The Battle of Somme was one of the battles fought during World War I. It was fought between the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German forces. The grisly battle took place from July to November 1916 and is deemed as one of the most bitter and costly battles of World War I.
Let us take a look at The Battle of Somme- in pictures.
1) On June 24, 1916, the Allied forces attempted to cut the barbed wire in front of the German lines. To do this they began a seven-day bombardment. Shockingly, over 1.5 million shells were fired during this time!
2) A piper of the 7th Seaforth Highlanders walking with four men of the Australian 26th Brigade back from the trenches after the attack on Longueval.
3) Men of the 1st Anzac Corps, some wearing German helmets, strike a pose for the camera after fighting near Pozieres Ridge.
4) A picture depicting a British troop dressing the wounds of a German prisoner near Bernafay Wood.
5) Artillery fire lights up the sky during the attack on Beaumont Hamel during the Battle of Somme, July 2, 1916.
6) The men of the Royal Irish Rifles regiment rest during the beginning of the Battle of the Somme.
7) A 2-ton explosive detonates under the German front line at Hawthorn Redoubt. It was fired 10 mins before the assault at Beaumont Hamel. And it consequently left a crater 130 feet (40 m) across and 58 feet (18 m) deep.
8) British 34th Division soldiers advance towards the German forces on the first day of the Battle of Somme, July 1, 1916.
9) A picture depicting wounded British troops walking back from the front lines.
10) A picture depicting troops from the Indian Cavalry Division of the British Indian Army, 1916.
11) French soldiers prepare to advance towards the German forces.
12) A picture depicting soldiers sitting in the trenches of the wood called Des Fermes in the Somme.
13) An aerial view of a French attack during the Battle of Somme.
14) A French soldier looks over the edge of a trench, 1916.
15) A picture depicting the artillery depot behind German lines during the Battle of Somme.
16) A picture depicting German soldiers carrying the Lewis gun equipment.
17) A picture depicting a German field telephonist communicating artillery requests from the front lines.
18) German prisoners carry wounded British soldiers during the attack on Trones Wood.
19) A picture depicting men building barbed wire obstacles on the Somme, September 1916.
20) A German cannon gets buried under uprooted trees in Louage Wood during an Allied attack, October 10, 1916.
21) A picture depicting British troops eating their rations in the Ancre Valley during the Battle of Somme.
22) Gas-masked troops of the British Machine Gun Corps with a Vickers machine gun.
23) The 39th Siege Battery, RGA in action in the Fricourt-Mametz Valley.
24) Horses haul artillery forward in deep mud along the Lesboeufs Road outside Flers, November 1916.
25) A picture depicting a German soldier walking through the ruined streets of Peronne, November 1916.
