200611 Somme Supplement by Navy News

THE SOMME 90 YEARS ON. NOVEMBER 2006

!IHNAVY NEWS

'No division did better'

The Royal Navy on the Somme 90th Anniversary

I TIL

t. 1

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90 ' SPRINGTIME IN FRANCE

as firing steps; worst of all, they didn't use the latrines properly. The sailors were not amused. Not amused, that is until the waspish Lt Alan Patrick Herbert put pen to paper.

A TRIUMPHANT WELCOME A DATE WITH DESTINY IT WAS still light in Marseilles when the steamer arrived in the great French port. As the spring sun disappeared over the horizon, there was the sound of' kit bags being tossed on to the quay below. It went on like this till the small hours of the morning. Aboard the ''an old tub'', men kicked their heels. It would he nearly 24 hours before they disembarked. The wait was worthwhile. The men formed up alongside the ship, then marched through the heart of' Marseilles, ''bandsmen blowing their heads oil---. The citizens of Marseilles cheered, waved their flags as the Brits dressed in khaki filed through the streets towards the station. To every man of tile Hood Battalion, 63rd (Royal Naval) Di i sion, the destination was the sailor-soldiers were bound for the Western Front. It would he six months before these sailor-soldiers were committed in battle again. The generals chose to throw the ci ivis ion into the line in the gently undulating terrain of a river valley in Picardy is'h ich would hear the hattie's name: tile SO111111c.

The General inspecting the trenches exclaimed sv tb a horrified shout, I refuse to cotlimaild a Division Which leaves its excreta about.

Ionian

Ionian,

But nobody took ally notice No one was prepared to refutc, That the presence of shit was congenial Compared! with the presence of Shute. And certain responsible critics Made haste to reply to his words Observing that his Stall' advisers Consisted entirely of turds.

obvi-ous: A LONG SHADOW THE BLACKEST DAY

. 'The whole of the Ancre valley is a filthy quagmire'.,. The flooded, desolate terrain of the Ancre, November 1916 Picture: Imperial War Museum. 01567 --------.---'-

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I ''

l'5

THE 'GLORIOUS' SAILORS The Somnie casts a long shadow over Britain socially, politically and militarily. July 1 1916 remains the blackest day in British military history. When the whistles blew at 730am that Saturday the 'new Army', the men who had answered the call to arms, who had responded to Kitchener's finger beckoning them to sign up. the Pals, the under-age whose recruiting officers had turned a blind eye, climbed out of their trenches and began to walk steadily towards the German line. 'Jerry' svould offor little resistance. The eight-day British barrage had seen him oil', eliminated the barbed wire which blocked 'Tommy's' way. But Jerry did offer resistance. By the day's end, nearly 60,000 British soldiers had fallen, a third of them killed. The public consciousness has been blinded by 'tile first day of the Somme'. Today, most people forget that the battle dragged on for over four more months. It began in hope on a splendid summer's day; it ended in the mud, rain, sleet and despair of a hitter autumn. And it was during that hitter autumn that one of the most remarkable units in Britain's arsenal cemented its reputation, joining ''tile Glorious company of the seven or eight most famous ill the British Army" with its deeds in the last act of the Somme offensive: the Battle of the River Ancre. The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was among the more remarkable forces to fight or King and Country. Most of its men were sailors, not soldiers, yet they fought in the trenches, carried rifles and grenades, learned to ix bayonets, wore khaki riot blue. It was born of a dilemma. As

---

just of battles hut of dilly-to-clay fifeoil the Western Front. A Dtlrhanl oilier pre-war, Murray had lost his brother at Coronel and endured the helI of the Dardanelles hast ilgJollied! the Royal Navy hoping f'or Instant action with the newlyf`orilled na\al brigades. A illonth aliter arriving ill France, titc di\isioll ssas inspected by Gericral Sit. Henry Wilson, the rather afl`able ifiniposing coinniarlder ofIV A-iny Corps. 1

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- -'--------i,

''The general takes the opportunity

ROYAL As MVAL m A DIVISION A

,,"

