The Battle of the Somme and the Sites to Visit

Today, July 1, 2015 marks the 99th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the worst day in the history of British arms.

The Somme holds a particular horror for several reasons; the poor planning, the lack of useful or important objectives behind the German lines, and the prodigal squandering of the best that British society had to offer. There are dozens of monuments along the Somme battlefields; some large, such as Thiepval, and some tiny, such as the memorial to the Ulster troops. All hold a particular poignancy. My personal favorite is the Newfoundland memorial at Beaumont-Hamel; I have written about it in a previous post. The baying caribou and the giant Highlander standing guard over where the German trenches used to be (they were disintegrated by one of the mines that were blown at the beginning of the battle.)



My great-grandfather fought on the Somme, but he never really talked about his experiences. He spent most of the war in Flanders and fought at 2nd Ypres (St. Julien, where his battalion held the line against the first chlorine gas attack) and at 3rd Ypres (Passchendale, arguably the most horrific battle on the British sector of the front) as well as being in the reserves at Vimy in 1917, and in Arras in 1917.

I'll give a quick overview of the battle for discussion purposes.

The Somme was the first real battle of Kitchener's New Army, which he had husbanded jealously in the first two years of war. When war was declared in 1914, thousands of young men rushed to enlist-- patriotic, idealistic young men who believed in the War as a new Crusade against the evil represented by the German Empire. They were middle class, upper class, working class, nobility; all wanted to "do their bit."

Kitchener was the only one in 1914 who believed that the war would run for 3 years, or possibly more. He immediately set to work to create a massive British Army that could field 2 million men by 1916, his "New Army". On July 1, the men of the New Army were instructed to walk together, carrying 160 lbs on their backs, through the German lines-- following closely behind the newly conceived creeping barrage, which was envisioned as clearing all barbed wire as well as wiping out the German defenders. Unfortunately this didn't work; the wire was not cut and the troops got tangled up in it, falling behind the barrage. German machine gun nests, which were for the most part undamaged by the barrage, then opened fire. The troops went down in waves. Even those who reached the German front trenches were unable to continue, as the wire had not been cut. There are reports of troops going back and forth along the wire trying to find a weak place to go through. They were literally sitting ducks.

As if that wasn't enough, the entire point of the Somme was to draw away German troops from Verdun. It was originally intended to be a French battle, with the British playing a small role on the left flank, and as an attritional battle to draw German troops. The Somme sector was the pivot-point where the French and British lines joined, so no major movements were required for positioning.
When Verdun began in February and showed signs of bleeding France white, (which indeed was Falkenhayn's plan) the planned Battle of the Somme became a mainly British venture. There were several French divisions on the right wing, but for the first time the British were the leading partner in a battle.

Haig determined to try to breakthrough, in a new and previously quiet sector; the new tactics of creeping-barrage were perceived as unstoppable. (As an interesting note, creeping-barrage was used with some success in Normandy and in Italy in World War II. The main difference was the improvement in wireless radio sets, which were widely available in WWII, from which the troops could radio their positions, correct the artillery, and arrange for the barrage to proceed according to the movements of the infantry. In WWI, communications depended on miles and miles of wire which usually got cut in the barrages, or on runners.)

If you get a chance to visit the Historial de la Grande Guerre at Peronne, a Picardie town that was part of the battlefield, they have some really amazing artifacts, artwork, and personal effects of soldiers from both sides. Not to mention the originals of Otto Dix's horrifying drawings.

The Ulster Memorial, near to Thiepval, is a beautiful scale replica of the tower that stands over the Ulster Division's parade ground in Belfast. It has a small chapel inside, and in the last few years (it wasn't there in 2005, but was in 2010) a small building off to the side with a mini-museum, several artifacts that have been found nearby, and a counter that sells tea, soft drinks, ice cream, and poppy crosses-- I think the Ulstermen would have approved.

There are many British cemeteries scattered around the countryside; it is quite common to see a 10'x10' cemetery in the middle of a farmer's field, and another not half a mile away. The French collected their dead into large military cemeteries for the most part, or were buried in local village churchyards. At Thiepval, the largest and most popular (and also, sadly, the ugliest) memorial in the Somme sector, the British and French share the memorial cemetery side by side. British on one side, French on the other. Allies to the end.
As with all the British memorials that list the names of the missing, every time one of the missing is located (which does still happen) they are placed in their own grave and their name is removed from the monument. It is beautifully done, but every time you see a blank space in the list of thousands of names, you know that someone has been found. To know that this is a living memorial, that it is still being updated, that the we are still searching for those who went missing 100 years ago-- it is incredibly powerful.

Next year will be the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. In some ways, the Battle and the men who fought it seem closer to us as time progresses. All the wonderful work being done to collect their experiences and memories is a little late coming, as the last WWI soldiers have passed on, but the incredible and growing attention paid to WWI all over the world is something that the soldiers, fighting "The War To End All Wars" would have appreciated.