Strategies and Tactics The French-British plans were to drain the Germans of resources and to gain a little bit of ground if needed. The first assault on July 1st, with a diversionary attack on Gommecourt by two divisions of the British 3rd army. The "centre thrust" of the French-British assault was between Serre and Maricourt villages. It consisted of 12 divisions of five corps of the British Fourth army with over 100,000 men. To the right of the British's main assault, the French were attacking on the Somme river with two corps of the French 6th army. After the first day of attack the combined forces followed up with 7 days of heavy artillery bombardment devastating the morale and defenses of the German's first line.
Weaponry The Germans introduced poison gasses mustard and chlorine in 1915 which would damage the respiratory system of anyone without a gas mask. Planes developed greatly during the war from scouting and bombing to aerial dogfights with machine guns mounted on the planes. The British, for the first time used tanks in war. In September of 1916, the first waves of British tanks were used to break through barbed wire and overcoming trenches. Capt. H. W. Mortimore lead the first D1 tank into war.