About | The Battle of the Somme

Fought: 1 July - 18 November 1916

Total casualties: 1,088,907 (both sides)

Killed: 310,486 (19,240 British soldiers were slain on the first day)

Objective: Part of a co-ordinated plan to attack the German Army on the Western Front, the Eastern Front and the Italian front and squeeze them from all sides

Outcome: Huge losses on both sides; German Army said to have lost final remnants of its pre-war professional army, weakening its long-term fighting ability