15. Bennett, Thomas, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
16. Osborn, George, diary, 6 April 1916, South Wales Borderers’ (SWB) Museum.
17. Cousins, John, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
18. ibid.
19. Pollard, op. cit.
20. Brookes, Squire, ULLC/WW1/SEV01.
21. Falls, Cyril, The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division (London: M’Caw, Stevenson & Orr, 1922), p. 30.
22. Moore, Aubrey, ULLC/WW1/WF01/M/24.
23. Falls, op. cit.
24. Jarman, Clarrie, ULLC/WW1/WF01/J/5.
25. Cousins, op. cit.
26. Upcott, 3 May 1916.
27. Goodwin, William, diary, 19 March 1916, ULLC/WW1/GS/0644.
28. Allen, Henry, ULLC/WW1/MID01 & WF01/A/6.
29. Kirkland-Laman, Eric, diary, 3 May 1916, SWB Museum.
30. Jarman, op. cit.
31. Tennant, Cecil, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
32. Jarman, op. cit.
33. ibid.
34. Macdonald, Andrew, On My Way to the Somme: New Zealanders and the Bloody Offensive of 1916 (Auckland: HarperCollins, 2005), p. 174.
35. Barber, Henry, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
36. Parker, Victor, interview with author, Christchurch, New Zealand, May 1991.
37. Lockhart, Noel, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
38. Aust, Walter, ULLC/WW1/MID01 & WF01/A/15.
39. England, Arthur, ULLC/WW1/WF01/E/7.
40. Pollard, op. cit.
41. ibid.
42. ibid.
43. Brew, James, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
44. Lockhart, op. cit.
45. Goodwin, 3 May 1916, op. cit.
46. Jarman, op. cit.
47. Archer-Houblon, Richard, ULLC/WW1/GS/0040.
48. Coom, Colin, ULLC/WW1/WF01/C/12.
49. Kirkland-Laman, 6 April 1916, op. cit.
50. Richardson, Roland, ULLC/WW1/WF02/R/8.
51. Moakler, op. cit.
52. Aust, op. cit.
53. Lockhart, op. cit.
54. Fourth Army Summary of Operations, March–June 1916, NAUK, WO/158/244; stated casualties totalled 9893, but no figures are given for the first week of March or the week ended 2 June.
55. ‘Casualties –April,’ Rawlinson Papers 1/6, Churchill Archive.
56. Bloye, Ben, ULLC/WW1/WF01/B/22.
57. Graü, Leo, postcard, 19 March 1916.
58. Edmonds, Sir James, Military Operations France and Belgium, 1916, Vol. 1 (London: Imperial War Museum, 1992), pp. 268–9.
59. Hart, Peter, Somme Success: the Royal Flying Corps and the Battle of the Somme, 1916 (London: Leo Cooper: 2001), p. 38.
60. Unknown correspondent, formerly of London Rifle Brigade, letter, 9 September 1929, NAUK, CAB/45/132.
61. Brownlow, Cecil, letter, 30 April 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/132.
62. Ounsworth, Leonard, ULLC/WW1/TR/05.
63. Laporte, Archibald, ULLC/WW1/GS/0920.
64. Beaumont, HW, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
65. The daily ration in early 1916 comprised: meat fresh/frozen (1 lb) or preserved (¾ lb); bread (1¼ lb) or biscuit or flour (¾ lb); bacon (4 oz); cheese (3 oz); vegetables fresh (8 oz) or dried (2 oz); tea (⅝ oz); jam (3 oz); sugar (3 oz); salt (½ oz); mustard (1/50 oz); pepper (1/36 oz); condensed milk (1/12 tin); pickles (weekly, 1 oz); oatmeal thrice weekly as an extra; and butter as an extra.
66. Jarman, op. cit.
67. Coom, op. cit.
68. ibid.
