On this day, 109 years ago, on July 1, 1916 (June 2, 1916), the British and French launched the Battle of the Somme in World War I. The British 17th London Regiment trudged through the swamps. From July 1 to November 18, 1916, the essence of British youth, as well as the flowering years of German and French youth, disappeared into dust in the mire of the Somme in northern France. The British High Command mobilized a large number of infantry and launched a group charge against the impenetrable barbed wire and the impossibly hidden German machine gun positions, trying to seize hundreds of yards of useless land that was blown into the ground. Thousands of young soldiers' lives were sacrificed for this - on the first day alone, the British lost 60,000 (19,000 of them killed). On June 30, the British Fourth Army, under the command of General Henry Larinson, launched a five-day offensive north of the Somme. Foch's troops were stationed on the south bank of the river. They wanted to lead the Germans between their forces and then pinch them. The attack had been planned several months ago, but it was delayed due to poor progress at Verdun. Since February 21, when 1,000 German cannons began shelling around the ancient city, casualties on both sides were heavy. The Germans used a new type of dual-light gas bomb on June 20. A group of sighted and paralyzed soldiers had to be evacuated first, and there was no time to mobilize any reinforcements to the Somme. Fortunately, on June 2, the Russian Blusilov launched a massive counterattack on the Audean front, forcing the Germans to withdraw some troops from Verdun. What could be done to prevent the Somme from becoming another Verdun? In addition to the strategy of attacking north and south, the British also invented a new type of weapon. This was the impenetrable delivery device of the machine gun - the "tank". July 1. The large-scale offensive launched by the Allies this morning was forced to stop in the evening. Only the French made some victories, and the British advanced only a little on the edge, but with heavy casualties. With 250 cannons (half of the French) ready for bombing, 11 divisions of the British Fourth Army launched an attack north of the Somme. The black soldiers of the Executive Army were now "in orderly rows", advancing in a hail of artillery, machine guns, and mortars, each carrying 66 pounds of equipment. The lack of covert preparations behind enemy lines, combined with the long period of artillery cover, deprived the British of any hope of a surprise attack, and only captured a few villages on the flanks. The French offensive, although lacking surprise attacks, was making good progress, but not deep enough. According to preliminary reports, the British casualties today were 60,000. This is the largest number of casualties reported so far in this costly war. The French losses, while not light, were far less than the British casualties. The British commander-in-chief, Sir Douglas Hague, must now choose between continuing this war of attrition and armistice fortification. An 8-inch howitzer near the British artillery garrison in the Frico-Mamets Valley on the Somme. German corpses line the Somme during the Battle of the Gillemont. Comment: The Battle of the "Meat Grinder" in World War I!