41. Liverpool Echo, 14 July 1916, op. cit.
42. 17th King’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2334/1.
43. 19th Manchesters, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
44. Willmer, Edgar, ULLC/WW1/GS/1753.
45. ibid.
46. The Liverpool Echo, 8 July 1916.
47. Maddocks, p. 89.
48. 17th King’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2334/1; 20th King’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2330/1; 20th King’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2335/2; 19th Manchesters, war diary, 1 July, op. cit.
49. 18th King’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2330/1.
50. ibid., p. 87.
51. Reymann, p. 93.
52. Whitehead, Vol. 2, pp. 423–5.
53. ibid., p. 425.
54. ibid.
55. Reymann, p. 93.
56. Whitehead, Vol. 2, pp. 431–2.
57. ibid., p. 427.
58. ibid., p. 426.
59. Heinrich, Hermann, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
60. ibid.
61. Healey, Charles, ULLC/WW1/WF01/H/17.
62. ibid.
63. Bidder, op. cit.
64. Frank, Thomas, ULLC/WW1/WF01/F/12.
65. ibid.
66. Liverpool Daily Post, 18 July 1916.
67. ibid.
68. Maddocks, p. 85.
69. ibid., p. 86.
70. Willmer, op. cit.
71. Liverpool Daily Post, 18 July 1916.
72. ibid.
73. ibid., 20 July 1916.
74. Maddocks, p. 88.
75. ibid., p. 88.
76. ibid., p. 89.
77. ibid.
78. 16th Manchesters, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2339/1; 17th Manchesters, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2339/2.
79. 17th Manchesters, war diary, op. cit.; Supplementary Order to Operation Order No. 23, 90th Brigade, war diary, July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2337/2.
80. 2nd Royal Scots, war diary, NAUK, WO/95/2340/1; Supplementary Order to Operation Order No. 23, 90th Brigade, op. cit.
81. 18th Manchesters, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2339/3.
82. ‘Somme Battle, July 1, 1916,’ by J. Hubert-Worthington, NAUK, CAB/45/137.
83. Sotham, Ernest, letter, 16 February 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/137.
84. Liverpool Daily Post, 18 July 1916.
85. Sotham, op. cit.; Worthington, op. cit.
86. Fraser-Harris, Alfred, ULLC/WW1/SEV/01.
87. Brookes, Squire, ULLC/WW1/SEV/01.
88. ibid.
89. Gudgeon, Frank, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
90. Bell, Allan, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
91. ibid.
92. Dundee Courier, 11 July 1916.
93. Worthington, op. cit.
94. The Liverpool Echo, 8 July 1916.
95. ibid.
96. ibid.
97. Liverpool Daily Post, 18 July 1916.
98. Cornes, Hugh, narrative of battle, 15 December 1929, NAUK, CAB/45/132.
99. Whitehead, Vol. 2, p. 436.
100. ibid., p 436; it is quite remarkable that this soldier knew what was afoot several miles away at Mametz.
101. ibid.
102. ibid.
103. ibid.
104. ‘Report on Operations, 30th Division, July 1st till 10 a.m. July 5th,’ 30th Division, war diary, July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2310/5.
105. Heinrich, op. cit.
106. Worthington, op. cit.
107. Report on actions 1–2 July, 17th Manchesters, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2339/2.
108. Worthington, op. cit.
109. History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, ed. H.L. Prichard, (London: Institute of Royal Engineers, 1951), p. 266.
110. Worthington, op. cit.
111. Report on actions 1–2 July, 17th Manchesters, op. cit.
112. Robbins, Simon, British Generalship on the Western Front 1914–18 (Abingdon: Frank Cass, 2005), p. 58.
113. 30th Division, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
114. ‘Report on Operations, 30th Division,’ op. cit.
115. Edmonds, p. 341; killed: Lieutenant-Colonel H.A. Johnson, 17th Manchesters.
116. ibid.
117. Bezzel, p. 106.
118. Whitehead, Vol. 2, Verlustlisten disc; many of the prisoners were wounded. The three missing soldiers were later located.
119. Reymann, p. 94; this figure is averaged at 33% of the regiment’s total casualties for 1 July, this based on the fact that four of IR62’s 12 companies were deployed across positions attacked by XIII Corps.
120. Maddocks, p. 89; the quotes refer to the 1947 book Off to Philadelphia in the Morning, by Jack Jones.
121. Grindley, Ernest, ULLC/WW1/WF01/G/14.
122. Dunn, Harold, undated manuscript, Hampshire Records Office.
123. ibid.
124. ibid.
125. The Courier, 21 July 1916.
126. The Courier, 5 August 1916; Tullock was killed 20 July 1916.
127. ibid.
