The First day of the Somme (1916) 

The first day of the Somme has been called the worse day in the history of the British Army.

An entire generation lost in a day...

"Clearly, Field Marshal Haig is about to make yet another gargantuan effort to move his drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin." -- Capt Blackadder

My great uncle Albert was killed at the battle of the Somme. Was only 18. RIP to all soldiers who lost there lives in ww1

This was very timely. I have to do an essay on the Somme in a few days. Great informative video.

“Friday, June 30, 1916 My dearest Mother and Dad, I’m writing this letter the day before the most important moment in my life... The day has almost dawned when I shall really do my bit [for] the cause of civilization. Tomorrow morning I shall take my men - men whom I have hot to love, and who, I think, have got to love me- over the top to do our bit in the first attack in which the London Territorials have taken part as a whole unit. I’m sure you will be very pleased to hear that I’m going over with the Westminsters. The old regiment has given the most ticklish task in the whole of the Division; and I am very proud of my section... my two particular machine-guns have been given the two most advances, and therefore most important, positions of all- and honour that is coveted by many. I took my Communion yesterday with dozens of others who are going over tomorrow... I have a strong feeling that I shall come through safely; but nevertheless, should it be God’s Holy Will to call me away, I am quite prepared to go... and you, dear Mother and Dad, will know that I died doing my duty to my God, my Country, and my King. I ask that you look upon it as an homour... I wish I had time to write more, but time presses... I fear I must close now. Au revoir... fondest love to all those I live so dearly... Your devoted and happy son, Jack” Second Lieutenant John Sherwin Engall, 16th London Regiment, a letter written home on the day before the start of the Somme offensive. Engall was killed in action the following day.

JRR Tolkien was there, so incredible that he lived through such horror and in return gave the world such great Joy.

Weird seeing that last guy at the end heading into the mist/smoke with his rifle and his fellow soldiers gone ahead of him, I wonder what he saw on the other side of that mist/smoke.

I've visited the Somme, you can sense the scenes that happened there in the air. There was a tree known by the soldiers that collected over 3000 bodies throughout the opening days of the Somme when the soldiers were sent over the top, that tree was as far as any of them would make it...

Thank you for posting about this. I have a personal interest in the bottle of Somme. I had a great uncle who fought and died in the Somme. He was an Anzac soldier. He was shot in the chest but survived due the bullet going through a prayer book in his shirt pocket. He survived for 3 days at a field hospital but died after the Germans bombed the hospital. His prayer book, a letter from his parents and other personal effects are in the Canberra war memorial Australia. They can only be viewed in private by family. Very cool stuff on this channel.

No one suffered more in terms of proportionality during the 1st day of the Battle of the Somme than the Newfoundland regiment at Beaumont-Hamel. Over 90% of the regiment was wiped out during the first day alone.

You guys should do some vids about medieval Europe

Why where the told to walk over no mans land?

Some songs written about the Somme -Battle of the Somme -Bloody road to the Somme -Willie McBride/Green Fields of France -Ghost of the Somme

The sheer scale of the Battle of the Somme is both staggering and heartbreaking. Let us remember the courage and sacrifice of those who endured unimaginable hardship.

"The day not half over, and 10000 slain, and now there's nobody that remembers our names" 1916 by Motorhead.

We must never forget that a lot of the brittish army under ww1 was under age. Indeed the youngest person to have ever been in the war was 12 years of age. The brittish army was so much in need of men, that no ID or further was needed. Therefor you could lie about your age.

This was really cool to learn about, My great grandfather was one of the few Irish soldiers to fight in the battle and survive

"Somme Public Baths: no running, shouting, or piddling in the shallow end." -- Capt Blackadder

Great vid as always, guys, keep up the good work.

Canada lost 24,000 in the Battle of the Somme.

I love learning about ww1. And this really helped explain the motives of Somme

Nice!!! You should make more of these!

I really love this channel! Keep it up.

It's fairly incredible how fast the conscripted British army evolved from an inefficient to highly efficient fighting force when you look at the the difference between the army during 1915-16 and battles like Galipoli and the Somme compared to 1917-18 at Messines, San Quieten Canal or the rest of the Hundred Days offensive.

Jrr Tolkien was in the battle of Somme

Great vid I love ur channel keep up the good work

WWI factions: Canada

This channel is amazing

Who else is here for history work in lockdown ✌️

This is very helpful thanks

This actually is helping me for the revision of me gcses thanks !! Definitely subscribing....

My great or great great grandfather fought in WW1. His name was Michael Brown. He fought with the Dublin fusiliers. I do not know if he fought in The Battle of the Somme but he survived WW1.

thanks for free content at my history class :)

Just skilled through my history homework thanks dude

This helped me with my homework. Thanks ( :

Those poor young souls went to the trenches, thinking that their lives' adventure. It was not an adventure.

