This was a joint French and British operation. It was led by two people. From the french, Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Jaffre, and from the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander, General Sir Douglas Haig.
The main purpose of this battle was for territorial gain and to destroy German manpower. However this was not very successful. Haig used 750,000 men (27 divisions) against the German Front line, consisting of 16 divisions. The Germans were well fortified with barb-wire fences and concrete bunkers enabling them to with stand most of the attacks. The first attack came at 7:30am on July 1, 1916 and on the first day, the British Expeditionary Force lost roughly 58,000 men. .
The British repeated attacks over and over. The most success seen in this process .
.
was the obtainment of the Fortress at Beaumont Hamel. This was not long lived however, due to bad weather and heavy snow. At the end of the winter Haig called off the offensive. The farthest the lines had moved up was twelve kilometers in some parts. The British had 420,000 casualties, the French had 200,000 casualties, and the Germans had roughly 500,000 casualties (Spartacus).
During the Battle of Somme, Tolkien contracted Trench Fever and was sent back to England. Many of the soldiers in this battle suffered from Trench Fever, "an infectious disease caused by the Ricketlsia Rochalimaea, transmitted by body lice and characterixed in part by intermittent fever, headache, rash, and leg pains, especially severe in the shins." (Harcourt) .
During his recovery he wrote, "The Book of lost Tales", an unpublished work, that contained, "a vast compendium of poetry, epic prose, chronology, and mythic detail concerning the world in which many of his later works of fantasy would be set." (Bloom 165).
After he regained his health Tolkien became a professor at Oxford and joined the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary. In 1922, Tolkien had his first publication, "A Middle English Dictionary.
