The battle took place during the First … The casualties sustained on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme totalled 57,470, of which 19,240 were fatal. The Casualties. Known in Britain as The Battle of Albert (July 1 through July 13, 1916), the start to the Battle of the Somme was a portent of the slaughter to come. The Battle of the Somme was one of the most bitterly contested and costly battles of the First World War, lasting nearly five months.Despite this, it is often the first day of the battle that is most remembered. On July 1st 1916, 20,000 British soldiers died on the very first day of the Battle of the Somme and today they were honoured in an extraordinary poignant ceremony. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. The Battle of the Somme lasted more than four months, but a single half hour on a single day, the day the battle started, is burned into Newfoundlanders’ hearts.. July 1, 1916, was the day the men of the Newfoundland Regiment advanced into a blizzard of machine-gun bullets as they tried to cross no man’s land and overrun German trenches at Beaumont Hamel. With “only” 7000 total casualties the French do not remember this day as particularly noteworthy, lost in World War I, a war of many horrific days. The offensive began on 1 July 1916 after a week-long artillery bombardment of the German lines. Figurines representing each of the 19,240 British soldiers who died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme are laid out in a park. Overall, the first day on the Somme was a failure for the Allied forces. O ne hundred years ago today remains the worst day in British army history, as 19,240 soldiers lost their lives on the first day of the battle of the Somme. The French lost about 200,000, and Germans casualties are estimated at 500,000. The Newfoundland Regiment Battalion ration strength on June 30, 1916, was 1044 all ranks, including administrative staff and attached personnel. At the heart of the assault were men from these Pals battalions. First Battle of the Somme, (July 1–November 13, 1916), costly and largely unsuccessful Allied offensive on the Western Front during World War I. Then you can access your favorite statistics via the star in the header. The British had suffered 19,240 dead, 35,493 wounded, 2,152 missing and 585 prisoners for a total loss of 57,470. The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire.It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the River Somme in France. 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