feature Melbourn and the Battle of the Somme This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme – one the largest and bloodiest battles of the First World War. The battle took place between Saturday, 1st July and Saturday, 18th November 1916. Engagement actually began in the last week in June, when with just a few hundred yards of no-man’s land separating the two combatants, the British launched a week long artillery bombardment along the German front line. On the morning of 1st July, 100,000 men were sent over the top to take the German trenches, of which 57,470 became casualties and 19,240 of those died as result of this tragic event. Two Melbourn men died on that first day, Private Walter Alfred Littlechild, aged 36 and Private James Saunderson, aged 32. Over the 141 days of the battle, more than one million men from both sides were either wounded or killed. Thousands were buried on the battlefields, many buried where they fell, others were placed in a burial ground on or near the battlefield. Seven days into the battle on the 7th July, Lance Sergeant Charles Fordham from Melbourn was killed, he was 31 years old. By the end of the battle, on 18th November the allies had advanced just seven miles into the German lines. The British army had suffered 419,654 casualties of which 95,675 were killed. During the course of the battle two more Melbourn men lost their lives, Private Lionel Beaufoy Frost on 30th August, he was just 19 years old and Private Frederick George Pepper died on the 28th September, aged 30. The battlefields of the Somme today contain thousands of graves for both the identified and unidentified remains of those who died in this horrific battle. The land on which the British cemeteries and official memorials is situated was presented by the French government in order that those soldiers buried or named there will remain in perpetuity. Walter Littlechild is buried in the Gordon Dump Cemetery, Ovillers-la-Boisselle, Somme. James Saunderson, Charles Fordham and Lionel Frost are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme. Frederick Pepper is buried in Mill Road Cemetery, Thiepval, Somme. Ed. PS The British Army included a number countries from the Commonwealth of Nations (known at the time as the British Empire), these were, Canada, Australian, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, West Indies, India plus a number of smaller dominions.
A Soldier’s Cemetery Behind that long and lonely trenched line To which men come and go, where brave men die, There is a yet unmarked and unknown shrine, A broken plot, a soldier’s cemetery. There lie the flower of youth, the men who scorn’d To live (so died) when languished Liberty: Across their graves flowerless and unadorned Still scream the shells of each artillery. When war shall cease this lonely unknown spot Of many a pilgrimage will be the end, And flowers will shine in this now barren plot And fame upon it through the years descend: But many a heart upon each simple cross Will hang the grief, the memory of its loss. By John William Streets (killed and missing in action on 1st July 1916 aged 31) Thiepval Memorial, dedicated to the 72,195 British and Commonwealth soldiers killed at the Somme whose bodies were never found or identified. The tall white bands at the bottom of the monument are covered in the names of those soldiers.
Photograph by Chris Hartford. Printed under the under the Creative Commons license
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