Current Information:

Born-Limehouse

Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille, France

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.

The days immediately following the carnage of July 1st on  the Somme, had two main priorities. They were to rescue the wounded and to consolidate what gains had been made. However, despite the slaughter of 1st July, there was no going back. This was the “Big Push” and the attacks had to continue and Haig decided that they would continue on the southern sector of the front where the few successes had occurred. But first, two diversionary attacks were launched on 3rd July to take the attention of the Germans away from the real target. The second of these was an attack by 32nd Division on the fortress that was Thiepval. Initially it was supposed that this would be an attack by 3 divisions but Haig wanted to concentrate his forces in the south of the line where there had been a degree of success on 1st July, so in the end  it was only 2 brigades that made the attack; 14 Brigade of 32nd Division and 75 Brigade of 25th Division, attached to 32nd Division for this action.

75 Brigade of 25th Division had arrived in Aveluy and Martinsart Woods the previous afternoon but there were  delays in bringing them up and rearranging the artillery, so the attack was not launched until 3.15pm. It was a hopeless task. The artillery barrage failed to dislodge the German defenders, especially the well sited machine gun nests, and carnage ensued. In the centre 8th Border reached the shell holes that marked the enemy front line but they were soon bombed out of them.  11th Cheshire and 2nd South Lancashire came across intact German wire and here they were mown down by machine guns.  Those that did not enter the enemy line were soon captured or killed. 60 of 11th Cheshire drifted to the right and joined 15th Highland Light Infantry of 14 Brigade in the Leipzig salient. The attack was called off and the supporting troops in shell holes in no-man’s land were withdrawn.  Casualties for this futile attack amounted to over 1100.