Current Information:

Born-Hammersmith

Quarry Cemetery, Montauban, Somme

The Battle of the Somme (July-November, 1916)

On 1st July 1916 The British Army launched a massive offensive along a section of the front line running north of the River Somme. The French attacked south of it. The first day was a disaster for the British army which suffered nearly 60,000 casualties, 19,000 of whom were killed, and made hardly any inroads into the enemy lines. But the battle had to go on, if for no other reason than to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun where they had been facing the full onslaught of the powerful German Army. So it continued all the way through to November with nearly every battalion and division then in France being drawn into it at some stage. In the end the German trenches had been pushed back a few miles along most of the line but the cost in lives had been staggering. By the end of the fighting in November, 1916, British Army casualties numbered over 400,000, killed, wounded and missing.

From 13th to 18th July, 1916, the 11th Royal Fusiliers battalion of 54 Brigade, 18th Division were in support trenches near Maricourt and helped to clear Trones Wood on 14th July so that the British Army could renew the offensive along a broad front stretching from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit. During their time in these support trenches they were subjected to a great deal of shell fire and suffered casualties on a daily basis. Isaac Marlow was one of those killed on 18th July when C Company in a sunken road were hit particularly hard by High Explosive and Shrapnel and were forced to move their position.