Somme

by Peter Hart

  The Fokkers evidently worked on some pre-arranged plan as they were firing small white lights before swooping down. After the first attack which was made between us and the sun, the enemy showed much more caution in approaching near. It was in this first attack I think that Cairn Duff was shot down. Allen had his observer (Powell) shot dead as he was firing back and I rather think he got his man too as three of us saw one Fokker going down anyhow, side-slipping and nose diving. Anyway Powell had his gun right ‘on’ as the bullet grazed his trigger finger and struck him in the eye. He fell back into the nacelle breaking one of his legs in the fall. Allen was now defenceless and in spite of the fact that the machine was shot to ‘bits’ just managed to scrape back over the lines, when his engine stopped. He got back into the aerodrome.125

  Captain Harold Wyllie, 23 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps

  The Fokker pilots soon found that the ungainly looking FE2b two-seaters could be dangerous opponents. Yet far more overtly threatening were the new DH2 single-seater scouts. These were also pusher aircraft but they could match the Fokker for speed and manoeuvrability.

  If a Hun sees a De Hav he runs for his life; they won’t come near them. It was only yesterday that one of the fellows came across a Fokker. The Fokker dived followed by the De Hav but the wretched Fokker dived so hard that when he tried to pull his machine out his elevator broke and he dived into our lines; not a shot was fired.126

  Second Lieutenant Gwilym Lewis, 32 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps

  Major Lanoe Hawker who commanded the DH2 pilots of 24 Squadron, RFC issued orders to his men that managed to summarise the ethos of the RFC: ‘Attack Everything.’127 Such an aggressive attitude allowed the RFC scouts to establish such a domination that the hapless BE2cs could carry out their work relatively unmolested.

  Now at last though was the day when it really mattered. The RFC had to keep complete control of the skies above the battlefield. The British scouts flew missions roaming far behind the lines and attacking every German aircraft they sighted. Lieutenant Tudor-Hart and Captain Webb flying in an FE2b were about five miles behind the lines when they sighted a formation of German aircraft. The RFC had a strong ethos that no odds were to be considered too great.

  We saw eight German machines approaching from the south-west—they were higher than us, and we flew towards them to attack. Two passed over our heads together about 300 yards or so apart, and I opened fire on one. They both replied together. I gave the signal to Webb to turn so that I could fire at the other machine behind us, but he put the machine’s head down. I turned to see what was the matter, and he pointed to his abdomen and collapsed over the joy stick. He died in a few seconds I think, but his last thought was to save his machine. The machine at once began turning towards the German side, and I had to get back to my machine gun to fire at a machine diving at us. This happened again and again, but my fire would always prevent them finishing the dive. Other machines fired from above all the time. I had only time to get the machine pointing towards our lines when I had to get back to the gun. I never got a chance to pull Webb out of the pilot’s seat, so I had to steer with my hand over the windscreen. I didn’t expect to get off alive, but tried to put up as good a fight as possible, and tried all the time to keep her towards our lines, but having to man the gun so often made it impossible to make progress, but the erratic course the machine flew probably saved it. At last, still being fired at, I got right down near the ground and proceeded to make a landing, as it was all I could do. I saw a lot of men with rifles, and realised that I might get shot before I could set fire to the machine, so I, at the last minute, put her nose down in order to crash. One wing tip hit first, the whole machine was destroyed. I was hurled out and escaped with a bruised and paralysed side and broken ankle and rib.128

  Lieutenant W.O. Tudor-Hart, 22 Squadron, RFC

  Such casualties were accepted in order to keep back the German aircraft and to give a clear run to the men on the ground. Yet the artillery observation aircraft that were intended to correct the massed batteries fall of shot found themselves struggling with the sheer number of German batteries that opened fire. With every available British gun blazing away it was difficult to work out who was firing at which target and accurate ranging was consequently difficult. Despite this the RFC had at least managed to deprive the German batteries of any chance of their own aerial observation—which in the circumstances was perhaps just as well. The British contact and reconnaissance patrols skimmed unmolested above a battlefield where it was death to show oneself on the ground. One report from Major Lanoe Hawker neatly summarised what was going on below him after a flight along the lines at 1230.

  No Hostile Aircraft seen. About twelve, six-horsed vehicles moving south along Artillery Lane, and two or three moving east from Beaucourt-sur-Ancre. Two or three vehicles moving both ways along St. Pierre Divion–Grandcourt Road. Big high explosive shells bursting on our trenches opposite Thiepval. Hostile trenches from Ancre to Thiepval crowded with dark infantry—presumably Germans. Very few men seen in trenches from Thiepval to Albert–Bapaume Road. Crater north of road empty. Crater south of road and communication trench to north east held by us. Many dead lying on eastern slopes outside this crater. One-horsed vehicles moving in Contalmaison. Our men in communication trenches north of Fricourt facing south. Shrapnel bursting on a line Mametz Wood–Montauban. No indication that Ovillers, Contalmaison or La Boisselle had been captured, but enemy apparently contained in Fricourt. Pilot’s impression: enemy holding on to the line Thiepval–Ancre while he evacuates his artillery.129

  Major Lanoe HawkerVC, 24 Squadron, RFC

  The RFC also launched bombing raids designed to slow down and harass the movement of German reserves towards the battlefield by striking at the railway junctions, stations and railheads that were the veins of the German Army. The aircraft used were generally BE2cs, which although sturdy were unable to carry a worthwhile payload without leaving the observer behind. This demanded great courage as they had no means of defence if they were intercepted. The bombing was hardly devastating by any modern standards but the rewards could still be worthwhile, as the interrogation of a captured German soldier late in the war revealed.

