Battle of the Somme 1/7-17/11 1916

[evolution]

In Picardy a Army was forming a new Army, in 1914-15 there were 3 ways you could join the British army, Regular, Terratorial and now the New Army, these were Kitchners men who answerd his pointing finger and cry "UR Country needs You". by the end of 1914 the original BEF were gone, and through the battles of 1915 the rest of the regular army and the terratorial army followed them, and untill those who had now been conscripted could be trained it was on the new Armys that the big push would now fall. The British had taken over more of the line from the French which included the upcoming Somme battlefied, for 18 months the French and Germans had operated a live let live policiy, and the Germans had not waisted any time, the sub soil here was chalk and flint, and unlike further north trenches and dug outs could be dug up to 40 ft down, where even the heavest shells could not reach, here was another battlefield the British did not want , there new army was half trained, not ready, and there was nothing behind the Germans that would effect them, but the french persisted, this is where they wanted to attack, weather we liked it or not, a massive joint offensive! but then the Germans attacked the French at Verdun with the plan to bleed France white, and by June the French were in trouble, the British must attack now to release the pressure from the frenchies, Haig tryed to put them off till August to get more training in, the french exploded, by then there would not be a french army left, so the british would attack on the first of july north of the Somme river, with a small participation of the french to the south, so the plans were drawn up, and the New Army men moved up to the front, the barrage of the german lines started on the 23rd of june, seven days and seven nights it went on for, the infantry were told not even the rats will servive, they were given heavy loads, and told to walk over and take the German trenches over, some would even kick footballs (www.playing the game.co.uk) the first to kick it into fritzs trench would win a keg of beer, the barbwire would be deystroyed, those older survivours had heared this all before, and wrote there goodbye letters! and the clock was ticking.

[evolution]

In amongst the new army were the so called pals battalions, (only in WW1 this happened they didnt make the mistake twice) the ethos being that each class of people could serve with there own kind, grew up together in the same streets, villages, towns, went to the same schools, same work place, they joined the army together, trained and marched together, went to war togther......... and were about to die together, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, managers, 'formen, bus and train drivers in battalions called the tram drivers battalion, the municipal workers battalion, the sportsmans battalion, in some big citys they raised a number of these battalions, in one I think it was sheffield they had a load of men left over who were ordinary working class which the other battalions didnt want, so they called them the t'others battalion! here is a very very good link which is about the attack on Serre by the Accrington Pals Battalion and what happened, and on here are some very good links
www.pals.org.uk
and the clock is still ticking, less than 24 hours to the 91st annerversary of the FIRST DAY ON THE SOMME

[evolution]

At 0728 17 mines exploded beneath the German lines, and after 7 days the barrage lifted to the rear areas, 2 minutes later a 16 mile long line of infantry climbed out of there treches and walked to there destiney and into the history books, proceeding waves followed, 60,000 men carrying over 80Lb of equipment needed to consolodate the German front line they were going over to take over, there is not a german left they were told, not even a rat, the wire is cut, desparate battalion and company commanders pearing over the parapit could see in many places it was not! now it was a race, the winners would live, the loser's... but the Tommys did not know it they had not been entered,"strict silence will be maintained during the advance no whistles will be blowen, for sixteen miles they walked side by side. In the Germanlines, they knew at 0720 tommy was coming, 1 british corp commander(the vanker will remain nameless) had insisted his mine will be blowen 10 minutes early! then as the barrage lifted, there race began, dragging there machine guns up and out of the deep dugouts the German infantry emerged into bright summer sun, it was going to be a hot summer day with out a cloud in the sky, and a scene they could not believe presented it self to them, disappering into the distance lines of men were moveing up the slopes towards them, not running or hurring, but as if on parade there officers inbetween the lines with walking sticks, the Germans had won the race to the parapit(not every where mind!!) the machine guns opened fire and played up and down the advancing lines, the german riflemen climed out of there trenches and stood and knelt on the parapit firing into the advancing tommys, there only worry would there be enough ammunition, then as the SOS artillary rockets went up the german artillary joined in pouring a barrage intop no-mans land and the British frontlines. As the day grew into hot summer another attack went in, this time 40,000 men left the trenchs walking with out hestation into the hissing spiting barrage in nomans land, there had been no comunication with the first attack, everyone thought the German lines had been taken over!, in successive waves they steped over the rows upon rows of fallen men "ALL ranks are forbidden to divert attention from the enemy in order to attend to wounded officers and men) hands grasped at there ancles, begging for help and water. Battalions disapered in the bloody chaos of no-mansland, bodys lay in hundreds around the shellholes that packed the battlefield, whole rows laying down as if on parade, on lookers from vantage points couldnt understand why everyone was laying down, they shouted keep moving keep moving, by mid- morning the big push was vertualy over, peicemeal attacks would continue throughout the day, it would take 5 days before the british high command finaly find out what happened that first terrableday, 7 for the news to sink in home in blighty, as the papers filled with the casualy lists, 100,000 tommys took part in the first day on the somme, the only non-british battalion to attack was the 1st Newfoundland at beumant hamel at noon, they joined the many dead little welshmen who were part of the first attack, being vertualy wiped out, this part of the battlefield is still there.

