Battle of the Somme

The second battle of 1916 was the Battle of the Somme. In this the British and French armies tried to break through the German defences in the valley of the river Somme. The battle started on the first day of July 1916 as huge guns bombarded the German trenches. Then thousands of troops charged across no-man's land to press home the attack. The trenches of the British ran for 20 miles from the village of Hebuterne south across …

…industry, Kitchener was restricted by British governmental processes and by his own distaste of teamwork and delegation of responsibility. His Cabinet associates, who did not share in the public idolising of Kitchener relieved him of responsibility first for industrial mobilisation and later for strategy but he refused to quit the Cabinet. His career was ended suddenly by drowning when the cruiser 'Hampshire' bearing him on a mission to Russia was sunk by a German mine.