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The Newfoundland Memorial in the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Park pays tribute to the Newfoundland Regiment and its part on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916. © 2013, John M. Shea
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
Biaches Military Cemetery on the Somme: graves of Jules Auguste Huchard, Sergeant 44th Infantry Regiment, died August 11, 1916, and Prosper Victor Guinfoleau, Sergeant 79th Infantry Regiment, died July 6, 1916.
Detail from the Memorial to the French Moroccan Division at Vimy Ridge. The theaters and battles in which the division played a role are recorded on the sides of the monument. © 2013, John M. Shea
Portrait of British soldier Harry Mulvaney, son of Edith (Hughes) and Peter Mulvaney, who was killed in France aged about 19 years in the 1914-18 war.
"The Newfoundlanders had to go 300 yards before reaching the British front line and then a similar distance across No Man's Land. In view of the urgency of their orders they went straight over the top from a reserve trench, instead of going to the front line by way of congested communication trenches. As soon as they appeared in the open, German machine-gunners spotted them and opened fire. No artillery bombardment kept the Germans' heads down; no other targets distracted them, for the Essex had not appeared. They concentrated their fire on the 752 Newfoundlanders advancing over the open ground less than half a mile away." ((1), more)
"2nd July [1916]Yesterday, at last, the great offensive was launched, the offensive which was announced months ago, later postponed and heralded by the statesmen as the signal for liberation by total victory.French and English together announce 11,000 prisoners. The first German line was captured, but we were halted by the second. We are assured that the attackers' losses are negligible, naturally! Now we are marking time and bringing up artillery; then the attack will continue, and in this way the Germans will have time to bring up their reserves. In any case no surprise effect has been sought. This is a 'sledge-hammer' attack, not a penetration. Penetration is antiquated!In any case, this offensive, by wearing down the armies taking part, is leading us towards the end of the war. When this battle has lasted two or three months weariness may set in and ideas of peace will at last find favourable soil." ((2), more)
"At Assevillers, at the other end of the line, the defence was more tenacious: the first French assault was beaten off by artillery fire from unsilenced batteries to the south, and a second with fresh battalions was heavily counter-attacked. More battalions, hastily scraped up from the front to the south, were being thrown in to hold the line. The village was not finally in French hands until 09:00 on 3 July. Following closely the methods prescribed by GAN for the multi-stage set-piece battle, the Colonials demonstrated that early success could be quickly exploited — the capture of one German position could be followed up with the capture of a second while the defence was disorganised. In forty-eight hours the French had broken through on the Somme on an eight-kilometre front!" ((3), more)
"Over the night of 3–4 July the defenders worked frantically on their third position, linking it through Barleux and Belloy-en-Santerre to the second position at Estrées. The French seized these last two villages on the afternoon of 4 July. Foreign legionnaires from the Moroccan Division assaulted Belloy after a three-hour bombardment. Their morale was excellent. Despite coming under withering close-range machine-gun fire from emplacements hidden until the moment of assault, the legionnaires pressed on into the village. As the bugler sounded the charge, the wounded men in no-man's land raised themselves up and cries of 'Vive la Légion! Vive la France!' could be heard above the gunfire. In the afternoon the legionnaires fought off the first of a series of counter-attacks from the woods to the north-east which 21 RIC had failed to take: the enemy could be seen dismounting from their lorries on the road a few hundred metres behind and immediately joining the attack. The fight went on throughout the night, often hand-to-hand; but the legionnaires kept the village." ((4), more)
"Dear Miss Scott: The parcel has arrived, and is being put to its proper use with the proper speed. The cake is excellent. Tray bong. J'en suis tres oblige. If you have not sent the other parcel by the time you get this do not trouble till you receive another F.P.C. The fact is, that in this last 6 days in the trenches, we had such a devil of a time that I felt that if parcels were to come at all — if tis to be done, then twere well it were done quickly. We were made a cock-shy of for the artillery, and so have really been a part of the advance. (One strafe lasted 2½ hours, and gave me a permanent distaste for such. We were under fire every day, and nowhere was safe. In the post where I was for half my time, there were twelve dugouts. Four have been smashed, the cookhouse a mere melancholy ruin of its former greatness, and the bombstore not what it was. Souvenirs are plentiful round there. . ." ((5), more)
(1) Most of the British troops fighting on July 1, 1916, the first day of Battle of the Somme, were from the United Kingdom, and many of them were part of the British New Army. The Newfoundland Regiment was among the few Dominion troops fighting on what would be the worst day in British Army history, thrown into the battle with little notice after the troops before them had failed to advance. The 1st Essex Regiment was supposed to be advancing simultaneously to the Newfoundlanders right. Of the 752 Newfoundlanders who crossed the ground at Beaumont-Hamel, 26 officers and 658 men were casualties. On that day, July 1, 1916, the British army suffered nearly 60,000 casualties on the Somme, 19,240 of them killed. In 1916, Newfoundland was a British colony, not yet part of Canada.
First Day on the Somme by Martin Middlebrook, pp. 189-190, copyright © 1972 by Martin Middlebrook, publisher: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., publication date: 1972
(2) Entry from the war diary of Albert, King of the Belgians, July 2, 1916, after the first day of the Anglo-French Battle of the Somme. The first German line was captured at some points. The King's cynicism is understandable, having heard or been told of 'negligible losses' before. Penetration, the breakthrough, had been the aim of previous Allied attacks, but now it's the 'sledge-hammer' attack, like that of the German's at Verdun. The Battle would go on. Peace was over two years away.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 113, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(3) The French at the right wing (southern) of the Anglo-French line in the Battle of the Somme were much more successful than their Ally in the first days of the offensive. Although the Germans had been tenacious at Assevillers, they had been quickly defeated at other points, such as Herbécourt. GAN was the Groupe des Armée du Nord commanded by General Ferdinand Foch.
Three Armies on the Somme by William Philpott, pp. 207-208, copyright © 2009 by William Philpott, publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, publication date: 2009
(4) In the first days of the Battle of the Somme, begun July 1, 1916, the French had breached the German first defensive line and at some points the second. The Moroccan Division that was so successful at Belloy-en-Santerre had been the first unit to break the German line in the war, having done so in the May, 1915 Second Battle of Artois. '21 RIC' was the 21st Régiment d'infanterie colonial.
Three Armies on the Somme by William Philpott, pp. 216, 217, copyright © 2009 by William Philpott, publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, publication date: 2009
(5) Ivor Gurney, English poet and composer, writing to the composer Marion Margaret Scott, President of the Society of Women Musicians from 1915 to 1916, on July 5, 1916. Gurney was a private in the Gloucestershire Regiment in the Fauquissart-Laventie sector.
War Letters, Ivor Gurney, a selection edited by R.K.R. Thornton by Ivor Gurney, page 80, copyright © J. R. Haines, the Trustee of the Ivor Gurney Estate 1983, publisher: The Hogarth Press, publication date: 1984
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