It departed Egypt on Maand arrived at France eight days later. The Newfoundland Regiment, still with the 88th Brigade of the 29th Division, received word on Februthat it would be part of the Somme offensive. In consequence, the Battle of the Somme became a largely British effort, designed to relieve beleaguered French troops at Verdun, and to cause a decisive breakthrough in the German lines. The battle lasted for almost 10 months and siphoned off many of the French troops originally intended for the Somme offensive. Commanders spent the winter of 1916 developing a major offensive to regain control of the Somme.īut their plans were upset when Germany launched a massive attack against French forces near Verdun (a city in northeast France) on February 21, 1916. British and French forces desperately needed a success. Germany had marched through Belgium and into northern France, where its army was securely entrenched near the River Somme. The Eastern Front was in disarray and the Western Front was locked in a stalemate. The Gallipoli campaign had been a failure. At the end of 1915 the war was going badly for the Allies. The Somme offensive had its origins in Anglo-French plans to bring hostilities to a rapid close.
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