldn’t make any progress.

My Great Uncle fought in the Welsh division in the Battle of the Somme. He was 20 years old from the village of Penygroes. He died in 1916. My grandmother still has the letters he sent home, my dad has read them and he doesn’t let me read them since they are so depressing. I will one day soon though I would love to have them properly documented in a museum and make copies. Rest In Peace Huwi

Thanks for covering more than just the first day.

I love the quote from Black Adder when General Melchett said the Tommy’s need something to boost their morale and Black Adder responded with, “General Haig’s resignation and suicide would be in order.” More I’ve learned about his planning behind the Somme operation and planning, or lack there of, and insipid classism makes me realize just how true and accurate that statement really should have been.

Thanks so much for this, Simon, been wondering what a vid on this would be like!

While an American, my maternal grandfather spent 2 1/2 years on the Somme as a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps. We have a commendation for his hospital signed by King George V. He never would talk about his time other than the fine people he served with.

My Great Grandfather was with C Company, 12th Battalion, 27th Regiment Inniskilling Fusiliers, 36th Ulster Division. Joined up in 1912, demobbed in 1919. Survived the entire war. Shot twice and gassed once. The 36th Ulster Division was the only unit to achieve it's objectives on the first day of the Battle, only to be called back by Generals so far behind the lines they had no idea what was going on. So many lives wasted, and for nothing. We Will Remember Them.

I would recommend a future video to be on the Hunt for the Bismarck, when Churchill ordered the Royal Navy's finest to track down and destroy that ONE german ship.

Man, this must have been Somme battle to be talking about it over 100 yrs later. . . I'll see myself out.

Gotta say as well, the updated music on the title screens is so epic, really sets the gloomy mood. Maybe amp it up in future videos?

Ok Simon I did not know which was the best channel for this, I -guessed- this was it. Anyways, would a video about the Berlin Airlift be something that would interest you to learn about and share? I'd like that, if you would please. a good starting point is a book by Edwin Gere called The Unheralded. :) my grandfather Bill is at the bottom of page 232, but Id love to learn more in that compact and concise way you and your writing and editing team do so well. :)

Germany's worst loss was not really that tiny bit of land but the loss of Oswald Boelcke near the end of the battle. That dude wrote the book on air war but you loose some and you gain some, Somme was really the start of another rising star, Manfred von Richthofen or as you might know him: "The red Baron". The battle was really a draw, both sides lost about the same amount of men, learned about the same tactical lessons and the land won was rather tiny. You could argue that the British and French won be default since they had an easier time replacing their losses but Germany did learn how to make far superior air planes which lead to "Black April" 1917 where RFC (RAFs predecessor) lost 245 of 360 air planes. Of course the British did learn from that and so on... But I honestly see no winner in this battle, it competes with Stalingrad for the most miserable battle ever fought. It was poor planning, The idea that you could surprise the enemy when you spent a week firing the heaviest artillery barrage over the area so far seen is just ridiculous. Instead of collecting the right kind of ammunition they stockpiled all kinds they could get their hands on and they assumed neither barbed wire nor humans and their defenses would survive the barrage. And walking straight into machine gun fire works as well as you would think. Sure, now and then there were new ideas and tactics popping up like the tank but if those tactics had been used the first day the battle might have ended differently. Germany also screwed up with constant counter attacks that were far costlier then either side could afford. If the Germans would have slowly backed a bit while the British losses ticked up they would have won but everyone was fighting for a tiny bit of worthless land. One would have thought humanity learned from this and we never had a trench war again but then Korea happened and while people rarely talks about it, it is bloody hard to see the difference between photographs from the Western front and from the trenches of Korea.

So, Darling how we doing? We've advanced this far, general. Oh splendid. On a scale of one to one, sir. Bittersweet comedy.

Over 1m dead in 140 days.... over 7,5k a day.... 5 every minute. Of all the wars ever, this is the one I'm glad i wasn't around for the most.

Yay another Warographics video! Just in time for dinner! And yes I watched all of the others XD Very good content keep up the spectacular work Simon and Team!

Just popped across the channel. Done subscribed and browsed vids. This looks fun. Cheers.

Please do battle of Beaumont Hamel. a significant ww1 battle for the people where im from, Newfoundland

There's a preserved New Zealand steam locomotive (AB 608) that was named 'Passchendaele' in either 1915 or 1916. She's a memorial locomotive for NZ soldiers who served in WW1, especially the Battle of the Somme. I know this'll sound dumb, but every time I hear Simon say 'no man's land' it reminds me of Blackadder.

I watch this channel like it’s prime time television

Fun Fact: My Great Great Granddad Fought In The Battle Of The Somme. He Was One Of The Survivors Of The French Army. Around 10 Years After The Battle, 1926, He Moved To Canada, Met My Great Great Grandmom, & Had My Great Grandmom.

Tsingtao, Tannenberg, Sinai, Kilamenjaro, and Gallipoli would be cool to cover as well.