128. ibid.
129. Norton, Norman, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
130. Heath, op. cit.
131. ‘My Experiences in the Great War,’ by Clarrie Jarman in Stand To! Journal of the Western Front Association, Summer 1983, No. 8, p. 5.
132. Cousins, John, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
133. 11th Royal Fusiliers, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2045/1; 7th Bedfords, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2043/3; 6th Royal Berkshire, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2037/1; 8th Norfolks, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2040/1; 7th Queen’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2051/1; 8th East Surreys, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2050/1; 7th Buffs, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2049/1. Some battalions, such as 6th Royal Berkshires and 8th East Surreys, allocated different start times for their leading two companies due to the widening breadth of no-man’s-land on their battalion frontages.
134. ibid.; Operation Order No. 27, Table C, 55th Brigade, war diary, July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2046/2; Operation Order I and Appendix H, 2nd Royal Berkshires, war diary, June 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2037/1/2 and /3.
135. Operation Order No. 27, 55th Brigade, op. cit.; 8th Norfolks, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
136. 7th Buffs, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.; Banks, T.M., and Chell, R.A., With the 10th Essex in France (London: Gay & Hancock, 1924), pp. 117–18; 10th Essex, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2038/2; 6th Northamptons, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2044/2; Operational Order No. 10, 6th Northamptons, war diary, June 1916, op. cit.
137. 11th Royal Fusiliers, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.; 7th Bedfords, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
138. Cousins, op. cit.
139. Rowan, E.W.J., The 54th Infantry Brigade 1914–1918: Some Records of Battle and Laughter in France (Aldershot: Gale & Polden, undated), p. 36.
140. Edmonds, p. 332.
141. Cousins, op. cit.
142. Thomas, Friedrich, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
143. Edmonds, pp. 332–3.
144. Cousins, op. cit.
145. 7th Bedfords, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
146. Edmonds, p. 333.
147. 7th Bedfords, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
148. Luttgers, Gustav, ULLC/WW1/MID01; Luttgers was in Jaminwerk.
149. Middlebrook, Martin, The First Day on the Somme (London: Penguin Books, 1984), p. 204.
150. Cousins, op. cit.
151. Capper, Derick, ULLC/WW1/GS/0267.
152. Two others due to be deployed were destroyed by German shellfire.
153. Barton, Peter, The Somme: The Unseen Panoramas (London: Constable & Robinson, 2006), pp. 167–8.
154. The Courier, 5 August 1916.
155. ‘The Biscuit Boys: The Somme — 6th Battalion (July–Oct 1916).’ Accessed from www.purley.eu/RBR0000.html.
156. Middlebrook, p. 126.
157. Norton, op. cit.; ‘Weekly Mine Report,’ 183 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, in 18th Division, war diary, July 1916, NAUK, WO
/95/2015/2.
158. ‘Weekly Mine Report,’ op. cit.
159. 8th Norfolks, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.; 6th Royal Berkshires, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
160. ibid.
161. Norton, op. cit.
162. ibid.
163. ibid.
164. Kind, August, postcard, 3 June 1916.
165. Jarman, op. cit.
166. Edmonds, p. 331.
167. 7th Queen’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
168. ibid., p. 330.
169. News & Mail, 2 January 1975.
170. Heath, op. cit.
171. ibid.
172. ibid.
173. Price, Leonard, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
174. 7th Royal West Kents, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2049/2.
175. ibid.
176. Kenchington, Arthur, diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, CAB/45/135; 18th Division, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
177. ibid.
178. Edmonds, p. 339.
179. ‘The Biscuit Boys,’ op. cit.
180. 7th Queen’s, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.
181. The Courier, 21 July 1916
182. 12th Middlesex, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2044/1.
183. Middlebrook, pp. 156–7.
184. Scheytt, Paul, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
185. Heath, op. cit.; Liverpool Daily Post, 18 July 1916.
186. The Courier, 21 July 1916.
187. ibid.
188. Norton, op. cit.
189. ibid.
190. Prichard, p. 266.
191. Rowan, p. 38.
192. Hart, Peter, Somme Success: The Royal Flying Corps and the Battle of the Somme, 1916 (London: Leo Cooper, 2001), p. 98.
193. Heath, op. cit.
194. 18th Division, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2015/2.
195. ibid.
196. ibid.
197. Grove-White, Maurice, letter, 10 January 1931, NAUK, CAB/45/134.
198. ibid.
199. Nichols, G.H.F., The 18th Division in the Great War (London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1922), p. 46.
200. ibid.