[evolution]

The casulty list for that first day was 60,000, 20,000 killed, many more would die in the years to come from there wounds, the battle would continue for over another 4 months, the frenchies would be saved, but not every where was a falure that first day!!!
a very good book by Martin Middlebrook aptly called "The First Day On The Somme" is well worth the read, I would in fact recommend it to anyone with a interest in WW1, or even if you havent got a interest.

[evolution]

As that hot day 1st of july 1916 drew to a close and darkness began to fall, the guns grew silent, for many miles around people commented, a great groan could be heared, from those bloodsoaked fields in picardy the very earth herself cryed.

[RaVeN]

I get all my WW1 lessons here now thanks EV.
Hope to see you in there some time . when do you fly?? USA day time?? If any are in there I fly around 9:00pm EST

[evolution]

I live in wales UK, and get on normaly about1300-1800hrs GMT, and have been having some very interesting dogfights, I often come on earlier and sometime later to see if anyone is on the server, havent had any luck in that as yet, normaly go in on my own practice in J8, with balls skin of coarse, and usaly someone comes in, that bloody jap fighter bomber is a little nasty piece of kit to get at aint it lol.

[evolution]

EST thats about 6 hours behind me aint it?

[evolution]

A few facts
the 60,000 casultys on that first day were mostly in the first 10 minutes. It has gone down as the single biggest military disaster in british history. But there was a battle in April 1915, Aubers Ridge, where even though it was tiny in comparison to the Somme, if you look at the numbers who attacked the german frontlines at Aubers, then compare them with the numbers who attacked the Somme the loss was far higher at Aubers, thats by using a scale mind! At this part of the westernfront, Armintaries down to neuvechappell, the britisn attacks here through 1915 and the aussies attack in 1916, the dead stayed in rows were they fell untill the armistace in nov 1918, in no-mans land ran the layers brook were wounded would crawl to get out of the direct fire. When the war ended, people returned here to find out what happened to members of the famaly or friends, and as the dead had lied out here through the years you could mark out by the changes to webbing and uniforms and the introduction of steel helmuts each diffrent attack. In shell hole they found many wounded who had crawled into them and scribbled notes to loved ones, but no help had reached them. When the belguims returned to the farm and homes and the milatary cemetaries were being made or enlarged, the women would use there pinnies to carry the bones from those who over the years had crawled into the dead ground ether side of the brook, there were so many bones it took weeks to clear, go there today along the brook theres still bones there, they saught sanctury there was none, and because of the lay of the land niether side could get the upper hand, this is where the xmas truce took place 1914.

[evolution]

In 1914 it soon becme aparent the british were terrably short of ammunition for the cannons, especaly HE, so short battaries where pulled out because they had none, this continued into 1915, as production picked up and large quatitys were bought from the USA, it became apparent the quality was poor. At Aubers Ridge, a lot of the barrage was landing in the british frontlines, after the battle large quatitys of brass bands were discoverd in front of the battarylines, what was happing was, the brass ring at the bottom of the shell was being stripped of as it left the barrel, the ring made the shell spin as it passed through the air, with out it the shells turned end over end and fell short, many failed to explode, at the battle of loos sept 1915, it got so bad the the gun crews called them selves the suicide club, as many shells began to explode still in there barrels, the shell scandel as it became known brought down the goverment and that little welshman Lloyd George (still cant make my mind up wether he's a tosser or not!!) came into power. At the battle of the Somme, 3.000.000 shells were stockpiled, and it has been estimated that over a third failed to go off, the steel harvest was sown, I will put a link below. Also the graze fuse had not yet been invented, so they were trying to cut the wire with shrapnel, you needed HE, which would explode as soon as it touched the wire. Another factor was communication, radios were 20 years off, so they relyed on phones, the wires got cut, so when the men left the trenches GHQ, GOC, and anyone above battalion and company lvl did not have a clue what was going on. Think if they had been able to call the barrage back onto the german frontlines where fritz had dragged his machine guns out into the open, and the rifle men were stood up on the parapits taunting the Tommys , "come on come on Tommy"

[evolution]

I cant find the link I am looking for just put in iron Harvest, there are a few heres one www.answers.com/topic/iron-harvest

oh by the way im a WW1 nut just tell me to shut up lol, I wont be offeneded lol

[RaVeN]

I like all the info, thanks. Please go nuts

[jamsbandit]

Great stuff Pilot, the very first book I ever read when I was a kid at 8 years old was the Red Baron, The Biograghy of Manford Von Richtofen, been hooked on it for the 35 years since, keep it coming