69. Lockhart, op. cit.
70. Senescall, William, ULLC/WW1/WF02/S/7.
71. Barber, op. cit.
72. Mawbey, Cyril, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
73. Grindley, op. cit.
74. Willmer, Edgar, ULLC/WW1/GS/1753.
75. Brookes, op. cit.
76. Tennant, op. cit.
77. England, op. cit.
78. Coom, op. cit.
79. Upcott, 11 April 1916, op. cit.
80. Barber, op. cit.
81. Brookes, op. cit.
82. Aust, op. cit.; Tennant, op. cit.
83. Richardson, op. cit.
84. SS394: Notes on German Army Corps, XIV. Reserve Corps and 52nd Division (March 1916); Summary of Operations, Fourth Army, periodic reports, April–June 1916, NAUK, WO/158/244.
85. England, op. cit.
86. ibid.
87. Garrand, Charles, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
88. Brookes, op. cit.
89. Kirkland-Laman, diary, 6 April 1916, SWB Museum.
90. Cousins, op. cit.
91. Reymann, H., Das 3. Oberschlesische Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 62 im Kriege 1914–1918 (Zeulenroda: Sporn, 1930), p. 84.
92. Corbett, William, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
93. Brookes, op. cit.
94. Aust, op. cit.
95. Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire during the Great War 1914–1920 (London: The War Office, 1922), p. 666.
96. Pugsley, Christopher, On the Fringe of Hell: New Zealanders and Military Discipline in the First World War (Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton, 1991), p. 352.
97. ibid., p. 354.
98. Allsop, John, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
99. Osborn, George, diary, 2 April 1916, op. cit.
100. Brookes, op. cit.
101. Archer-Houblon, op. cit.
102. Slater, William, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
103. Good, Claude, ULLC/WW1/WF01.
104. Good, op. cit.; England, op. cit.
105. Coppard, George, With a Machine Gun to Cambrai: The Tale of a Young Tommy in Kitchener’s Army 1914–1918 (London: HMSO, 1969), p. 77.
106. Haig, Douglas, diary, 30 June 1916, NAUK, WO/256/10.
107. Rawlinson, diary, 30 June 1916, op. cit.; ‘Total infantry in 4 Army on 26 June 1916,’ Rawlinson Papers 1/6, Churchill Archive; ‘Fourth Army Feeding Strength on 1st July 1916,’ Rawlinson Papers 1/6, Churchill Archive; in addition there were 4459 French and 3189 Indian soldiers on the feeding list, plus 148, 237 animals.
108. Charteris, Brigadier-General John, At G.H.Q. (London: Cassell, 1931), p. 147.
109. Capper, op. cit.
110. ibid.
111. Frank, Thomas, ULLC/WW1/WF01/F/12.
112. Malins, Geoffrey, How I Filmed the War (London: Imperial War Museum, 1993), pp. 121–2.
113. ‘Total infantry in 4 Army on 26 June 1916,’ op. cit.; ‘Total infantry in 4 Army on 10 June 1916,’ Rawlinson Papers 1/6, Churchill Archive.
114. Barber, op. cit.
115. Capper, op. cit.
116. Easton, Thomas, ULLC/WW1/GS/0490.
117. Moore, op. cit.
118. Kelly, David, 39 Months: With the ‘Tigers’ 1915–1918 (London: Ernest Benn Ltd, 1930), p. 22.
119. Malins, op. cit., p. 121.
120. Capper, op. cit.
121. Kirkland-Laman, 17 March 1916, op. cit.
122. Edmonds, p. 278.
123. Mawbey, op. cit.
124. Banks, T.M., and Chell, R.A., With the 10th Essex in France (London: Gay & Hancock, 1924), p. 103.
125. Croft, Henry, Twenty-Two Months Under Fire (London: John Murray, 1917), p. 199.
126. Coom, op. cit.
127. Archer-Houblon, op. cit.
128. Crozier, Frank, Brass Hat in No Man’s Land (London: Jonathan Cape, 1930), pp. 57–8.
129. Stapleton-Smith, Private Cedric, interview with author, Christchurch, New Zealand, March 1992. He claimed he first heard such terms used by British soldiers in early 1916 at Armentieres.
