A Very Long Engagement
Here in the story
Front line
Five soldiers convicted of wounding themselves are pushed over the parapet into the snow of no man's land, among them Mathilde's fiancé Manech.
What happened here
The Anglo-French offensive on the Somme opened on 1 July 1916 with the bloodiest day in British military history: 57,470 casualties, including more than 19,000 dead. Tanks appeared for the first time on 15 September. By mid-November the Allies had advanced about ten kilometres at a cost of more than a million casualties on both sides, while fighter aces such as Manfred von Richthofen dueled above Bapaume.
Films and series set in The Somme
The Red Baron
Here in the story
Battle
Richthofen's squadron clashes with Lanoe Hawker's British fighters, and his victory over the famous ace earns him the Pour le Mérite.
Battle
Refusing a safe staff post, Richthofen flies again during the great German offensive of spring 1918.
War Horse
Here in the story
Front line
Freed from hauling German guns, Joey bolts across the battlefield and ends up tangled in barbed wire between the trenches.
They Shall Not Grow Old
Here in the story
Battle
The film's heart is an infantry attack, told through the men who crossed no man's land behind the tanks and the few who reached the German wire.
Events at The Somme
Battle
Battle of the Somme
British and French armies attacked along the Somme to relieve Verdun. The British army suffered about 57,000 casualties on the first day alone, and after four and a half months the front had moved only a few kilometres.
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First tanks in battle
At Flers–Courcelette, during the Somme offensive, the British army sent tanks into combat for the first time. Few and unreliable, they still showed a way to cross trenches and barbed wire that would reshape warfare.
Read more on Wikipedia(opens in a new tab)Battle
German Spring Offensive
Germany launched a series of massive attacks to win the war before American troops arrived in strength. The offensives gained more ground than any attack since 1914 but exhausted the German army without breaking the Allies.
Read more on Wikipedia(opens in a new tab)Battle
Hundred Days Offensive
Starting at Amiens, Allied armies combined infantry, tanks, artillery and aircraft in a series of attacks that broke the German lines. Germany's generals concluded the war was lost and pressed for an armistice.
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