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Born-Lambeth

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

By the beginning of August the Battle of the Somme had been raging for a full month. Thousands of men had already been killed or wounded or were simply missing, never to be seen again and 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.

12th Royal Fusiliers of 73 Brigade, 24th Division arrived on the Somme on 31st July 1916 along with the rest of the division. For their first week here they were training at the Sand Pits near Meaulte before taking over reserve trenches in Bernafay Wood on 9th August. On the 13th August they moved further forward to trenches between Delville Wood and Guillemont where the artillery battle was as intense as ever. This was particularly so on 16th August when 12th Royal Fusiliers sustained 10 casualties, 3 of whom were killed. One of those who lost their lives on this day was John Wilkin.