Battle of the Somme - World War I - HISTORY.com

Nicholas Efstathiou - Mr. Efstathiou; To keep this battle in the PROPER historical perspective, there were approximately 19,000 more American casualties during the Battle of Vicksburg than there were American casualties during the Battle of the Somme.

PS - The Battle of the Somme WAS fought in 1916 and not 1918 as the article originally states.

SSgt Trevor Smith - Staff; The Battle of the Somme is probably the "best" example of what happens when people who have no actual experience in the type of warfare then being conducted attempt to put untried doctrine into effect using unproven methods and against an enemy force which is fully capable of using the weaponry that it has effectively.

Fascinating Battle. Thanks for the Reminder of this Significant Battle.

Thanks for sharing! The Somme is one of my favorite WWI studies. I have dozens of books about it, as well as a number of books filled purely with letters and diary entries of soldiers that were there. The Somme was one of the longest battles of WWI, and it had one of the highest casualty rates of the war. The British leadership touted it as the offensive to end the war. One of the major things that contributed to the enormous numbers of casualties on the first day was that British leadership felt it would be better for the soldiers to walk (not run) behind the rolling artillery barrage and be right at the trench line when the rolling barrage stopped. Went the artillery stopped short and early however, all those men were faced with walking in to an uncermountable wall of machine gun and rifle fire in the wide open of no mans land. The first day of th Somme was a dark day on the wester front and for the British leadership who thought they would finally achieve the upper hand with this offensive.