[jennzie]

hi,
does anyone know what happened at the battle of Somme?
if you do have any websites that would be great!

thank you

[Mr. D. Bryant]

First, have a look at this thread.

Remember that the Battle of the Somme lasted from 1st July until November 1916. For more information on the battle, have a look at the Commonwealth War Graves Commision website here.

[MrJohnDClare]

There is a TON of stuff on the battle of the Somme on my website here.

In particular, there is a VERY detailed account of the first day of the battle here; just click on the map to find out what happened at the different points of the front.

But remember - don't just talk about the first day (which was a disaster). The actual battle went on for months, and had the intended effect of wearing the german army right down.

[jennzie]

thanks so much for the websites and i was able to get information from it thank you

one more questions (sorry about this):
do you have any good websites for the ranking of soldiers in ww1 and the battle of ypres?

thanks for your time

[MrJohnDClare]

Really hard.
You can find out the rankings today here (officers) and here (other ranks), but the question was whether it was different in 1916.

This webpage gives some help.

Is that what you wanted to know?

[Mr. D. Bryant]

jennzie, on Nov 20 2009, 05:01 PM, said:

do you have any good websites for the ranking of soldiers in ww1 and the battle of ypres?

This worksheet from the schoolhistory site will give you an approximate idea of how many men would be commanded by different ranks.

The British Army system of ranks has changed relatively little since the First World War. Ordinary soldiers were called Privates, but could be given other titles depending on which unit they served in. So, Rifleman, Fusilier, Sapper, Gunner are all ranks for ordinary soldiers.

Next come 'non-commissioned officers' who are in charge of some men and give orders. They range from Lance-Corporals to Staff Sergeants. Then come 'Warrant Officers' often known as Sergeant-Majors. These range from Warrant Officers Class II (often a Company Sergeant Major or CSM) to the very, very important WOI or Regimental Sergeant-Major. NCOs and WOs became more important as the war went on, often leading small units themselves. They were crucial to the running of units.

Then come officers with commissions. The most junior are 'subalterns'; Second Lieutenants or Lieutenants. Other regimental officers are Captains, then Majors and finally Lieutenant Colonels. The last named would command a battalion of some 800 infantrymen.

Above regimental officers are: Colonels and then general officers: Brigadiers, Major-Generals, Lieutenant-Generals and Generals, with the commander of the whole British Expeditionary Force e.g Douglas Haig, being a Field-Marshal.

If you want to know more, please let me know.

Oh, which Battle of Ypres? There were several. I assume you mean 3rd Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele in 1917 which was made even worse by the terrible mud. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission site gives an overview of the battle here.

[Coolchief123]

Hey, I'm doing an investigation.
I'm trying to find, A name of a battle, that was in 1916, that the Regiment of Royal Scots were in.

It has to include the date of 01/07/1916

Thanks!!

[MrJohnDClare]

Look at this webpage for the battle.
You need to see this webpage for the events of the first day of the battle.
Then on that map click on the village of La Boiselle to tell you specifically what the Royal Scots did.

[Coolchief123]

Thanks, I already knew about the Battle of the Somme.
Could you tell me all about it?
About General Haig, the "Butcher of the Somme"

So I can be one step ahead of the competition.

[Mr. D. Bryant]

Mr. Clare's site has a lot of links on it which will give you a lot more information. There is also a regimental website here although it does not have much information. Their museum is at Edinburgh Castle.

The Battle of the Somme has been covered a lot on this forum. Do a search on 'Somme' and you will find a lot to plough through, especially in some of the more recent posts. Good Luck.

[MrJohnDClare]

This is the best site on Haig.

[123456]

Hi,
Does anyone know what the original aims of the Battle of the Somme were?

[Mr. D. Bryant]

The best way to start is to look at Mr. Clare's site here. There are lots of links for you to follow if this is not enough information.

However, I would also suggest you do a forum search on 'Somme', paying particular attention to some of the more recent threads. This subject comes up frequently and you can often save yourself some time by seeing whether something has been dealt with before.

[123456]

Mr. D. Bryant, on Nov 29 2009, 03:22 PM, said:

The best way to start is to look at Mr. Clare's site here. There are lots of links for you to follow if this is not enough information.

However, I would also suggest you do a forum search on 'Somme', paying particular attention to some of the more recent threads. This subject comes up frequently and you can often save yourself some time by seeing whether something has been dealt with before.

Thank you

[maje]

My son's studying the First World War at school and we made a short video which gives you a basic introduction to what happened at the Somme.




Hope you like it!