130. Lockhart, op. cit.
131. Report on Operations 21st June to 4th July, and from 8th to 15th July, 32nd Division, war diary, July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2368/1/2.
132. Beaumont, op. cit.
133. England, op. cit.
134. Durrant, Arthur, ULLC/WW1/WF01/D/19.
135. Brookes, op. cit.
136. Capper, op. cit.
137. The Great War Diaries of Brigadier Alexander Johnston 1914–1917, ed. Edwin Astill (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2007), p. 137; Girdwood, Austin, letter, 30 June 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/134.
138. Edmonds, p. 286.
139. Grieve, Grant, and Newman, Bernard, Tunnellers: The Story of the Tunnelling Companies, Royal Engineers, during the World War (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1936), p. 116; the initial Somme establishment totalled seven companies, but the 184th and 185th were withdrawn in February 1916 and sent further north.
140. ibid., p. 77; there were two establishments of tunnelling companies. One nominally comprised 569 officers and men, the other 344.
141. ibid., p. 116; the example given is for 252nd Tunnelling Company, which was assisted by 1900 infantrymen in addition to its usual nominal strength in digging Hawthorne Mine and nearby galleries.
142. England, op. cit.
143. Williams, Frederick, ULLC/WW1/WF02/W/19.
144. Levine, Joshua, Forgotten Voices of the Somme (London: Ebury Publishing, 2009), p. 87.
145. Edmonds, p. 272.
146. Rawlinson, diary, 7 April 1916, op. cit.
147. Edmonds, pp. 272–3.
148. ibid., p. 273.
149. ibid.
150. ibid.
151. Edmonds, p. 274; Fourth Army’s railheads were as follows — supplies: Méricourt, Heilly, Frechencourt, Edge Hill, Belle-Église and Acheux; ammunition: Puchevillers, Corbie, Authuille and Contay; engineer stores: Méricourt and Acheux; ambulance trains: Vecquemont.
152. ibid.; the assumption at the time was that motor transport columns could operate to a distance of 25 miles from railheads, and horse-drawn transports 32 miles.
153. Brown, Ian Malcolm, British Logistics on the Western Front 1914–1919 (Westport: Praeger, 1998), p. 133.
154. Schreiber, Acton, 6 April 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/137.
155. Edmonds, p. 277.
156. Schreiber, op. cit.
157. Rawlinson, diary, 30 June 1916, op. cit.
158. Chateau Gate Traffic Report, Rawlinson Papers 1/6, Churchill Archive.
159. Edmonds, p. 283.
160. ibid.
161. ibid.
162. Codrington, Geoffrey, letter, 10 February 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/132.
163. Codrington, op. cit.; this was a common theme in all major offensives, and particularly when the weather closed in, such as at Third Ypres.
164. Fenton, George, letter, 23 August 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/133.
165. Binstead, Charles, ULLC/WW1/WF01/B/18.
166. Cartwright, George, letter, 14 November 1929, NAUK, CAB/45/132.
167. Crozier, p. 96.
168. Prior, Robin, and Wilson, Trevor, The Somme (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2005), p. 58.
169. SS109: Training of Divisions for Offensive Action (8 May 1916).
170. ibid., p. 2.
171. ibid., p. 1.
172. ibid.
173. ibid., p. 2.
174. ibid.
175. ibid., p. 1.
176. Banks and Chell, p. 105.
177. Burrows, John, The Essex Regiment: 2nd Battalion (56th) (Pompadours) (John H. Burrows & Sons, 1927), p. 140.
178. Barber, op. cit.; Brookes, op. cit.; Rowley, ECW, letter, 22 March 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/137; Williams, F.J., op. cit.; Whitham, H., ULLC/WW1/TR/08; Burrowes, A.R., The 1st Battalion, The Faugh-A-Ballaghs in the Great War (London: Gale & Polden, 1925), p. 64.
179. Bax, Cyril, The Eighth Division in War, 1914–1918 (London: The Medici Society, 1926), pp. 63–4.
180. Nichols, G.H.F., The 18th Division in the Great War (London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1922), p. 36; see also Falls, op. cit., p. 41.
