During the battle, which lasted from July to November of 1916, the British suffered about 420,000 casualties, which included many from volunteer battalions. The French lost about 200,000, and Germans casualties are estimated at 500,000. Nearly 60,000 British troops were lost, about 20,000 of them killed on the first day of battle, which stands as the highest known one-day casualty total in history as of 2014. During the entire battle, the British and French gained only about 7.5 miles of ground into German territory.