Anyone visiting the Somme should go see the Anzac memorial and esp the town of Villers Bretonneux (The place recaptured by the Aussies and held. They still fly the satisfied flag and sing that national anthem!)

9:47 What's up with this photo? It's clearly from WWII. It's even mentioned in the source...

this was very good. a bit dark, which we always like :D

Good video 👍

Thank you very much. Great video about this battle, which was ultimately the downfall of the only German General that the British feared (Erich von Falkenhayn). I just wonder - as a German and descendant of WW1 veterans - why Falkenhayn was forced to stray away from the very succesful tactics of the beginning of the counterattack to Verdun (leaving the first trenches with only a small number of soldiers, having most soldiers securely sheltered during the barrages and having them rush into the trenches as soon as possible after the barrage). I know that he ordered this, and that he ordered about one months into the Somme battle that front line trenches had to be manned fully (meaning sooo many deaths). I always attribute that to an order of the Kaiser Wilhelm II. to him, but I couldn't find anything definitive on that. Maybe Ludendorf (who is the most overrated commander of WW1 ever, much worse than Haig) had his stinky fingers in it, though...

I'd like you to cover the Anarchist take-over of Canaan in the late 2nd Millenium B.C.E, described in the Amarna Letters.

back in the day i went on joint operation too with my friends we went in to the woods and smoked a joint

The Battle of the Somme reminds us of the fragility of life and the importance of preserving peace. May their sacrifice inspire us to build a better future.

Should do Vimy Ridge. I believe it's one of the most successful applications of the creeping barrage.

WW1 was the last war that honour and compassion among both sides existed. Allowing the gathering of the dead and wounded, the willingness to fight for ones country but still display compassion to your enemy. Even laying down your arms to kick a ball around on a shared holiday. Every war after was different, ideologies had jaded people and modern warfare, with long range rockets, aerial combat and eventually nukes, made it so you didn't have to look at your enemy anymore, it took the honour and compassion away from war. War was always ugly and grim, but at least there was a sense of honour before, now it's just ugly and grim, the honour is gone.

I found out no long ago that my great, great uncle went over the top on the first day as part of the 1/2 Battalion the London Regiment. Not long after he was shot and died of his wounds some weeks later.

Hey I have just watched your side projects video about Oliver plunketts head in Drogheda(my home town). You should do a warographics video on the siege of Drogheda, it use to be a large walled city until Oliver Cromwell came and massacred the town, to the extent that one of our streets ran red with blood and is now called scarlet street

Excellent as always….but just to be picky, that quote was from the first episode of Blackadder, not the last. Though the final scene of the final episode is still one of the most powerful a comedy has ever produced IMO.

Of the Accrington Pals, that battalion of 1,000 untried and unprepared men, 234 were killed and 350 wounded. Almost every family in Accrington hod lost somebody. At first the Town Hall hid the truth, but as news filtered through via letters home from field hospitals and returned casualties, it gradually dawned that something terrible had happened. The people laid siege to the Town Hall, dragged the Mayor out and forced the news out of him. It has often been said, and I can believe it, that the little town of Accrington never recovered from that ‘brilliant advance of July the First’. This has been taken for a website about the Accrington Pals, one of the smallest towns to raise a Pals battalion.

My great great-grandfather died in Flanders fields. About 2 weeks before the armistice :(

Rest In Peace to those that passed away.

"Two and a half million people is a little more than the entire population of Houston, Texas; all with a helmet and a rifle...". In other words, not all that different than Houston, Texas sans the helmet...

Battle of Somme aka the birth of the modern warfare and the moment things got real for both sides.

I've been to the Thiepval monument, 50.000 names of men that went missing during the Battle of the Somme. And that's just the missing ones, not even the ones that were killed. Absolute madness.

Haha now I can understand what they ment in Peaky Blinders when mentioning being "at the Somme"

My birthday is on the 1st of July and as a kid I got a book about natable events that happened in history that event. On the cover was a picture from the first day of the battle of Somme.

Looking at all the empty shell around 4 minutes 19 seconds in is more than I can comprehend or imagine it is unbelievable yet it did happen and then other pictures of piles of shells really makes me wonder how could we do that to each other this is insanity

Probably a controversial point, but I don’t think Haig deserves the reputation as a butcher which he started getting well after the fact. At the end of the day, he did the best job he could with what he had and as Simon pointed out, he wanted to wait until his troops were better trained and he wanted to attack in a different location. Unfortunately he was overruled and given the command to attack at the Somme to try and take pressure off the French at Verdun.

My great-great uncle is 'buried' at Pozieres. I say that, but they never found his body. He was also only a couple weeks shy of 18, as he was one of the many who lied about their age to enlist.

Another great video on this channel or another would be of the tunnel rats battles. While others were fighting above ground, mainly minners, were digging and fighting underground. Battle of Messines would be a good start but there was plenty of others.

16:48 That’s an Albatross DII 16:51 That’s an Albatross DIII, that didn’t appear until January 1917

13:54 that was my great grandfather’s 1st action of ww1

Finally. I've been waiting for this video.