181. Moore, op. cit.
182. Dundee Courier, 11 July 1916.
183. Mitchell, Gardiner, Three Cheers for the Derrys! A History of the 10th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the 1914–18 War (Derry: Yes! Publications, 1991), p. 74.
184. Tennant, op. cit.
185. Harris, Ruth, Billie: the Neville Letters, 1914–1916 (London: Julia MacRae Books, 1991), p. 187.
186. Wyrall, Everard, The History of the 19th Division 1914–1918 (London: Edward Arnold, 1932), p. 30.
187. Bell, Allan, ULLC/WW1/MID01; Williams, Herbert, ULLC/WW1/GS/1745.
188. Wyrall, 19th Division, p. 31.
189. Hart, Peter, The Somme (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2005), p. 55.
190. Senescall, op. cit.
191. Henderson, Stanley, ULLC/WW1/WF01/H19 & MID01.
192. Pollard, op. cit.; see also Greenwell, Graham, An Infant in Arms: War Letters of a Company Officer, 1914–1918 (London: The Penguin Press, 1972), p. 106.
193. Upcott, 1 June 1916, op. cit.
194. Jardine, James, letter, 13 June 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/135.
195. The Great War Diaries, p. 137.
196. Pollard, op. cit.
197. Burrows, John, The Essex Regiment, 1st Battalion (44th) (John H. Burrows & Sons, 1927), p. 205.
198. Branson, Douglas, ULLC/WW1/GS/0187.
199. Burrows, op. cit., p. 64; see also Hart, Somme, p. 55.
200. Coppard, p. 75.
201. Banks and Chell, p. 104.
202. Hart, The Somme, p. 55.
203. Middlebrook, Martin, The First Day on the Somme (London: Penguin Books, 1984), p. 86.
204. Crook, Wilfred, ULLC/WW1/WF01/C/21 & MID01.
205. Liverpool Daily Post, 18 July 1916
206. Haig, diary, 30 June 1916, op. cit.
207. Crozier, p. 96.
208. Rawlinson, diary, 30 June 1916, op. cit.
209. ibid.
210. The First World War Letters of General Lord Horne, ed. Simon Robbins (Stroud: The Army Records Society, 2009), p. 168.
211. Congreve, Walter, diary, 1 May–23 June 1916, Congreve Papers, Hampshire Records Office.
212. Morland, Thomas, letter, 4 June 1916, Morland Papers, Imperial War Museum.
213. Hunter-Weston, Aylmer, letters, 21–30 June 1916, Hunter-Weston Papers, BL.
214. ibid., 25 June 1916.
215. Report on Operations on Fourth Army Front for Period Ending 6 p.m. Friday, 16th June, 1916, Fourth Army, Summary of Operation, NAUK, WO/155/244.
216. Haig, diary, 30 June 1916, op. cit.
Chapter 3: ‘Artillery is Decisive’
1. Collet, Peter, ULLC/WW1/GE/29.
2. A coalscuttle helmet was captured by III Corps in April 1916 at Ovillers and La Boisselle. It was the subject of a special report (NAUK/WO/157/171). At least one German regiment confirmed the very limited presence of these steel helmets prior to 1 July. Frisch, George, Das Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 109 im Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918 (Karlsruhe: F. Thiergarten, 1931), p. 109.
3. Frisch, p. 123.
4. Dellmensingen, Konrad von, and Feeser, Friedrichfranz, Das Bayernbuch vom Weltkriege 1914–1918 (Stuttgart: Belser, 1930), p. 300.
5. Reichsarchiv, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918: Die Operationen des Jahres 1916 (Berlin: Mittler & Sohn, 1936), p. 343.
6. Fiedel, Paul, Geschichte des Infanterie-Regiments von Winterfeldt (2. Oberschlesisches) Nr. 23 (Berlin: Wilhelm Kolk, 1929), p. 117.
7. Koch, Arthur, Die Flieger-Abteilung (A) 221: Nach den Kriegstagebüchern und Flugmeldungen der Abteilung bearbeitet (Oldenburg: Gerhard Stalling, 1925), p. 24.