  About 3.30 p.m. the first battalion of the 71st Reserve Regiment and the 11th Reserve Jaeger Battalion were at St Quentin Station ready to entrain, arms were piled and the regimental transport was being loaded onto the train. At this moment English aeroplanes appeared overhead and dropped bombs. One bomb fell on a shed which was filled with ammunition and caused a big explosion. There were 200 wagons of ammunition in the station at the time; sixty of them caught fire and exploded, the remainder were saved with difficulty. The train allotted to the transport of troops and all the equipment which they had placed on the platform were destroyed by fire. The men were panic-stricken and fled in every direction. One hundred and eighty men were either killed or wounded. It was not till several hours later that it was possible to collect the men of 71st Regiment. It was then sent back to billets.130

  Anon German Prisoner

  One lucky bomb had devastated and at least temporarily removed from the fray a whole German battalion. On a day of disaster the Royal Flying Corps had finally come of age and achieved almost everything that could have realistically been expected of it.

  It may have been a bright sunny day but the fog of war enveloped much of the Somme battlefield throughout 1 July. There was an enormous confusion in trying to interpret accurate situation reports—intelligence that was perfectly accurate in itself when sent, only to be subsequently overtaken by events. Although General Sir Henry Rawlinson was in contact with the lieutenant generals commanding his five corps, they themselves had great difficulty in finding out what happened in front of them. The German shells that flayed the British front lines had cut many of the telephone lines and generally ruined the communication between the Corps and their subordinate formations.

  In several sectors where No Man’s Land had become a wall of German
shells the front-line units themselves had little or no idea where their forward elements had got to. The contact reports from the pilots of the Royal Flying Corps could have helped, but in many cases their reports also further muddied any accurate perception of the overall position: in general, aerial reconnaissance proved unable to distinguish between a properly consolidated British position and a few stragglers cut off and doomed to be slowly pinched out by the inexorable German counterattacks. Thus false reports of the presence of British troops in Serre, Ovillers and Thiepval created the impression that more had been achieved than was in fact the case. When General Sir Douglas Haig arrived at Rawlinson’s headquarters in the afternoon the confusion was unresolved.

  Hard fighting continued all day on front of Fourth Army. On a 16 mile front of attack varying fortune must be expected! It is difficult to summarize all that was reported. After lunch I motored to Querrieu and saw Sir H. Rawlinson. We hold the Montauban-Mametz Spur and villages of those names. The enemy are still in Fricourt, but we are round his flank on the north and close to Contalmaison. Ovillers and Thiepval villages have held our troops up, but our men are in the Schwaben Redoubt which crowns the ridge north of the last named village. The enemy counter-attacked here but were driven back. He however got a position with a few men in the river valley. North of the Ancre, the VIII Corps (Hunter-Weston) said they began well, but as the day progressed their troops were forced back into the German front line, except two battalions which occupied Serre village and were, it is said, cut off. I am inclined to believe from further reports that few of the VIII Corps left their trenches! The attack on Gomme-court Salient started well, especially the 56th Division under General Hull. The 46th Division (Stuart Wortley) attacked from the north side but was soon held up. This attack was of the very greatest assistance in helping the VIII Corps, because many of the enemy’s guns and troops were directed on it, and so left the VIII Corps considerably free. In spite of this the VIII Corps achieved very little.131

  General Sir Douglas Haig, General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force

  Even ignoring the calumny so casually directed against the men of VIII Corps, the diary entry is a typical mixture of truths, half-truths and downright misapprehensions that would take days to settle down into a more accurate assessment of events on that awful day. Yet, on the late afternoon of 1 July, armed with such lamentably incomplete and flimsy evidence Haig and Rawlinson were required to take far-reaching decisions that would shape the future course of the Somme offensive. In particular, it seemed to be clear that the attack of the XIII Corps and the French Army alongside them had been markedly more successful than the central and northern sectors. The question of launching a further attack to exploit the inevitable confusion in the German line was pressing and could not be long postponed. Since the attacks in the northern and central sectors had failed it was decided that a breakthrough was unlikely. Meanwhile, General Sir Hubert Gough was kicking his heels at the Fourth Army headquarters, waiting to take command of the amassed reserves and three cavalry divisions allotted to exploit any significant penetration of the German lines. Haig decided that he would be better used in taking command and, if possible, revitalising the failed assaults of the northern wing of the Fourth Army, thus creating a new Reserve Army out of the VIII and X Corps. In the meantime Rawlinson could concentrate on the central and southern wings of what was left of the Fourth Army—the III, XV and XIII Corps.

