Editing First day on the Somme (section)

===Casualties===
Philpott wrote that the "gory scene" behind the British front showed that something had gone wrong.{{sfn|Philpott|2009|p=202}} In the evening of 1 July, Haig wrote in his diary,

{{quote|North of the Ancre, VIII Division (sic) said they began well but as the day progressed, their troops were forced back into the German front line, except two battalions which occupied Serre village and were, it is said, cut off. I am inclined to believe from further reports that few of VIII Corps left their trenches.{{sfn|Sheffield|Bourne|2005|p=196}}}}

VIII Corps ''had'' left their trenches and over {{nowrap|14,000 men}} became casualties.{{sfn|Philpott|2009|p=202}} Edmonds wrote that for the loss of Britain and Ireland's "finest manhood" there was only a small gain of ground, although an advance of {{cvt|1|mi}} on a {{cvt|3.5|mi}} front and minor advances elsewhere, was the furthest achieved by the British since trench warfare began. Only {{nowrap|1,983 unwounded}} prisoners had been taken and none of the captured ground north of the Albert–Bapaume road, except at the Leipzig Redoubt, had been held.{{sfn|Edmonds|1993|pp=483–484}} Before the battle, Rawlinson had requested 18 ambulance trains but only three were provided and these departed part-filled, before many of the wounded had been brought to [[casualty clearing station]]s, which had capacity for only {{nowrap|9,500 cases.}} Casualties were left untended in the open and it was not until 4 July that the Fourth Army medical services had treated all the wounded (some casualties reached hospitals in England still wearing field dressings). As night fell, survivors began to make their way back to the British trenches and stretcher-bearers went into no man's land. Major-General [[Edward Charles Ingouville-Williams|Ingouville-Williams]], commander of the 34th Division, participated in the search and some medical orderlies continued after dawn broke.{{sfn|Edmonds|1993|p=483}} At Beaumont-Hamel, two British medical officers arranged a truce and in other places movement in no man's land was fired on. [[Victoria Cross]]es were awarded to [[Robert Quigg]] and [[Geoffrey Cather]] [[Posthumous recognition|(posthumous)]] for rescuing wounded.{{sfn|Middlebrook|1971|p=329}}

Some casualties survived for up to a week in no man's land, scavenging rations from the dead before being rescued. At {{nowrap|7:30 p.m.,}} the Fourth Army headquarters believed that there had been {{nowrap|16,000 casualties,}} by 3 July the staff thought that there had been {{nowrap|40,000}} and by 6 July the count had risen to {{nowrap|60,000 men.}} The Third Army diversion at Gommecourt cost VII Corps 6,758 casualties against 1,212 German.{{sfn|Edmonds|1993|pp=474–475}} The final total of {{nowrap|57,470 British}} casualties, {{nowrap|19,240 of}} whom had been killed, was not calculated for some time; the French Sixth Army suffered {{nowrap|1,590 casualties}} and the German 2nd Army suffered {{nowrap|10,000–12,000 casualties.}}{{sfnm|1a1=Edmonds|1y=1993|1p=483|2a1=Sheffield|2y=2003|2p=68}} In 1971 Martin Middlebrook wrote that whereas German units normally submitted a casualty return every ten days, many submitted a special daily return for 1 July. It is possible to estimate that German forces on the British sector (including [[Attack on the Gommecourt Salient|Gommecourt]]) suffered 6,000 killed or wounded and 2,200 taken prisoner.{{sfn|Middlebrook|1971|p=264}} In 2013, Ralph Whitehead wrote that from 1 to 10 July, the 2nd Army commanded 21 divisions, the original divisions present on 1 July and reinforcements, with a ration strength of 469,585 men. In the ten-day reporting period (10 {{lang|de|tägigen Truppenkrankenrapporten}}) from 1 to 10 July 7,539 men reported sick, 22,095 were recorded as wounded and 24,244 men were listed as killed or missing, leaving 5,786 men recorded as killed; during the same period 5,273 men returned to duty.{{sfn|Whitehead|2013|p=474}} For 1 July 1916,

{{quote|The lists represent 20,790 names of the men who most likely fought on the Somme in early July. Of these 6,226 can be identified as having been killed, wounded, injured or captured on 1 July 1916. An additional 1,912 can positively [be] identified as having become a casualty before or after this date. Of the remainder, 12,642 names, only time will tell if the details of their fate can be established.{{sfn|Whitehead|2013|p=476}}}}