Somme: Great War 100 Years

By Nigel Cave, Richard van Emden, Tonie Holt and Valmai Holt

This publication, SOMME THE BATTLE 100 YEARS ON, has been published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd, with the purpose of creating an awareness and an interest in theSomme battles of 1916. For nearly thirty years, Pen & Sword Books Ltd has published numerous titles covering various Pals battalions formed for the Big Push. They have also been fore-runners in setting up the Battleground Series guides, which are packed with then and now illustrations, using battle maps from the time and road maps of the sites today. They are all specifically designed to take the tourer safely through these now historic sites. Many more books have been written and published by Pen & Sword on the other battles of the First World War. Only a small portion relating to 1 July 1916 has been taken from each book appearing in this publication. Much more information can been gleaned from reading about the events of the Somme battles and the awful aftermath of the day through reading the books mentioned at the end of each extract.These publications would not have been possible without the skill and dedication of our authors who have painstakingly researched and written about the subjects that bring to light these historic events.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473898899

Nigel Cave

Nigel Cave is the founder editor of the Battleground Europe series; his association with the Company goes back some thirty years.

Book preview

THE SOMME

BATTLEFIELD

A map showing the Somme battlefield with

the British and German Front Lines on

1 July 1916.

THE SOMME: THE BATTLEFIELD TOUR

On 1 July 1916 a mainly volunteer British Army of sixteen divisions in concert with five French divisions attacked entrenched German positions in the Department of the Somme in France. Over-reliance by the British on the destruction of enemy defences by preparatory artillery bombardment led to almost 60,000 British casualties on the first day and more than 400,000 before the fighting ended on 17 November 1916. Total German casualties, estimated to have been about the same as the British and the French, were almost 200,000. There are more than 100 sites of particular interest to be seen on the Somme battlefield of 1916. Here is a selection of those places whose names or memorials feature in the top requests made to us over the years.

This article was extracted from Major & Mrs Holt’s Concise Illustrated Battlefield Guide – The Western Front – South published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

• Albert/Golden Madonna/ ‘Somme 1916’Museum/Mac Carton Mural/0 miles/45 minutes/RWC/Map 5/1 Fierce fighting around Albert began in the early months of the war, the first enemy shelling being on 29 September 1914. By October 1916, when the Somme offensive had pushed the German guns out of range, the town was a pile of red rubble. On 26 March 1918, during their final offensive, Albert was taken by the Germans and retaken by the British on 22 August, the East Surreys entering the town at bayonet point. Albert was a major administration and control centre for the Somme offensive, and it was from here that the first press message was sent announcing the start of the ‘Big Push’.

The golden figure above you is the Virgin Mary holding aloft the baby Jesus. It stands on top of the Basilique of Notre-Dame des Brébières. Before the war thousands of pilgrims came annually to see the black Madonna inside the church which, legend says, had been discovered locally by a shepherd in the Middle Ages (hence the church’s name, from brébis, the word for ewe). In January 1915 German shelling toppled the Golden Madonna on the steeple to an angle below horizontal, but it did not fall. Visible to soldiers of both sides for many miles around, the statue gave rise to two legends. The British and French believed that the war would end on the day that the statue fell (it is said that the Allied Staff sent engineers up the steeple at night to shore it up to prevent raising false hopes). The Germans believed that whoever knocked down the Madonna would lose the war. Neither prediction came to pass. During the German occupation from March to August 1918 the British shelled Albert and knocked down the Golden Madonna. The figure was never found and today’s statue is a replica. The townspeople strongly resisted the suggestion to remount it in its wartime leaning position. The Basilique was rebuilt to the original design by the son of the original architect, Duthoit, with sculptures by Albert Roze. Most of the town (notably the station) was rebuilt in the 1920s in the distinct Art Deco style then in vogue. The idea to declare it a Zone Rouge (too dangerous to rebuild, like some of the battlefields around Verdun) was also strongly resisted by the inhabitants of Albert. To the right of the church is the entrance to the ‘Somme 1916’ Museum.

