Page 22 - History of War - Issue 30-16

SOMME
1916 2016
had largely withstood the attack, giving them a “ALTHOUGH THE SOLDIERS CANNOT BE FAULTED FOR THEIR
had been sheltering in concrete bunkers, which
strong sense that an offensive was imminent BRAVERY AND DETERMINATION, THE HARD TRUTH IS THAT THEY
– they even started to bombard the British
barrage lifted, they climbed out of their dugouts WERE MOSTLY INEXPERIENCED”
lines with their own artillery. As soon as the
and set up machine guns all along the front in
preparation for the imminent British assault. The objectives of VIII Corps (which included it looked solid black. In my opinion a rabbit
Once the mines had detonated, ofi cers the 31st Division) were to take Serre and couldn’t have got through it.”
blew their whistles and the infantry began to Beaumont-Hamel. The 31st Division mainly The deep German dugouts were also mainly
advance, starting one of the biggest battles consisted of Pals Battalions from Yorkshire and intact as Frank Raine of the Durham Light
in history. It was a cloudless day, but things had not been tested in battle before. As they Infantry remembered: “We were told that there
went immediately wrong. Private Arthur Pearson advanced they were hit by German artillery, was going to be this bombardment that would
recalled, “At Zero Hour, we climbed out of the with the i re intensifying as they moved further knock the hell out of the Germans and all we
trenches and not a man hesitated. When I ran forward, along with close-range machine gun had to do was get up and walk across – just
up the rise out of the trench I was under the i re. The assault completely failed and the Pals walk straight through to Berlin. And there
hail of bullets, which were whizzing over my Battalions were slaughtered with at least 2,000 wasn’t one of us in our battalion that ever
head. Most of our fellows were killed kneeling casualties before 8am. In one instance the got to the German lines. You couldn’t! It was
on the i re-step.” The soldiers had been told majority of the 15th West Yorkshires (Leeds absolutely impossible. The Germans had these
to advance slowly towards the German lines, Pals) were killed in their trenches without going deep dugouts; they were safe as the bank. They
which proved useless against machine guns. over the top and the Durham and Bradford were 30 feet down!”
Maurice Symes, present at the battle, said, were seen advancing on a ridge above Serre These intact positions were particularly
“It was just as if we were at a training exercise, but none survived the advance. Otto Lais, a evident at a heavily fortii ed village at Fricourt,
which was absolutely mad when you think of it. German ofi cer, said: “Wild i ring slammed into one of the key objectives of the battle. The men
We were sitting ducks, straight into the death the masses of the enemy. All around us was of XV Corps tried to outl ank the village but the
trap, hundreds of us. Just hopeless.” the rushing, whistling and roaring of a storm. German machine gunners were well-fortii ed
In one of the most famous incidents of Zero Belt after belt was i red. Despite the fact that and mowed down waves of attackers. In one
Hour, an ofi cer called Alfred Irwin remembered hundreds are already lying dead, fresh waves instance, the 50th Brigade attacked the village
a tragic attempt by Captain Wilfred Nevill to [kept] emerging to assault the trenches.” frontally and were cut down by the Germans
boost morale during the advance, “Captain Some of the volunteer units were so keen who stood on their parapets to shoot them.
Nevill thought it might be helpful if he could that they even disobeyed orders and achieved Despite the carnage, there were some minor
furnish each platoon with a football and allow surprising results. The 36th (Ulster) Division successes, particularly in the southern sector.
them to kick it forward and follow it. If a man ignored their commanders and crept under By mid-afternoon the village of Mametz was
came across a football he could kick it forward the British barrage to within 100 yards of the in British hands and the Germans eventually
but he mustn’t chase after it. I think it did help German positions. At Zero Hour they jumped abandoned Fricourt but both were taken at
them enormously. But they suffered terribly. into the German trenches and surprised the heavy costs. Possibly the best results were
Nevill and his second captain were both killed.” emerging enemy. They even got to within a few achieved by the 18th Division who took all of
In the northern sector, the British attacked yards of their objective at Grandcourt before their objectives in the Mametz-Montauban
Gommecourt as planned and some men of being accidentally i red on by British artillery sector, including the formidable Pommiers
the 56th Division reached the i rst line of the and then machine-gunned by l anking German Redoubt, which was captured during intense
German trenches only to be counterattacked dugouts, resulting in over 4,900 casualties. hand-to-hand i ghting. Towards the French
by 2nd Guards Reserve Division. The 56th part of the line, the 30th Division managed to
Division only returned to their trenches when An impossible task secure all of their objectives by 1pm, including
they ran out of ammunition and left 1,300 This litany of murderous assaults was repeated the village of Montauban.
dead. Similarly, two battalions of Sherwood all along the line and the ‘Big Push’ was failing None of these objectives could be adequately
Foresters got into the i rst German trenches disastrously, largely thanks to the ineffective followed up due to the sheer number of failed
and reached the second line but they advanced British barrage. Arnold Dale, of the York and attacks and casualties. Soldiers, like Frederick
too far and ended up surrounded by German Lancaster Regiment, was appalled: “As we Higgins, felt powerless to do anything, “I got a
counterattacks. 80 per cent of the battalions moved forward we saw what a terrible job it was nasty stomach feeling that I can’t describe…
died and 31 men were taken prisoner. to get through the German wire. It was so thick, abject fear. It takes all the stufi ng out of you.

A wounded man of the 29th Division is
carried away from the front line. The
casualty is the same man who was i lmed
in the ‘The Battle of the Somme’

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