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New military technologies were also employed at the battle of the Somme. The British intended using airplanes and tanks in a major battle for the first time.<ref> Prior, R.; Wilson, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300119631/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300119631&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=69f365fa66cf273dac5cb1fc7b6e7a3b The Somme]</i>. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005), p. 113</ref>. They gave the British more capabilities. The tanks could be sued to punch through the German lines, and the airplanes could gather intelligence on the movements of German troops. However, the British High Command was to fail to use these new weapons effectively. The planners at the Somme also expected the infantry to make spectacular gains. The common soldier or ‘Tommy’ was expected to take trenches using only his gun, bayonet and grenades. The British High Command was simply expecting too much of their soldiers, especially given the heavy and sophisticated German defenses. The inability of the British to properly employ and coordinate their forces and their unrealistic expectations was to cost many soldiers their lives and to limit the advances made during the offensive.<ref> Wilson, p. 116</ref>.
====The Battles of the Somme====
[[File: Somme three.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|British troops at the Somme]]
The first day of the Somme offensive started after the five-day barrage had ended. For five days the British had blasted the German lines. Hundreds of thousands of shells landed on the German trenches. The British believed that they had obliterated the German defencesdefenses.<ref> Keegan, p. 134</ref> On the first of July the British and the French ‘went over the top’, that is they left their trenches and entered into no man's land. The British were ordered to advance at a walking pace. However, some officers on the ground ordered their men to rush across no man's land.
Contrary to Haig and the rest of the German High Command’s expectations, the Germans had largely survived the barrage.<ref> Middlebrooke, p. 211</ref> They had sustained many casualties , and many soldiers had been driven mad during the five days of shelling. The Germans, once the barrage ended, were able to man the front line. Critically they were able to man use the machine gun nests and order up their own artillery to fire on no-mans-land. The Germans picked off the British at will despite the fact that even though they had ‘inferior numbers and less firepower’ <ref> Wilson, p. 115</ref>. The British as a result failed to take many German trenches and instead suffered catastrophic casualties. The order to advance at a walking pace over no man's land probably cost many brave men their lives. The first day on the Somme was also the worst day in the history of the British army, it suffered almost 60,000 casualties, mainly on the frontline between the Albert–Bapaume road and Gommecourt.<ref> Wilson, p. 234</ref>
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The French did achieve some significant results , and they ejected large elements of the German 2nd Army from their positions south of the Somme. The British in total only made very limited minimal gains at a huge considerable cost. It was clear after the first day that the British had not achieved tactical surprise and that the German defences defenses were stronger than expected. However, the British and the French High Command continued with the offensive. The Somme offensive was to become a series of set pitched battles mainly between the British and the French. Historians had identified some thirteen significant battles between the Anglo-French armies and the Germans during the Somme offensive. The British were on the offensive attack all through the summer and the early autumn. The Germans mainly adopted a defensive posture. They mostly stayed in the trenches and waited for the British to attack.<ref> Keegan, p 178</ref> The tactics of the first day of the Somme was repeated again and again with only limited results. The Germans did not have the reserves to stage any counter-attacks during the offensive as they needed all their men for their siege of Verdun. The British introduced tanks to help them break the deadlock, but they proved unable to coordinate their advance with the infantry.
===Outcome of the Somme===