201. See Chapter 8.
202. Fiedel, pp. 303, 307.
203. Prior, Robin, and Wilson, Trevor, The Somme (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2005), p. 108.
204. Stosch, p. 71.
205. ibid.
206. Langford, William, Somme Intelligence: Fourth Army HQ 1916 (Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2013), p. 58.
207. Stosch, p. 71.
208. Reymann, p. 94.
209. Whitehead, Vol. 2, pp. 423, 431.
210. Stosch, pp. 65–7.
211. ibid.
212. ibid.
213. ibid., p. 67.
214. ibid.
215. ibid.; most commonly by their breach blocks being removed.
216. Fiedel, Paul, Geschichte des Infanterie-Regiments von Winterfeldt (2. Oberschlesisches) Nr. 23 (Berlin: Wilhelm Kolk, 1929), pp. 121–2, 127–8; Stosch, pp. 71–3.
217. Whitehead, Vol. 2, p. 438; Reymann, p. 94.
218. Stosch, p. 72.
219. Reymann, p. 94.
220. Goebelbecker, op. cit.
221. Stosch, p. 71.
222. ibid., p. 73.
223. ibid.
224. Middlebrook, pp. 212–13, 285–6.
225. ibid.
226. Congreve, 1–2 July 1916, op. cit.
227. XIII Corps GS, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/895; 30th Division, war diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, op. cit.; 18th Division, war diary, 1 July 1916, op. cit.; including all reports contained in these war diaries for the month of July.
228. Edmonds’ correspondence with numerous officers present on 1 July 1916, NAUK, CAB/45/132–9; Edmonds, pp. 320–45.
229. Haig, Douglas, diary, 1 July 1916, NAUK, WO/256/11; Rawlinson, Henry, diary, 1 July 1916, Rawlinson Papers 1/5, Churchill Archive; Gough, Hubert, Fifth Army (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1931), pp. 136–7.
230. Fourth Army Summary of Operations, op. cit.
231. ibid.
232. Edmonds, p. 337.
233. Les Armées Françaises dans la Grande Guerre, Tome IV, Vol. 2, Annexes Vol. 2, Annexe 840, page 801, ‘XX Corps Account of events 7 pm, 30th June, to 7 pm, 1st July’; Edmonds, p. 343.
234. Sotham, Ernest, letter, 16 February 1930, NAUK, CAB/45/137.
235. Kiggell, Launcelot, to Edmonds, James, letter, 2 December 1937, NAUK, CAB/45/135; see also Heath, Philip, ULLC/WW1/WF01/H/18.
236. Unknown correspondent, letter, 25 January 1931, NAUK, CAB/45/135.
237. Fiedel, p. 122; Stosch, p. 71.
238. Schiedt, Major, Das Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 51 im Weltkriege 1914–1918 (Zeulenroda: Bernhard Sporn, 1936), pp. 154–8; Stosch, pp. 73–5; Hasselbach, Major, and Strodzki, Hauptmann, Das Reserve Infanterie Regiment Nr. 38 (Zeulenroda: Bernhard Sporn, 1934), pp. 114–17.
239. Norton, op. cit.
240. Heath, op. cit.; see also Chell, Randolph, letter, 13 December 1929, NAUK, CAB/45/132.
241. Heath, op. cit.
242. Middlebrook, p. 223.
243. Bennett, Thomas, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
244. Cornes, op. cit.
245. Edmonds, p. 341.
246. Grove-White, op. cit.
247. ibid.
248. Congreve message, 1 July 1916, 18th Division, war diary, July 1916, op. cit.
Chapter 10: ‘This Tragic Adventure’
1. Lockhart, Noel, ULLC/WW1/MID01.
2. Masefield, John, The Old Front Line (New York: Macmillan, 1917), p. 29.
3. Lettow-Vorbeck, Friedrich von, Geschichte des Fusilier-Regiments von Gersdorff (Kurhessisches) Nr. 80 (Marburg: W Braun, 1913), p. 268.
4. ‘Report on the Defence of Gommecourt on July the 1st, 1916,’ Royal United Services Institution Journal, Vol. 62, Issue 447, 1917, p. 551.
5. Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army Which Participated in the War (1914–1918) (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1920), p. 56.
6. ‘Defence of Gommecourt,’ pp. 546–51.
7. ibid.; Süsskind makes no critical comment on Borries’ work.
8. Büsing, Georg, Das Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 20 im Weltkrieg 1914–18 (Hannover: Göhmann, 1932), unpaginated translation dated 2014 supplied by Bill MacCormick.
9. ibid.
10. ‘Defence of Gommecourt,’ p. 553; the report states 60 field guns and howitzers and 20 heavy guns and howitzers were firing 24 June–1 July. These figures do not include available enfilade firepower from 111th Infantry Division further north and 52nd Infantry Division to the south.
