Battle of Somme

Who?

Germans

British, French, South Africans, and Australians

What?

Battle of Somme

World War I battle

Lots of casualties

Trench warfare

Both sides dug in and
lobbed shells
at each other

British lost 20,000 on first day

750,000 total losses

first industrial war with machine guns, tanks, and poison gas

Where?

Somme region of northern Europe

area between trenches called "No Man's Land"

Bloody battles fought at Devil's Wood and Mametz Wood

When?

fought between July and November of 1916

Why?

British and French wanted to distract Germans who were fighting at Verdun