Page 63 - Phonebox Magazine July 2016

Men of the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers in the Sunken Lane on the morning of 1 July 1916.
knew of the attack on his Second Army but refused to reinforce it, keeping back reserves for a counter attack. The bombardment started on June 26th and on this day he ordered that the battle at Verdun be turned over to a defensive action and began moving Divisions towards the Somme battlefield. The opening moments of the infantry offensive were to be horrendous. The bombardment stopped at 0720 when the first mine at Hawthorn ridge was denoted followed at 0728 by the rest.
The infantry went over the top at 0730. Each man carried a load of nearly 60 pounds and the ground they were forced to walk, in lines, up gradients was open to the defenders. In the south, 13th Corps, with the French XX Corps on their right achieved their objectives by 1.00pm thanks to the heavy and accurate bombardment by the French.
West of 13th Corps were 15th Corps who attacked the villages of Mametz and Fricourt and achieved their initial objectives but casualties were high.
The 34th Division attacked along the Albert- Bapaume road and advanced the furthest of any Division that day. (4,000 yards) but sustained the highest casualties – 6,380 soldiers. The 8th Division attacked Ovillers but the terrain gave advantage to the defenders and poor artillery coordination left the attackers without support and very few objectives were made.
The 32nd Division of the tenth Corps attacked the Leipzig Redoubt, a strengthened defence with extensive underground fortifications. They moved off before the 7.30 deadline and captured the redoubt before the defenders could react but deadly machine gun fire stopped further advances.
The 36th Division – the Ulster Division – achieved a spectacular success, capturing the Shwaben and Stuff Redoubts, attacking from Thiepval down along the Ancre river. This was the First of July and under the old Julian calendar would have been the 12th – Orangeman’s Day! For all the soldiers in the Division were protestant and highly trained as they had been part of the original Ulster Volunteer Force raised in 1912 when Ireland verged on civil war. Only the failure of Division either side forced the Division to fall back after dark.
29th Division of the 8th Corps attacked Beaumont Hamel, following after the mine at Hawthorn ridge had been detonated. The British failed to occupy the bomb crater and machine gun fire and artillery barrages caused sever casualties. A Newfoundland Battalion lost 91% of its men!
The 4th Division attacked Serre but were quickly repulsed. The 31st Division, containing only “Pal” Battalions also reached Serre but were those who survived the journey across no-mans land and were either killed or captured.
North of 8th Corps, the Third Army of general Allenby (famous for his defeat of the Turks in Palestine, was to mount a feint attack using 7th Corps under General D’Oly Snow (Grandfather of Dan Snow, the historian). The plan was to use two Divisions. The 46th and 56th on a pincer movement around Gommecourt. The 56th were successful and captured three lines of defence but the 46th found the wire uncut as they advanced and were hit by a severe artillery barrage. Survivors of the battle began making their way back during the afternoon and evening, some of the wounded lay in no mans land
for over a week. It took the British authorities three days before they had a final count of the dead, wounded and missing. Truces were often called to allow the wounded to be sent to the rear.
What went wrong? Why was the casualty list so high? Why were so many objectives not met? Rawlinson had little confidence in his New Army Divisions and set rules for them such as walking across no mans land instead of rushing behind the barrage which proved successful when used. A third of all shells failed to explode and failed to demolish the thick areas of barbed wire forcing the attackers down “killing lanes” where the machine guns mowed then down. The calibre of Senior Officers was poor and a general clear-out began – including D’Oly Snow! The British were quick to learn and as the battle progressed new methods and training brought the army to a new efficiency. The artillery especially became an effective and deadly force competing with and out- gunning its German opponent. Haig is often castigated for his tactics but the industrialised machinery of war at that time meant that attrition was the only way to defeat the Germans. German historians have stated that the Somme was the death knell of its army for after it they never achieved the same potency or force. The French were in serious decline after Verdun and the mutinies of April/ May 1917 left the British to hold the line until it recovered in 1918.
Along the line the British held on July 1st 1918 you will find today many military cemetries and on the start line at Thiepval is a huge memorial to the “missing” designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, a poignant and fitting epitaph to the lost youth of that generation.
Soldiers of the 119 RIR’s machine-gun section who occupied a dugout in the Hawthorne Redoubt on the morning of 1 July 1916.
July 2016 | Phonebox Magazine 63