used as a shield for the troops. The Germans were not expecting this new piece of equipment, which ended up being highly successful in weakening the German resistance. By the 15th of September, the Allies had penetrated through two of the German’s main defensive lines and advanced to take three villages. An entire German trench fell, and before they had been given time to recover, the Allies swooped in and attacked again eventually claiming the entire village of Thiepval (“Sir Douglas Haig, British Commander-in-Chief in France and Flanders, 2nd Dispatch”, 23-24). In regards to St. Pierre Divion, the Allies drove the Germans out of their trenches into their dugouts and forced them to surrender. This strategy of quick, penetrative attacks was extremely effective because it caught the Germans off-guard, so they were unable to amass an effective counter-attack.

In reflecting upon the Battle of the Somme, the Germans and Allies did not have a similar understanding of the circumstances of the battle. The Germans thought that the Allies failed in this offensive because they lost too many lives to justify the small territorial gains they achieved in battle. Bavarian Crown Prince Rupprecht stated, “Our losses in territory may be seen on the map with a microscope. Their losses in that far more precious thing – human life – are simply prodigious” (“The Battle of the Somme by Crown Prince Rupprecht”, 38). In contrast, the Allies believed themselves victorious because their three objectives for the Battle of Somme had been accomplished: Verdun was relieved by this time, the Germans concentrated their main forces on the Western Front and avoided the transfer of troops to the Eastern or Southern fronts, and the strength of the German army was weakened (“Sir Douglas Haig, British Commander-in-Chief in France and Flanders, 2nd Dispatch”, 30). The Allies wore down the resistance of the German army because they were able to inflict more casualties and take more prisoners as well as resources. This significant loss of resources and an estimated 500,000 German casualties in battle definitely demoralized the German war effort on the Western Front. Even though the Allies and Germans had different understandings about the Battle of the Somme, they both can agree that it was one the bloodiest battle of World War I.