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Born-Mile End

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

By the beginning of September, 1916,  the Battle of the Somme had been raging for two months. Thousands of men had already been killed or wounded or were simply missing, never to be seen again and just a few square miles of the French countryside, all in the southern part of the battlefield, had been captured from the enemy. Mistakes had been made by the various commanders and would be continued to be made but there was no turning back as the British, Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders and Canadians carried on battering away at the German defences in the hope of a breakthrough, 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 more 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.

The village of Thiepval had been a first day objective when the Battle of the Somme began on 1st July, 1916, and two an a half months later it was still in German hands, That all changed on 26th September when an attack by the Reserve Army succeeded in wresting it  from the enemy. While 18th Division captured Thiepval itself,  on their right 11th Division attacked the Zollern Trench system. The objectives for 34 Brigade were Hessian Trench and the Zollern and Stuff Redoubts and at 12.35pm the 8th Northumberland Fusiliers and 9th Lancashire Fusiliers battalions led out the attack. The 5th Dorset battalion was in close support and as they moved up they suffered heavy casualties from the German artillery barrage falling on the British front line. All four of their company commanders were casualties at this stage. But the assault continued and the known exits from the enemy stronghold at Mouquet Farm were seized. Heavy, accurate fire was poured on to the troops of 34 Brigade as they advanced and 8th Northumberland Fusiliers became embroiled in desperate fighting around the old German second position and the southern half of the Zollern Redoubt at the end of which just one officer and fifty men were dug in on the right, facing Zollern Trench. A platoon from 8th Northumberland Fusiliers moved up the sunken Pozieres-Grandcourt road, trying to keep in touch with the Canadians on their right, but only five of them survived. Meanwhile the right of 9th Lancashire Fusiliers was hard hit by fire from the Zollern Redoubt and then got involved in heavy fighting in Midway Line, the trench connecting Mouquet Farm with the Zollern Redoubt. Here the Germans had six trench mortars which played havoc with their advance so that only a few reached the second objective, the  Zollern Trench. Here they secured a footing but were out of touch on both flanks. Some of 5th Dorset moved up to mingle with the survivors of the two leading battalions while others were involved in a hard fight to clear Moquet Farm. Here fighting continued until 5.30pm when smoke bombs thrown into the cellars forced the enemy out. Over fifty of them surrendered. Now 5th Dorset were able to moved further up to secure Zollern Redoubt but there was much general confusion as to the true picture and the survivors of 34 Brigade consolidated as best as they could without having reached their second objective. The battalion remained scattered in these forward positions and still under heavy fire, throughout the next day until relieved that evening. There were many casualties during the fierce fighting, one of whom was William Fidler of 9th Lancashire Fusiliers who was killed in action.