The First Day of The Somme

The First Day of The Somme

Dan Explains the first day of The Somme which remains the bloodiest day in the history of the British army; a symbol of the senseless carnage of the First World War. At 7:30 a.m. on July 1 1916, the British soldiers climbed out of their trenches and advanced towards the German lines. They were met with a bombardment of machine gun fire, artillery barrages, and a hail of bullets from the well-entrenched German troops. It was a bloodbath.


It wasn't supposed to happen like that- beforehand, the British had spent several days bombarding the German lines, believing they would destroy their enemy trenches and barbed wire defences, making the British advance straightforward and almost painless. They didn't know just how well-fortified the Germans were in their deep dugouts. When the bombardment stopped, the Germans manned their defences, waiting for the British to walk right into their line of fire.


In chilling detail, Dan retells the astonishing story of that fateful first day of The Somme- determining what really happened in the days leading up to it and what the men endured when they went 'over the top', using the diaries of the men who were there.


Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited and sound designed by Dougal Patmore.


Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.


We'd love to hear from you- what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.


You can take part in our listener survey here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Avsnitt(1493)

The Parthenon Marbles

The Parthenon Marbles

The permanent home of the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, has been the subject of a heated, decades-long debate. Currently housed in the British Museum, Greece has been proactively...

21 Dec 202137min

God's Changing Body Through History

God's Changing Body Through History

While many traditions regard God to be incorporeal, some three thousand years ago in the Southwest Asian lands, a group of people worshipped a complex pantheon of deities, led by a father god called E...

20 Dec 202132min

The Battle of Agincourt Explained

The Battle of Agincourt Explained

The Battle of Agincourt looms large in the English historical and cultural imagination, this explainer wades through the mythology to help listeners really understand this infamous battle.From almost ...

19 Dec 202132min

The Unlikely Fate of the Wright Brothers

The Unlikely Fate of the Wright Brothers

On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. The Wright Brothers took the world's first engine-powered flight. It didn't take long for...

17 Dec 202130min

Black Tudors: England's Other Countrymen

Black Tudors: England's Other Countrymen

Our image of the Tudor era remains overwhelmingly white. But the black presence in England was much greater than has previously been recognised, and Tudor conceptions of race were far more complex tha...

16 Dec 202148min

Uncovered: South America's Biggest Slave Uprising

Uncovered: South America's Biggest Slave Uprising

On February 27 1763, thousands of enslaved people in the Dutch colony of Berbice—in present-day Guyana—launched a huge uprising against their oppressors. Surrounded by jungle and savannah, the revolut...

15 Dec 202128min

Inside Downing Street with Gavin Barwell

Inside Downing Street with Gavin Barwell

British politician Gavin Barwell served as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Theresa May from June 2017 to July 2019, one of the most turbulent periods in recent British political history.As the Prime ...

14 Dec 202129min

Hitler's American Gamble

Hitler's American Gamble

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 remains etched in public memory as the turning point of WW2. But in fact, it was Hitler’s declaration of war on the United States – four days lat...

13 Dec 202124min

Populärt inom Historia

motiv
kod-katastrof
massmordarpodden
historiska-brott
olosta-mord
p3-historia
historiepodden-se
rss-historien-om
historianu-med-urban-lindstedt
rss-brottsligt
rss-seriemordarpodden
rss-massmordarpodden
krigshistoriepodden
rss-arkiv-stieg
palmemordet
militarhistoriepodden
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
nu-blir-det-historia
bedragare
rss-borgvattnets-hemligheter