[evolution]

A british battalion going over the top would attack on a 2 platoon frontage, and in 10 waves, the first 2 waves would be fighting platoons, 3rd 4th would carry extra equipment like picks, shovels, coils barbwire, pickets , bowes granades, ammunition water, once they reached the german position they would drop all this and convert into fighting platoons, following , next up 5th and 6th would be HQ company, 7-8 again would be carrying more equipment, once reaching the German position there job would be to consolodate it, ie turn its defensive position around facing the other way, also the British had learned at great cost, that german troops would hide in there underground dugouts, ( as Ernest Junger stated in Stormof Steel(good book written by a fritz), if you are going to keep firing into advancing troops right up to the last second, the last thing in there mind on reaching you, and seeing you chuck your hands up, is to spare you!!) So many Fritzs, on seeing they were not going to stop these screaming Tommys with bayonets reaching them, and scared they would not be able to surrender, or would be killed even if they tryed would pelt under ground. And the british when they were green would keep on going, "come on lads we got em on the run" and fritz would come out and mow them down from the rear. So these men would search the position for hiding germans. The last 2 waves would be streacher bearers. Im going to have to finish this Somme story off when I get back going away for a few weeks. but remember 7-12th July 38th (Welsh) Division attack on Mametz wood.
men of my battalion were lying around dead on the ground in great profusion. they wore a yellow badge on there sleeves, and with out this distinguishing mark, it would have been impossable to recognised many of them. Equipment, ammunition, rolls of barbwire, tins of food, gas helmuts and rifles were lying everywhere.
There were more copses than men, but there were worse sights than corpses. Limbs and mutilated trunks, here and there detached heads, forming splashes of red against the green leaves, and as an advertisement of the horror of our way of life and death, and of our crucifixion of youth, one tree held in its branches a leg, with its torn flesh hanging down over a spray of leaf.

I saw a group of men bending over a man lying in the bottom of a trench. He was making a snorting noise mixed with animal groans. At my feet lay his cap splashed with his brains. One can joke with a wounded man, one can disregard a dead man, but no one can joke with a man who takes 3 hours to die after the top of his head has been blowen off by a bullet fired at 20 yards range.

this was mametz wood, this was in the area where the british were successful, on the 2nd of july patrols pushed out from the captured german frontlines, there were no germans to be seen. in all the woods now facing the British the trenches were empty, it took them 40 mins to reach highwood, they were called back and told not to move forward but consolodate, just for that fleeting moment, anything was possible, they hestitad and tommy brewed up, and fritz rushed in reinforcements! It would take the British to again reach the Hell that was to become Highwood over 4months, but first rising up the biggest and thickest of the woods, Mametz wood!

[evolution]

To the north of the Albert-Bapaume road it was a bloody disaster, gommecourt and Serre would never fall, the Germans would give them up in there retreat to the Hindenburg line in Feb/march 17, the only real success was on the 36th (ulster)Div front, there commander Nugent, issued instructions that is men would leave and lay out in no-mans land whilst the Barrage was under way, prefering to take casultys from shorts in the british bombardment than from machine guns,at 7-28am as the barrage lifted they were up and in the german trenches, and as fritz came up from his dugouts they were met by good old british cold steel, some elements actualy made it to the 3rd german defence system, feildwebel bloom, a pioneer was working on the construction of this system, under him where a group of new recrutes, " sir sir one of them called who are they over by the barbwire, they got funny flat helmuts on, Bloom nearly choked as he looked over to where his men were pointing, Himmel he screamed Tommys here., but the paddys were doomed, as the attacks ether side of them where complete desasters, with the men being mowen down in no-mans land, the germans laid a heavy barrage of shells and machine guns in nomans land, no help could be got to the battling paddys, the germans then began to attack down the trench systems using granades and bayonets, from 3 sides the trench blocks thrown up by the desparate ultermen were overwhelmed, untill they despratly held onto the german frontline till darkness fell and what was left could escape back from where they came. A bit off the Somme here but I think might interest you, the 36th (ulster) Division were a K3 Div, and they enlisted on mass ...ie, in early 1914 the british wanted out of the irish problem, and wanted to give independance to all of Ireland, but at the curragh there was a bit of a rebellion in the british army, as many officers turned in the commitions because they refused to force N/ireland to become Irish, the people in n/ireland then raised a Army.. the UVF(ulster volenteer force) there aim was that they would fight anyone who tryed to make them Irish, they wanted to stay under british rule even if it meant fighting the british!!! And how do u give independance to a province if the majority of people who live there did'nt want it? Anyway as WW1 began the UVF (protistant) with assurances that northern irelAND would not be forced into irish rule while the war was under way, the force vollenteered to a man, and the 36th Div was created! mmmm what would have happened if WW1 hadent come along huh!