Lol im gonna use this in my history project because it is really helpful so thanks! :3

I went to Beaumont-Hammel and saw the same place, the rest of my group (children) who usually joked around and had fun, was quiet. It was raining that day and you can feel the eerieness in the air, there were bomb creators and trenches and the same tree where over 3000 people died right there infront of me even 107 years later.

YOU DESERVE 100MILLION SUBS GREAT VIDEO

Mind blowing how the large chunk of military deaths from WW1 were from just a few weeks total of intense battles like these.

Had seven relatives on my paternal side and two on my maternal side in this battle for the British, which is pretty staggering all things considered. 3 dead, 5 wounded (two with missing limbs/one shot through the stomach) and two made it through unscathed.

Great video thank you

Simple History plz do the battle of Arras with the underground tunnels and caves such as wellington cave etc. and the battles and defence of Ypres!

My great grandfather fought in this battle and he survived it to tell the stories of horror to my father. He still had pieces of bullets In his legs when he died

“How could it be worth it?,We’ve been sitting here since Christmas 1914 and during that time millions of men have died and we’ve moved no farther then an asthmatic ant with heavy shopping” Captain Edmund Blackadder,no words were more true then that

Keep up the great stuff

Amazing video!

A vid on the 36th Ulster is needed for missing them out on this (and I know they were a division in the British army)

Is The Horse sound from AOE? i think that the background music is also from AOE ...simple history your videos rock

Literally summarized a 1 hour lecture in 2 minutes.

nice video, and can you make the about battle of Jutland? that is one of the largest naval battle in World war one

1:10 if you turn on captions, it says "General failure."

Britain: TO SOOOOMMEE (later) Britain: RETREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAT

I don't speek so much english but this channel is one of the best

This helped a lot on a comic I am making for the 104th anniversary of the battle!

The artillery fire before the attack (that lasted a week) was so powerful that it was heard in London.

WW1 Factions: The Canadian Army

On remembrance day at my school they put up the same footage you put at the end of the video

Great video

Pretty sure if you're going to open the battle with an 8 day artillery barrage, the enemy will know you are coming.

Fun Fact: Jrr Tolkien, The writer of Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit fought in this war and survived.

You guys should do the 1st and 2nd battle of the Marne

I love your videos

Kaiserschlacht next plss

Do we have to wait four more years until you guys cover the massacre that was the Meuse-Argonne offensives?

16 years old when i went to the war…

Fascinating

Imagine 58,000 casualties in one day in 2020 and how your country would react ..

"16 years old when i went to the war to fight for a land fit for heros god on my side and a gun in my hand chasing my days down to zero" - motarhead 1916 song

You should make a video on the 36th ulster division and the 16th Irish regiment

Could you please add English subtitles? Thank you very much for your awesome videos

*We are no longer innocent...we are lost to this war...from home....we do not know such things*

My ancestor fought here. He was one of the young men. Thankfully he survived

I went to this place a few days ago

I like this Channel I Subcribed And I liked it

*The attack on the German positions was preceded by a week of artillery bombardment, where the British fired around 1.5 million grenades, in addition to ten tunnels dug under German trenches that were filled with explosives of 20 tons each. They thought that reaching the German trenches was going to be a Sunday walk, but the opposite happened, the Germans massacred them.*

what about the paramilitary groups like the Czechoslovakian Legion, polish Legion, Finnish Jager movement, or Lawrence of Arabia's phantom army?

That was a brutal battle.

This is quite interesting

Adolf Hitler and JRR Tolkien were both in the battle of the Somme. Interesting to think they shared a battlefield before each of them were famous (or infamous).

I'll admit I've only started to be interested in the Great War because of bf1 I was originally a major world war 2 nut

This video should be longer!

RIP boys....gone but NEVER forgotten

Why didn't you include the Royal Newfoundland regiment?

" Everyone you kill has a family and a soul" - Isaac.leon

1 million congrats

Though this video didn’t mention that france deployed 59 divisions for the battle of La Somme, and this battle was co-planned by Marie Émile Fayolle and Henry Rawlinson, i still like it very much.

can you do a ep about canada

This is Awesomme

You should do the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.

This is making me cry 😭😭😭 These are really sad things that happened in the history of our earth.

Well, at least that day wasn't a monday

the newfoundland regiment was almost wiped out in somme

Bapaume was also a major battleground next door.

i loveeee this guys voice

Its critical to emphasize that many, and eventually most, of those ordered into the trenches were NOT volunteers. They were conscripted; FORCED by their governments to go to The Killing Fields. That is a very, very important point indeed.

Fun Fact: JRR Tolkien fought in this battle.

Can you do one on the battle of yepes