Golden Madonna and Mural, Albert.

‘Somme 1916’ Museum This interesting and well-presented museum has been made in the subterranean tunnels under the Basilique and other parts of the town. To either side of the main corridor are realistic scenes and sound effects of trench and dugout life – British, French and German-with informative captions in all three languages translated by Paula Flanagan Kesteloot. They are full of authentic artefacts and weapons. Visitors emerge through a souvenir/book shop into the pleasant arboretum public gardens.

Entrance to the ‘Somme 1916’ Museum.

Open: every day 25 January-mid-

December 0700-1900.

Entrance fee payable.

Tel: + (0)3 22 75 16 17.

Fax: + (0)3 22 75 56 33.

E-mail:

[e-mail]

Website:

www.musee-somme-1916.org/

www.somme-trench-museum.co.uk

On the wall opposite the top exit to the park is a striking Mural by Albert Mac Carton showing the Basilique with the Madonna, leaning perilously, and the figures of Allied soldiers. In the small garden in front of it is a Plaque to commemorate the inauguration of the mural on 29 June 1996.

Return up rue Birmingham and turn left on the D929 signed A1/ Lille/Bapaume. You are now moving along the axis of the British attack of 1 July 1916. Continue to the second large roundabout. Continue following Bapaume signs to the cemetery on the right.

• Bapaume Post CWGC Cemetery One of the first cemeteries in this sector to be completed, it contains two battalion commanders of the Tyneside Brigade: Lt Cols William Lyle and Charles Sillery, lying side by side in Row IG, both killed on 1 July. Continue up and then down over the hill (known as the Tara-Usna line), passing the Poppy Restaurant on the right, to the junction in La Boisselle. This was the British Front Line and here there is a memorial seat to the Tynesiders. (Those who are fortunate enough to possess a copy of John Masefield’s classic The Old Front Line will find many of its descriptions still valid from this point onwards.) Fork right on the D20 before the seat and turn first right following signs to la Grande Mine on the C9.

• Lochnagar Crater & Memorials, La Boisselle The land containing the crater was purchased in 1978 and is maintained privately by Englishman Richard Dunning as a personal memorial to all those who fought in the Battle of the Somme and in particular to those, of both sides, killed in the crater. Other memorials have subsequently been erected there: a stone in memory of Pte Tom Easton of the 2nd Bn Tyneside Scottish; a memorial seat ‘Donated by friends who visit in memory of friends who remain’; memorial seats to veteran Harry Fellows and to the Grimsby Chums; a wooden cross in memory of Pte George Nugent whose remains were found on the spot on 31 October 1998 and a Plaque to Gnr W.G. Noon. At the entrance is a CGS/H Information Panel.

Richard, who is intensely aware of the historical and spiritual value of the crater, of its ability to shock and evoke the violence of war through its sheer size, has also raised a simple 12ft high Cross made from church timber originating on Tyneside. Much work has recently been undertaken to enhance the feeling that one is entering a very special memorial area and a ‘living’ Garden of Remembrance. One passes through large stone curbs and ‘knife-rests’ along duckboards and a hedge bounds the site.

Richard may be contacted on 01483 810651. On 1 July each year at 0728 a simple but very moving and involving memorial gathering takes place at the crater. There is also a ceremony here on 11 November. All members of the public are able to attend either ceremony.

Mine warfare had been carried on in this area well before July 1916 and there were many craters in no man’s land. In June, along the Western Front as a whole, the British had blown 101 mines and the Germans 126. In this area some of the shafts dug, from which tunnels then reached out to the enemy line, were over 100ft deep with tunnels at up to four levels.

Lochnager Crater.

When dug, the mine here was known as Lochnagar, and had been started by 185th Tunnelling Company in December 1915. It was finished by 179th Tunnelling Company and packed