What is Battle of the Somme?
{{Infobox Military Conflict | conflict = Somme Offensive | image = Wiltshire Regiment Thiepval 7 August 1916.jpg | caption = British soldiers attacking | partof = the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] of the First World War | place = [[Somme River]], [[France]] | date = 1 July – 18 November 1916 | result = unsettled; *German Army withdraws 40 miles to the [[Hindenburg Line]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Griffith|first=Paddy|title=Battle Tactics of the Western Front; The British Army's Art of Attack 1916–1918|publisher=Yale University Press|date=1994|page=84|isbn=0-300-05910-8}}</ref> *Result better for the Allies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=John Frank|title=ANZACS, The Media and The Great War|publisher=UNSW Press|year=1999|page=162}} The definition of 'victory' after such a tremendous bloodletting during the Battle of the Somme is very much disputed by historians such as John Frank Williams.</ref><ref>Sheffield 2003, p. 156</ref> | combatant2 = {{flag|German Empire|name=Germany}} | combatant1 = {{flag|United Kingdom}}<br>{{flag|Canada|1868}}<br>{{flag|Australia}}<br>{{flag|New Zealand}}<br>{{flag|Union of South Africa|name=South Africa|1910}}<br>{{flag|British Raj|name=India}}<br>{{flag|Newfoundland}}<br>{{flag|French Third Republic|name=France}} | commander1 = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]]<br>{{flagicon|French Third Republic}} [[Ferdinand Foch]] | strength2 = 10½ divisions (planned)<br>50 divisions (actual) | commander2 = {{flagicon|German Empire}} [[Max von Gallwitz]]<br>{{flagicon|German Empire}} [[Fritz von Below]] | strength1 = 13 British and 11 French divisions (planned)<br>51 British and 48 French divisions (actual) | casualties2 = 465,000 men<ref>{{cite book | first=Graeme Chamley | last=Wynne | year=1976 | page=131 | title=If Germany attacks: the battle in depth in the West | series=West Point Military Library | publisher=Greenwood Press | isbn=0837150299 }}</ref> | casualties1 = 623,907 casualties<br>