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The Great War 1914-1918

The First Day of the Battle of the Somme

The plan by the British was to break the stalemate with one great attack, and draw the German forces away from the town of Verdun which had been under sustained attack. The front line in the valley of the River Somme was selected for the British attack. It was hoped that a successful attack here would put the British in a good position for the spring offensive of 1917.

After an artillery barrage lasting seven days it was assumed that all German defence would have been removed. However the Germans had been in the safety of their underground bunkers, and emerged to fire on the advancing British. The advance soldiers were caught in the barbed wire, which the artillery had failed to remove.

The 1st Battalion of the King's Own were involved in the fighting covering the areas of Thiepval, Beaumont Hamel, Serre and Gommecourt. The 7th Battalion was held in reserve at Albert. On 1st July 1916 the 1st Battalion suffered heavy casualties. Ten officers were killed, and twelve were wounded. Out of 507 other ranks who went into action, 387 were either killed or wounded.

[Major J N Bromilow, killed whilst commanding the 1st Battalion, 1st July 1916 KO Neg 527]

A total of 100,000 British troops were sent into action on 1st July 1916, 20,000 were killed, 40,000 were wounded. The retreat was ordered, with no gain in territory being made. Fresh attacks were launched for the next three months, the Generals were remote and out of touch with the pointless nature of their orders. In these subsequent attacks the 1/4th, 1/5th, 7th and 8th Battalions of the King's Own all saw action.

Extract from : THE WAR DIARY OF THE
1ST BATTALION KING'S OWN ROYAL LANCASTER REGIMENT

Account of Operations on 30th June 1916, to 1st July 1916.
Owing to the fact that there are so few Officers and men now with the Battalion who made any substantial progress in the attack on the 1st July it is neither possible to give an accurate nor detailed account of the operations.
This account is based on information obtained from Officers and men who took part in the attack and are now serving with the Battn. Also on different categories of casualties sustained by different companies according to their different dispositions.

June 30th 10 pm	BERTRANCOURT
	At about 10 p.m. as the Battn. was preparing to march off, the enemy commenced to shell the neighbourhood of our camp at BERTRANCOURT. At 10.5 p.m. Head Qrs. moved off and Coys moved in rear with 100 yds distance between platoons. The route of the Battalion was as follows:- The track running E. of the Camp, across BERTRANCOURT - COURCELLES road down the valley thence following the white guide posts to MAILLY-SUCRERIE road, following the SUCRERIE road for 20 yds, turning S.E. along the track marked by the white guide posts to 6TH AVENUE, along N. side of the 6TH AVENUE across the sunken road, continuing along 6TH AVENUE to where ROMAN road runs under SERRE road, thence turning N.E. following white guide posts to CHEEROH AVENUE, Assembly trenches in neighbourhood of GREEN TRENCH and BOW STREET.
JULY	ASSEMBLY AREA
1st 1.30 a.m.	The Battalion was at present in its assembly area at 1.30 a.m. 1st July. Casualties amounted to 6 up to this period. 6 O.R.
	Disposition of Coys. in the attack.
	Each Coy had a frontage of one platoon i.e. Battn. had a frontage of 4 platoons (approximately 500 yds.)
8.41 a.m.	The Attack. An Officer's patrol consisting of 1 Officer (2/Lt C.C. MacWalter) and 20 O.R. advanced as a screen extending over the whole Battn. front at 8.41 a.m. At 8.46 a.m. leading Sections of the Battn. advanced from their Assembly Area. Directly the advance commenced the Battn. came under heavy machine gun fire and there seems no doubt that a large number of casualties occurred before reaching our own front line. The two left Coys. seemed to have suffered most heavily up to this point. The advance still continued, however, a large number of killed and wounded were brought in from NO MAN'S LAND. The two left Coys. again seemed to have suffered most heavily. Only a small number of these Coys. reached the German front line. The two right Coys. seemed to have made substantial progress. Some men stated that they actually saw men crossing the German second line. The casualties and missing of these two Coys. are considerably greater than in the two left Coys.
1st 12.30 p.m.	An Officer of the left centre Coy. who was only able to reach the German front line owing to having so few men left, states that he saw no one advancing on his left, but that to his right he could see men advancing. (Most of these men appeared to belong to the Seaforth Highlanders). He further stated that the enemy were holding their second line directly in front of him and to his left front very strongly and that they had machine guns in the open just in front of their second line on his left front. Those men of the two right Coys. who are now with the Battn. state that in the German second line there was a mixed force of all Regiments and that at about 12.30 p.m. these men retired with the remainder of this force, first of all back to the German 1st line, and shortly after thence to our front line, owing to the strong bomb attacks made by the enemy which they were unable to meet owing to the shortage of bombs.
	As regards the left Coy., owing to the fact that the right Battn. 31st Division had been unable to make any headway, few of them reached the front line. There seems to be a general opinion that the Batt. lost its direction to a certain extent, advancing too much to its left as men of the left Coy. state that when they crossed our front line there were men of the 31st Division in our front line at this point. The Brigadier of the Right Brigade 31st Division checked any further advance ordered what men remained to form up in LEG END. This seems to have been about 4 p.m. but the exact time is uncertain.
	LEG END
	120 men remained at the end of the day and were ordered to form up in their former Assembly trenches.
2nd.	Battalion moved into support trenches at Elle Square.

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