on the Somme. He wrote in his diary: "It is not the lot of many men to command an army of over half a million men". The Somme was originally conceived as a joint Anglo-French offensive but owing to the demands of the Battle of Verdun, French participation was greatly reduced, leaving the British, and especially Rawlinson's inexperienced army, to bear the brunt of the offensive. On the eve of the offensive, he "showed an attitude of absolute confidence". To his diary he confided some uncertainties: "What the actual results will be no one can say but I feel pretty confident of success myself though only after heavy fighting. That the bosh [sic] will break and that a debacle will supervene I do not believe..." He was not satisfied that the wire was well cut and enemy trenches sufficiently "knocked about". Battle of the Somme The Somme offensive was launched on 1 July 1916. In English writing, attention has been paid to the first day, a British disaster for three of the five attacking corps, although the battle lasted 141 days against two German armies. On 1 July, British forces were repulsed by the Germans along most of the front north of the Albert–Bapaume road, suffering 57,000 casualties. The worst defeats were in front of Pozières and Thiepval. By the afternoon Rawlinson was aware of much of the disaster but not of the casualties. By 3 July he knew 8,000 prisoners had been taken. On the Allied right, the British and French had more success. Here they had a better fire plan but limited objectives as a flank guard to a main advance further north. This was more in keeping with Rawlinson's idea of "bite and hold". There is no documentary evidence that the corps commander on the right (southern) British flank, General Walter Congreve, telephoned Rawlinson to ask permission to advance beyond his set objectives or to send in cavalry. The principal causes of the defeat in the north were the skill of German defenders, the siting of their defences and the failure of the long and heavy preliminary artillery bombardment to destroy the German barbed wire and trenches, except in the southern sector where French heavy artillery assisted. It is not true that heavily laden British infantry were required to advance at a slow walk. The researches of the historians Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson have shown that