The most tragic battle in history: 141 days of fighting, nearly 1.34 million casualties, up to 1 day loss of nearly 60,000 people
Wars are tragic, they have brought pain to the people of various countries, and wars are bound to be accompanied by a large number of deaths. Today we want to talk about the First World War, although there were not many countries involved in the First World War, and it did not have the wide scope of the Second World War, but its tragic degree and the death of personnel were not inferior to the Second World War. Among them, the Battle of the Somme River is the most tragic, in this battle the death toll of both sides reached 1.34 million, the battlefield is already a hell on earth, and corpses are everywhere. Even some countries today don't have as many people as 1.34 million.
In the First World War, Britain, France and Germany were the protagonists, and the two sides of this battle were these three countries. At that time, There was a battle between Britain and France to break the German defensive positions on the Somme and then drive the Germans out of France. The plan was to have the British as the vanguard and the French to assist in the task of containing the Germans.
Many may ask why the British were the protagonists on French territory, because most of the French army was taking part in another battle, the Battle of Verdun, also known as the "Verdun Meat Grinder", in which Germany and France invested more than 100 divisions. Therefore, France did not have many troops to invest in the Battle of the Somme, and the British army could only play the leading role in this time.
Verdun is an important town in France and a major transportation route to the capital, Paris, and its strategic position is very important. The French heavily defended the Germans under this unit, and the battle caused a total of 750,000 casualties. On this side of the Somme, the British and French forces hoped to break through this area, so that the pressure on the French army in Verdun would be greatly reduced.
But the British and French troops may not have imagined that the German Second Army was deployed on the Somme, well-equipped and well-fortified. In order to block the British army, the Germans built a three-tier defense system here, a total of 30 positions.
Moreover, the position of these positions is relatively high, and various fortifications are crisscrossed. The Germans also equipped the trenches with kitchens, hospitals, and even washing machines, which could also generate electricity and lighting, which was very convenient, showing how well prepared the Germans were.
The British side was obviously not so well prepared, and the British army was in a low place and could only attack from the back, so it was at a disadvantage. Moreover, the British army had no water source, so they had to dig their own wells, and built more than 700 kilometers of railways to transport supplies. So in every way they were not as prepared as the Germans.
The battle lasted a total of 4 months, with the British committing 54 divisions, the French investing 32 divisions and the Germans investing 67 divisions. Therefore, the British and French armies had a certain advantage in numbers.
After the war began, the British shelled the Germans for a week, but because the Germans hid in underground bunkers, they did not cause too many casualties. When the British began to charge, the German Maxim machine gun became the protagonist, killing 60,000 British troops in one day.
The British attack was unfavorable, but the French were relatively smooth, resulting in heavy German casualties. But the Germans were still very tenacious and blocked the French attack. After that, the two sides drew troops to fight back and forth, but the British and French troops advanced very slowly, and the casualties were very large.
Later, the British and French troops were transferred, and the Germans also brought in troops, and the British army began to fight a war of attrition. By the beginning of September, the British army used tanks for the first time, and the battlefield became a hell on earth. By mid-November, supplies had been lost on both sides, and casualties had been tragic. The battle lasted 141 days, and in the end neither side was victorious.
In this battle, the British suffered 450,000 casualties, the French suffered 340,000 casualties, and the German casualties reached 540,000, a total of 1.34 million casualties, and the Battle of the Somme became the most tragic and bloody battle of the First World War.
Reference: Battle of the Somme in World War I