Western Front stalemate by winter 1916-1917 after Somme

Both attackers and defenders suffered huge casualties from quick-firing artillery, modern machine guns and rifles, and miles of barbed-wire defences. After gaining some experience in this environment on a ‘quiet’ sector around Armentières, the New Zealand Division took part in the nightmarish Battle of the Somme in September 1916. Facing manpower shortages and pressure on the Eastern Front, the German army withdrew from the Noyon Salient in March-April 1917 to prepared positions along the strongly defended Hindenburg Line, part of which is indicated above by the broken purple line.

In 1917, Germany adopted a defensive strategy on the Western Front to counter the growing strength of the Allies. Despite launching several offensives, and suffering heavy casualties, the Allies achieved mixed results.

Entrenchments, machine gun ... Verdun, in 1916, with a combined 700,000 casualties, the Battle of the Somme, also in 1916, with over a million casualties, and the Battle of Passchendaele, in 1917, with 487,000 casualties....

British attacks in the Ancre valley ... Alberich to the Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line) in March 1917. Debate continues over the necessity, significance and effect of the battle. Allied war strategy for 1916 was decided at the Chantilly Conference from 6 to 8 December ...

The British built up a massive army to join the French in the front lines.The Germans held their ground while making progress on the Eastern Front.1915 closed with the Western Front locked in trench warfare and stalemate -- but with both sides ...

Many sympathized with the Allies, ... front lines harden, along with the combatants’ resolve.Trench lines dug for the winter became permanent, while offensives throughout the year did little but add to the death toll....

In such terrible conditions and living in such close proximity, special bonds were forged between the men, bonds all too often broken by the frequency of death and injury. Ernst Jünger describes the monotony of casualties sustained in the trenches:

Canadian soldiers going over the top into a bayonet charge at the Battle of the Somme, October 1916. Poor planning hampered the effectiveness of British artillery and subjected Allied infantry to grueling bloodshed.

The war on the Western Front had become one of attrition as 1917 drew to a close. The French Army was exhausted, having borne the brunt of the Allied effort and the trauma of Verdun. The British were beginning to suffer manpower shortages by early 1918, having increasingly taken over from the French in 1917.