Somme's First Day: 19,000 British Soldiers Killed
British forces suffered 19,000 killed and 40,000 wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, making it the bloodiest single day in British military history. Soldiers walked into uncut barbed wire and functioning machine-gun nests after a week-long bombardment failed to destroy German defenses. The catastrophe forced a fundamental rethinking of infantry tactics and artillery coordination.
July 1, 1916
110 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on July 1
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