It should be noted, that the ~2,000,000 shells fired at the German lines at the Somme in the last week of June 1916 were grossly insufficient to weaken the well entrenched troops. In fact, the British expended 3,500,000 shells in the "week of suffering" nine months later in preparation for the Battle of Arras on a front half the width, a lesson learned at the Somme. And even that bombardment was not sufficient for a decisive breakthrough.

No combat training. Grand.

You should do a video on the battle of Beaumont-Hamel. On that one day, 800 Newfoundlanders (still under British flag) went into battle and only 68 survived. Newfoundland only had about 240,000 as a total population at the time, mostly made up of tiny communities. The adult male populations of some villages were almost completely wiped out. That was just ONE battle of many they took part in. Eventually, King George said that that Newfoundland had given enough and no more soldiers were to be taken from the colony.

I’m glad I missed all these wars.

‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ by Wilfred Owen is the best poem about the Somme attack. What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? - Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, - The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blind

What I can't ever grasp is...how did 2 million soldiers stay fed? how did they go to the bathroom, how was their cloths washed (even were they?), how could they even truck the required amount of stuff to the front. Like being an outsider, I feel like I have a small clue into the logistics of modern wars, but 100 years ago, when trucks were substantially less capable than they are today, and horses were still in heavy use...how did it all work?

The Recorded volume on this is too low compared to other programs and Ads. I can barely hear it with volume at maximum .

Would love a video on the battle of Tannenberg

The creeping barrage I believe was first used against the Ottoman Empire? Can't remember exactly, all I know is that it's a tactic that requires bigger balls than any other 😬

Do one on the battle of Rzhev

As a veteran, WWI is scary as fuck

Holy crap Simon hosts this channel also? Don't get me wrong I love Simon but where does he find time to host all of these channels?

Ultimately. It probably was necessary. It did inflict losses on the German Army that they could not replace. And it gave the British Army valuable experience in how to fight a modern war.

So until the tank did it just ultimately make more sense to be defensive? Attacking such entrenched positions seems genuinely insane and so wasteful.

WW1 in a nutshell: see how many men volunteer to be in front of a firing squad

2:20 Lord Kitchener. Ontario Canada renamed the southern Ontario city Berlin to Kitchener in 1916. This was done by a referendum vote and passed by a narrow margin as there were a large amount of local people of German heritage. Also for interest the neighboring city is named Waterloo. While German heritage has decreased in the last 100 years the area still hosts the largest annual Octoberfest in North America

And there's the kick-off.

paused the vid at 7:27 to look at the faces of the recruits… the youthfulness about them really hit home. Most were my age or close to it :/ sad to think about my entire HS class gone after one day in a large battle

They did call Haig the butcher for his lack of caring about his men , but after the war he dedicated much of his life to help ex solders. Think he’s a complex figure who besides getting pressured from above I don’t think realized the sheer amount of death his decisions made. Casualties are just numbers on a page until you see the people those numbers represent. We treat those that suffer from PTSD back then they were shot for cowardice.

I know this will not be overly popular, but some credit should be given to Oberst Fritz von Loßberg, the Chief of Staff of the 2nd, later the 1st Army, tasked with organising the defense of the Somme salient when the fecal matter hit the fan. He was effectively the commander for that area through the system of the German General Staff, which gave the army and corps commanders staff officers from the General Staff, who could in fact appeal directly to the Kaiser if there was an insoluble dissent between them and their nominal superiors. He was the German defense specialist and fireman in all closely fought battles on the western front, 2nd Champagne, Somme, Arras, Passchendale ...

Can we get a video of Belleau Wood? That would be great. Thanks

I watched an interesting piece on why the Battle of the Somme was so deadly for the British on the opening day. The biggest take away was that the first waves of troops were overburdened with supplies that follow-on waves should have been carrying. I'm not talking about extra bullets, grenades and medical supplies. No these guys were carrying in comm wire, typewriters, ladders, barbed wire, sand bags, shovels, repair equipment and tools, and a multitude of other non-essential equipment and gear. The first couple of waves should've been assaults troops - very light loads so they can get to their objective quickly, get in, open a breach, and allow follow-on troops to pour in. Having said this hindsight is 20/20 and there are multiple failures across all levels that contributed. If I remember correctly, the French were really pushing the British to speed up the assault of the Somme to help ease the pressure at Verdun. Also, the Brusilov Offensive pulled very valuable and needed troops from Verdun and the Somme and who knows what would've happened if that offensive didn't occur.

Listening to this just makes me think of "The Wipers Times" and how one of their satirical pieces was a fictional "expert" on the war stating "So, as you can see, all we need is one final big push to the finish! Or two. Maybe three. Four, at the very most!"

Sabaton just realized a motorhead cover of 1916

Would love to see an episode on The Battle on the Plains of Abraham

Please do more videos on WW1.

You shouldncover the newzeland musket wars at some point. Its a pretty interesting part of newzealand and britains military history

I would recommend the Tanker War during the Iran-Iraq war. The oil blockade has some parallels to our current grain blockade in Ukraine. Albeit with less ships sunk