First day on the Somme 1916
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 1 July 1916 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1916 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War I era (1914–1918) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle of Albert, Battle of the Somme | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.0167, 2.6833 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The first day on the Somme (1 July 1916) was the beginning of the Battle of Albert (1–13 July) the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme (1 July–18 November) in the First World War. Nine corps of the French Sixth Army and the British Fourth and Third armies attacked the German 2nd Army (General Fritz von Below). The attack was from Foucaucourt south of the Somme, northwards across the Somme and the Ancre to Serre and Gommecourt, 2 mi (3.2 km) beyond, in the Third Army area. The objective of the attack was to capture the German first and second defensive positions from Serre south to the Albert–Bapaume road and the first position from the road south to Foucaucourt.
The German defence south of the road mostly collapsed and the French had complete success on both banks of the Somme, as did the British from Maricourt on the army boundary with the French northwards. XIII Corps took Montauban and reached all its objectives, XV Corps captured Mametz and isolated Fricourt. The III Corps attack on both sides of the Albert–Bapaume road was a disaster, making only a short advance south of La Boisselle, where the 34th Division suffered the most casualties of any Allied division on 1 July.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First day on the Somme (revision 1370619759), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Leipzig Salient 1916 · 0 km
- Battle of Albert (1914) 1914 · 1 km
- Battle of the Somme 1916 · 1 km
- Capture of La Boisselle 1916 · 1 km
- Capture of Ovillers 1916 · 2 km
- Battle of Albert (1916) 1916 · 3 km
Other battles of the Battle of the Somme
- Attack at Fromelles 1916
- Battle of Albert (1916) 1916
- Battle of Bazentin Ridge 1916
- Battle of Delville Wood 1916
- Battle of Flers–Courcelette 1916
- Battle of Guillemont 1916
- Battle of Le Transloy 1916
- Battle of Morval 1916
- Battle of Thiepval Ridge 1916
- Battle of the Ancre 1916
All 19 battles of the Battle of the Somme →
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