Show Notes
Just two weeks after the catastrophe of 1 July 1916, the British Army launched another major assault on the Somme - this time with dramatically different results. Attacking before dawn after silently assembling thousands of men in No Man's Land, they overran much of the German second position, captured thousands of prisoners, and briefly created what many believed was the best opportunity for a decisive breakthrough on the Western Front since trench warfare had begun. Yet today, the Battle of Bazentin Ridge is largely overshadowed by the bloodshed that came before and after it. So what changed in those two weeks? Did the British Army learn its lessons with remarkable speed, or has Bazentin simply become remembered as one of the greatest missed opportunities of the entire Somme campaign?
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