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Great Battlefields of Europe Part 2

© Roxanne Nelson

The hardest part about writing about European battlefields is deciding which ones to write about. They crisscross the continent in varying forms--some are commemorated with only a small monument, a notation, or perhaps they are now part of someone's wheat field. Others have been preserved--a field left forever fallow, a museum to tell the story,shrapnel still waiting to be dug out of the ground. This is the second article in my series of battlefield sites. Perhaps readers will think it odd to write about war zones, but war is a significant part of European history. Old battlefields attract tourists--whether it brings back personal memories, recollections of a great grandfather's tales or just curiosity--whatever the reason, thousands come every year.

As with Part 1, I've selected battles which stand out among the others. I'll be adding other articles to this series from time to time, and if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

The Batte of the Somme

World War I opened a new era in warfare, and the Battles of the Somme and Verdun (discussed in previous article) were two of the greatest military follies of the 20th century. To briefly summarize the Somme, France was suffering terrible losses at Verdun, and begged the British to open a second major front to the west, along the banks of the Somme River in Northern France. Early in the morning on July 1, 1916, the British fired two enormous mines, which contained 200,000 lbs of explosives, into German lines. And so began the battle...

By the end of the first day, the British could tally 19,240 dead, 35,494 seriously wounded, and 2,152 missing. The slaughter continued for four more months, when the British commander Sir Douglas Haig finally called it quits. The Allies had only advanced 125 square miles, at a cost of 600,000 lives. The German loss was 450,000 men. The Battle of the Somme is considered one of Britain's worse military disasters, caused by a combination of inexperience, poor military planning and blind nationalist zeal.

If You Go...

The region of the Somme is located in northern France, bisected by the Somme River. Today it is peaceful and green, the small towns, such as Serre, have been rebuilt. But some of the land still bears the scars of 80 years ago. Farmers plowing their fields still turn up remnants of battle, including unexploded bombs. If you're lucky, you may find a souvenir buried in the earth--a reminder of what occurred here 80 years earlier.