This is a very short post but it would be remiss not to take the time and the moment to just remember that today is the 109th anniversary of the start of the battle of the Somme – 1 July 1916.
As part of the offensive there was one area that was earmarked to act as a diversionary attack to try and prevent the germans from sending reinforcements to the main attacks, that area was at Gommecourt on the northern area of the British Somme area.
The attack onto the Northern side of Gommecourt Wood was carried out by the 46 North Midlands Division of which the 5 and 6th Bn of the North Staffordshire Regiment were part. These were pre war territorial battalions but were also hard early war volunteers.
One of those Volunteers was my wife’s Grandfather, while he was a Derbyshire man he enlisted in Burton on Trent and found himself initially in the 5th Bn North Staffs but later with the 6th Bn. This would be his, as it would for many others of the regiment, first battle and the first time “going over the top”.
The battle did not go well for the Division that day for a whole variety of reasons, something that I’ll look at doing as an in depth and detailed blog post later.
Having walked over the battlefield and the specific ground that was the trenches of the 5th and 6th Bn North Staffs it is incredible to look south at the couple of hundred yards that had to be covered to reach the German trenches on the edge and inside Gommecourt Wood. Not a big distance but when you are weight down with kit and stores, rifle and ammunition that couple of hundred yards with some “German Bastard” shooting at you, that is a long way by anyone’s money, and it was probably even longer to get back to your own trenches at the end of it as well.
So, just a few things to take a moment and think on:
- The 1st July 1916 is the first day of the battle of the Somme.
- The numbers of casualties are very high on the first day but these are the numbers for dead, injured, missing and prisoners. It is a big butchers bill but look beyond the headline number.
- This battle of the Somme continues onto November 1916.
- While Gommecourt is a failure, there are significant successes on the first day, particularly in the southern areas.
My wife’s grandfather survived Gommecourt and the war, despite being gassed in the March/ April German Offensives of 1918, but all I would ask is that if you read this post, just take a bit of time today and think of those that were on the Somme in 1916.