Battle of Albert (1916) - 1 July 1916

1 July 1916

The result of faulty British planning and tactics and German preparedness was that the first day of the attack constituted a major German victory on most of the front which the British attacked. The British army suffered its highest-ever casualty rate in a single day, in return for a modest advance on the extreme right where it captured and held Mametz and Montauban.

In stark contrast, the French attack was successful and incurred relatively few casualties by the standards of the day. The XX Corps advanced beyond Curlu north of the Somme and was only halted because it depended on the British to protect its left flank, and the British did not advance beyond Montauban. South of the Somme the French I Colonial Corps and XXXV Corps approached the German second position and took 4,000 prisoners.

For these reasons the events of the "First Day on the Somme" as they affected the British tend to obscure the overall picture of what was a joint British-French offensive operation, by downplaying both the French and German performance.