Exploring the 1916 Somme battlefield from Arras (or Lille)

On both sides of the upper reaches of the Somme, a river in France, an Anglo-French offensive was launched against the army of the German Empire in Northern France. The bulk of the British army was made up of volunteers. "Kitchener's Army" consisted of men who enlisted together as groups of local friends for the British Army. Mostly inexperienced troops were facing an entrenched army of soldiers that were hardened in battle and were holding all the strategic grounds. German policy was unyielding defence or no tactical retreat. One week of prolonged allied artillery bombardments produced an atmosphere of false confidence that the German lines were breached and that British cavalry would ride through to Bapaume on the first morning, into open country. The offensive began in earnest on the morning of July 1, 1916, when soldiers emerged from their trenches and advanced toward the German front lines. After more than four months of bloody conflict British Commander in Chief calls a halt to his army's offensive.