  While the generals pondered their next move, the British divisions already massed close behind the line, found themselves with nowhere to go as the attack stalled along most of the line. For the men of these divisions the day was just one long utterly dispiriting exercise in disappointment.

  We were in a wood, 2 miles behind the front. Reveille was at half past four, breakfast was at five and we were ordered to be ready to move off at six o’clock. By this time the bombardment had started and the ground shook even where we were and from the edge of the wood we could see the hundreds and hundreds of gun flashes and smoke. I think that every gun that was made was used on that 1st of July. Then we were told of our objective, which was a slag heap near Bapaume which was 5 miles behind the German lines. We were going to have a forced march through the British lines, the German lines and we were going to take this slag heap and we would hold it at all costs. We waited and waited for this signal to move off. We were all ready, everybody was anxious to go, and we waited and waited. At ten o’clock in the morning streams of wounded came back past us, ambulances, walking wounded. The hours went by and then at twelve o’clock they sent the mess orderlies back to the back of this wood, where the cook carts were and we knew that we weren’t going to move. We knew then that the front line had not been cracked. You know, it was a very, very despondent battalion that sat down to their meal of stew.132

  Sergeant Charles Quinnell, 9th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, 36th Brigade, 12th Division

  Towards the end of the day the role of the 12th Division as a whole changed from that of renewing the thrust forward to just reinforcing and relieving the 8th Division, which had been reduced to a husk in the failed assault on Ovillers. The staff officers now had an enormous task ahead of them, and all their organisational skill was required to prevent utter chaos on the roads and communication trenches clogged with the wounded.

  During the afternoon, our three brigades were moved up closer in support and at 9 p.m. we got the order to move divisional headquarters up to the front division and double up with them. This was done about 11 p.m., but of course made everything rather a tangle, especially in the dark. Our infantry was ordered to relieve the 8th Division which had not been able to get on. Fortunately it was the same front which we had reconnoitred and over which I had taken the parties of transport officers and staff captains. I had also issued all the bomb store arrangements, water supply, ration supply and maps—so we were all prepared. We had even marked out our transport camps so they all knew where to go. I had also had two lorries fitted up with tanks and pumps, one for drinking and one for animals. Water is a real difficulty about here, unless one is on or near the rivers or streams. We slept where we could.133

  Quartermaster General Lieutenant Colonel E. H. E. Collen, Headquarters, 12th Division

  The 6th West Kents moved up in the early evening to take up their positions in the British front line. They were led by guides from the Rifle Brigade whom they were replacing. It can be safely assumed that the remnants from the morning attack were feeling bitter.

  Well our guide took B Company up to the front line with Captain Harris as officer commanding. ‘Here you are, Sir!’ he said, ‘Here is your position.’ ‘But where is the company?’ said Captain Harris. It was now very late at night and dark. ‘You will see them in the morning when you look over into No Man’s Land!’ And surely we did see them: men of that regiment and other regiments lying in lines as hay or corn would lie in a field, all mown down by those German machine guns.134

  Signaller Sidney Kemp, 6th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, 37th Brigade, 12th Division

  In some parts of the line there was evidence of considerable panic as the new battalions took up their positions. The men moving into the line were nervy and unsure of what they were to face, while the men they were relieving had been through hell and were jumpy in the extreme.

  At 7 p.m. we moved forward to relieve the 5th West Yorks at Johnson’s Post. As we moved forward along a communication trench into this inferno, the men began to turn back—word was passed down we were to retire. I stood in the corner of the trench and pulled out my revolver. ‘If any man comes back here I shoot!’ I said and after getting order I got out of the trench and ran along the top to rally the men and see what was going on at the front. There was no danger in this as we were not in sight of the German front line. Bland, the Ripon Headmaster’s son, however, with the remnant of the 5th West Yorks in Johnson’s Post which was below us, caught sight of me running with my helmet off. Thinking I was a German, he ordered his men to fire. I
jumped back into the trench as the bullets cracked past me. Luckily the 5th were badly shaken and aimed badly. We eventually relieved the 5th in Johnson’s Post and I had a word with Master Bland!135

  Lieutenant Thomas Pratt, 1/4th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, 147th Brigade, 49th Division

  Gradually over the next day the battered battalions were relieved and moved back to count their dead and begin the long task of rebuilding.

  It was truly the longest day for those men who had been left out of battle by the assault battalions to provide a nucleus for just such a rebuilding process. All day they waited with bated breath to hear how their friends had fared in the attack. This was life or death for the men with whom they had lived and worked for nigh on two years.

  It was a glorious day, the sun was merciless and the ground had recovered enough to make it fairly hard for the advancing troops. I went to a report centre with a telephone where spots of news came filtering through from time to time. ‘Attack totally unexpected.’ ‘Doing well in the south of the attack.’ ‘Five hundred prisoners taken south of Albert.’ ‘We have advanced 3 miles here.’ ‘Trench making headway.’ But of the bid for Thiepval by our division there was no news.136