11. Stosch, Albrecht von, Somme-Nord, I Teil: Die Brennpunkte der Schlacht im Juli 1916 (Berlin: Gerhard Stalling, 1927), pp. 250–1; analysis of XIV Reserve Corps’ order of battle reveals 52nd Infantry Division had about 28 batteries totalling roughly 100 guns on strength. By contrast 2nd Guards Reserve Division’s 80 guns were spread across about 22 batteries.
12. Edmonds, Brigadier General Sir James E., Military Operations, France and Belgium 1916: Sir Douglas Haig’s Command to the 1st July: Battle of the Somme (London: Macmillan, 1932), p. 460.
13. Büsing, op. cit.
14. The Confusion of Command: The War Memoirs of Lieutenant General Sir Thomas D’Oyly Snow, 1914–1915, ed. Dan Snow and Mark Pottle (Barnsley: Frontline Books, 2011), p. xvi.
15. ibid., pp. 6–7.
16. Robbins, Simon, British Generalship on the Western Front 1914–18: Defeat into Victory (Abingdon: Frank Cass, 2005), p. 65.
17. Confusion of Command, p. 17.
18. Robbins, p. 65.
19. ibid.
20. ibid., pp. 30, 65.
21. ibid., p. 62.
22. ibid., p. 61.
23. ibid.
24. MacDonald, Alan, Pro Patria Mori: the 56th (1st London) Division at Gommecourt, 1st July 1916 (Liskeard: Diggory Press, 2006), pp. 23–4.
25. MacDonald, Pro Patria, p. 24; Edmonds (p. 454.) hints this option would
probably have been better.
26. Edmonds, p. 454.
27. Home, Brigadier-General Sir Archibald, The Diary of a World War I Cavalry Officer (Tunbridge Wells: DJ Costello (Publishers) Ltd, 1985), p. 113.
28. ibid., p. 107.
29. ibid.
30. MacDonald, Pro Patria, p. 407.
31. ibid.
32. Moore, Aubrey, ULLC/WW1/WF02/M/24.
33. Southam, Lionel, letter, 1 July 1929, NAUK, CAB/45/137.
34. ‘Report on Operations at Gommecourt 1st July 1916,’ 56th Division, war diary, July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2931/3.
35. Edmonds, p. 460.
36. ibid.
37. ibid.
38. ibid., pp. 460–1.
39. MacDonald, Alan, A Lack of Offensive Spirit? The 46th (North Midland) Division at Gommecourt, 1st July 1916 (London: Iona Books, 2008), p. 208; the 56th had 90,000 18-pounder shells for bombardment days U–Y, of which 27,500 were for wire-cutting. By contrast, the 46th had 79,358 shells, of which 10,790 were for wire-cutting.
40. Kümmel, Adolf, Reserve Infanterie Regiment Nr. 91 im Weltkriege 1914–18 (Oldenburg: Gerhard Stalling, 1926), pp. 210–11; RIR91 refers to the wire being destroyed or swept away. This does not tally with British accounts. Presumably RIR91 meant formal stands of wire, rather than the tangles that remained.
41. ibid., p. 210.
42. ‘Defence of Gommecourt,’ p. 552.
43. Kümmel, p. 209.
44. Wohlenberg, Alfred, Das Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 77 im Weltkrieg 1914–18 (Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1931), p. 172.
45. Smith, Aubrey, Four Years on the Western Front (London: Long Acre, 1922), p. 149.
46. ibid.
47. Edmonds, p. 460; see also Shipley, Charles, letter, 5 June 1929, NAUK, CAB/45/137.
48. ibid., p. 459.
49. ibid., p. 460.
50. MacDonald, Pro Patria, p. 28; Reichsarchiv, Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918: Die Operationen des Jahres 1916 (Berlin: Mittler & Sohn, 1936), p. 342.
51. Edmonds, p. 461.
52. Kümmel, p. 211.
53. Forstner, Kurt Freiherr von, Das Königlich-Preussische Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 15, (Oldenburg: Gerhard Stalling, 1929), pp. 301–3.
54. ibid.
55. Liveing, Edward, Attack on the Somme: an Infantry Subaltern’s Impressions of July 1st, 1916 (Stevenage: Spa Books, 1986), pp. 60–1.
56. ibid.
57. MacDonald, Pro Patria, p. 240.
58. ibid.
59. Edmonds, p. 462; the Official Historian incorrectly states that this frontage was 900 yards.
60. Report of Operation of the 56th (London) Division, 56th Division, war diary, July 1916, NAUK, WO/95/2931/3.
First day of the Somme Page 55