8. ibid., p. 25.
9. ibid., p. 21.
10. Falkenhayn, Erich von, General Headquarters 1914–1916 and its Critical Decisions (London: Hutchinson, 1919), p. 262.
11. SS553: Experience of the German 1st Army in the Somme Battle, 24 June to 26 November 1916, First Army H.Q. (30 January 1917, translated 3 May 1917), p. 3; Lossberg, Friedrich, Meine Tätigkeit im Weltkriege (Berlin: Mittler & Sohn, 1939), pp. 215–17; Weltkrieg, p. 341.
12. Sheldon, Jack, The German Army on the Somme 1914–1916 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2005), pp. 115–16.
13. Soden, Franz von, Die 26. (Württembergische) Reserve-Division im Weltkrieg 1914–1918 (Stuttgart, Bergers Literarisches Büro, 1939), p. 97.
14. Sheldon, Somme, pp. 115–16.
15. ibid.
16. ibid.; Edmonds, p. 316.
17. Sheldon, Somme, p. 116; Weltkrieg, p. 342.
18. Falkenhayn, p. 247;
Neame, Edward, German Strategy in the Great War (London: Edward Arnold, 1923), p. 89.
19. ibid., p. 250.
20. Falkenhayn, p. 263.
21. Weltkrieg, pp. 344–5; Stosch, pp. 249–56.
22. Falkenhayn, pp. 262–3.
23. Sheffield, Gary, The Somme (London: Cassell, 2003), pp. 26–7.
24. Falkenhayn, p. 250.
25. Falkenhayn, pp. 262–3.
26. Weltkrieg, p. 343.
27. Edmonds, p 318.
28. ibid., p. 316.
29. ibid., pp. 317–18; Weltkrieg, p. 343.
30. Weltkrieg, p. 343.
31. Edmonds, p. 316.
32. SS553, p. 3; Lossberg, pp. 215–17.
33. Strohn, Matthias, World War I Companion (Oxford: Osprey, 2013), p. 109.
34. ibid., p. 109; there is some evidence to suggest Falkenhayn’s doctrine was circulated before October 1915, and specifically in Below’s Second Army.
35. SS471: Essential Principles for the Defence of Positions as Laid Down in Instructions Issued by G.H.Q., German Second Army H.Q. (1 August 1915, translated 1916).
36. Strohn, p. 109; Neame, p. 89.
37. ibid., p. 109.
38. Stosch, Albrecht von, Somme-Nord, I Teil: Die Brennpunkte der Schlacht im Juli 1916 (Berlin: Gerhard Stalling, 1927), pp. 249–54; Stein, Hermann von, A War Minister and His Work: Reminiscences of 1914–1918 (London: Skeffington & Son, Ltd, 1920), p. 118; order of battle is that given for 30 June 1916, following the late-May reshuffle. Stein (p. 118) states that his corps’ strength ‘before the summer offensive’ was ‘somewhere about seventy thousand.’ At this time his command was c.75,500 officers and men of 26th Reserve (c.18,000), 28th Reserve (c.15,000), 12th Infantry (c.15,000), 52nd Infantry (c.15,000) and 10th Bavarian Infantry Divisions (c.12,500), but not 2nd Guards Reserve Division (c.18,000). The arrival of 2nd Guards Reserve Division boosted Stein’s corps to c.93,500. This number included divisional artillery, infantry, machinegun and ancillary units. If corps’ troops were included, XIV Reserve Corps’ nominal strength comfortably reached 95,000, maybe even 100,000. The 26th Reserve and 2nd Guards Reserve Divisions each had four regiments, whereas Stein’s other divisions comprised three apiece.
39. Stein, p. 103.
40. Stosch, p. 39.
41. Gerster, Matthaus, Die Schwaben and der Ancre (Heilbronn: Eugen Salzer, 1918), p. 117.
42. Sheldon, Jack, The Germans at Thiepval (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2006), p. 130.
43. Stosch, p. 83.
First day of the Somme Page 48
