Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme was one of the battles of World War I.

It was one of the largest and indeed the bloodiest battle of the First World War. J.R.R. Tolkien participated in the battle and witnessed firsthand the carnage, suffering, and terrible losses of life. The result was that it was to have a profound effect on Tolkien's works most notably The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien's good friends Robert Gilson and Geoffrey Bache Smith were killed in the battle.

History
The battle started on the 1 July, 1916 after a heavy artillery bombardment on the German lines that had begun a week before on 24 June, 1916. The battle was intended to be a decisive breakthrough for the allies against the Central Powers but it did not turn out that way. The battle ended on the 18 November, 1916. In the space of just over four months, the battle produced over one million casualties and was indecisive and although the allies gained ground (only five miles total) they did not breakthrough the German lines and win the war.

The battle was fought on the Western Front in the north-central Somme and southeastern Pas-de-Calais Départements, of France.

Tolkien's role
Tolkien's involvement in the battle lasted from July to October 1916 during which he served as a Battalion Signalling Officer to the 11th Batallion of The Lancashire Fusiliers. His unit operated mainly in the northern section of the Somme and was stationed in the Beaumont-Hamel, Serre, and Leipzig salient trenches. He was in the Battle of Thiepval Ridge and helped captured the Regina Trench from the Germans for a time. The filthy and wretched conditions of the trenches and areas of battle along with stress caused Tolkien to come down with Trench fever and Trench foot which put him out of the war permanently.

Aftermath and Effects on Writing
While in hospital recovering from his diseases of war, Tolkien did much writing where his experiences in the battle were where many of the ideas for the terrible battles of the War of the Ring and the epic Fall of Gondolin, which were outlined in The Lord of the Rings and the Book of Lost Tales. Another theme which grew out of Tolkien's participation in the battle was the struggles of ordinary peoples in extraordinary situations and that the smallest of people can make big contributions and differences. Possibly, Tolkien was inspired by the great potential, bravery, and hardiness he saw in the ordinary low ranked citizen soldiers that fought in the battle.