R 2-BRIGAD

cC 0OILINGWOOD ti W00D "HAWKE' AW K

H0 HOWE:H0 0 A N 0N ANSON*

-NE1 NELSON--ON

of seeing hts troops before he coil]RECRUITS RECRUITS UITS Its tIlelo to the sl'tughtu housv d U Mutr \s ohsdr\ ccl tb the TotilIll) S WANTED ty WANTED I 1 I I dl I d typically-jaundiced cyc. I S L , ( I Alt HL Is On t be COtlultl,. 55 ttil us VACAElISR(CRUtTS8fltIN ME ACES 18 38 ha d S ÂŁ1 S S h ,, I I I , l d h1 '. as ht_ is 11111,h too impor LNT f g t I I pp. r a uI I d I PAMIdYALLOWANCES t'tt-tt to take I 'my personal 1 I risk Ic ss iii r't conduct tile The fight will go on until the enemy has been bled r'.t ..I Ao t' ''5 'I " ) ' operations f rc)tii a iwhite thanks to heroic German resistance,,, English cliiiteau in the rear, surfar-off ,,d "l and French prisoners already refer to the battlefield as rounded by maps and countless stafIof'iicers with their " A call to arms A recruiting Ol,,c . t I batmen. ' poster for the Royal Naval "' it and will see to it that the English and French Army "The ground! gained, if Division nwun.n, meet their downfall in this hell of their creation, any, will he measured in - VON BELOW COMMANDER IN CHIEF yards, i : Murray and his (.0111 galley. olliLLrsrelaxed riot in the rades were not committed mess but the wardroom; a night out to the slaughterhouse yet. rum titled i nin ashore. ' I tI 1 I A if I Id I d I I the summer and S I They spoilt early ---Mail)' 01 the nltil - ill(] sonic autumn training, learning to hayoof the officers - requested 'leave net 'the Army way', learning to to grow'," Winston Churchill later Der OhrhefchIsIiahdr ( march the Army way', learning to wrote, "and paraded creditable v. Below kill 'the Army way'. beards in the faces ofa clean-chiilned General Jer Infanlerle. Army." -------------------'-----' Major General Cameroil Shine did THE BLACK SHEEP L riot approve. IIctOokchai&Loiti1e sailors at an " An order of the day issued by General der Infanterie Fritz von DEFIANTLY NAVAL inopportune Below, commanding German First Army on the Somme, in October For two years the division had 1916, Like many German commanders, he believed the Somme was AN UNPOPULAR GENERAL been led by the popular Archibald a British defeat - but at a heavy cost Paris, a Royal Marine. . , Amid the khaki 0! the 'new Army . But now Paris was wounded; in the Royal Naval Division was it Britain mobilised for war with Marseilles ill May 1916, it had seen his place came Cameron Shifle, an in 1914, the action at in the autumn of black Germany sheep. August Royal Antwerp officer, Churchill observed, with 1914 and suffered bloody losses. It was a naval division. Defiantly Navy had too many sailors and too "exceptional credentials". few ships. It suffered bloody losses too in naval. Known as Titter - and not for There were no sea drafts br more before the Tile battalions were named 'or Gallipoli plug was pulled aflectionate reasons the 50-yearthan 2f).000 reservists. Called to Naval heroes: Hood, Nelson, on that botched campaign: 16,000 of old general was irascible, demandarms, they were kicking their heels. the 19,001! men in the division were Anson, Drake, Howe, Coilingwood, ing, and above all unendearing. The response of Winston Churchill, Hawke. casualties (mainly dysentery); 2,600 He stamped his authority upon Lord First of the Admiralty, was to were killed, Tile White Ensign flew proudly tile RND almost immediately - or at use the sailors its soldiers ill two And now the sailors were in over their camps, hells sounded the least tried to. France, no longer tinder Admiralty. hastily-formed brigades, plus a briThe sailors., Shute contended, were change of a watch, the illeil were lot but Army command with the British gade of Royal Marines. Thus was the an ill-disciplined lot. They didn't corporals and sergeants bill leading seamen and petty oi'Iicers. Royal Naval Division horn. salute the correct way - with the Expeditionary Force, The banter, too, was distinctly Ordinary Seaman Joe Murray was palm lacing outwards; they grew a keen diarist and astute observer not naval. By the time the division arrived ill beards; they used ammunition cases ) k ) (

I I Id ---t 01-11 l 5 . i k

I h I

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For shit may he shot at odd! corners And paper supplied there to suit, But a shit would he shot with-out mourilers ii so mebodiy shot that shit Shine. THE HUN'S LOSSES THE DUO ARE CALLED FIGHT TO THE DEATH Struggles ss itlt tile Army Oil a day-today basis were wearying. Contending \V itil 'Fritz' was another matter entirely. Tile German Army was tile 'engine 01' the war. As long 1t5 it stood in the field, the war could not he s\ oil. And in the autumn of' 19 16, it still stood in the field, but it had suffered a hideous niatilinu. By the beginning of September, more than 300,000 German soldiers were casualties of tile Somme, killed or svouncieci. Coupled with even worse losses at Verciun, it was too much or Kaiser WilIleIm II. Lobbied to axe his Chief of the General StafF Erich Soil Futi kenhayn, Wilhelm acquiesced. In his place he put a duo: Hindenhutrg and Ltidiendionfi The grandly-nltnledl Paut I Ludsv ig l-iltns Anton von Beneckendorfi' und von H indeilhurg was ut nail tot-whom the word 'grttfl' was invented. i-ic glowered in every photograph, his piercing eyes staring out beneath his short-cropped hair and above his tllutton-chops. Hi nden burg ]lad joined the then Prussian Army in tile same year that the Kaiser had been born. He served his country solidly yet unspectacularly for more than 50 years., retiring from active service iii 1911. War called him hack to the colours, in August 1914 he was ordered to save East Prussia froni the Russian hordes sweeping westwards. He did so, And 'or it he became a national hero. It svutsa faĂ§ade; Hindetlburg was the figurehead, but the real power lay behind the 'throne' with his deputy, Erich Ludiendorfll Lutdendorff was the archetypal Prussian general. Tile monacIc, the Pickelhauhe helmet, the bushy IllOtistacilc, the constant scowl chiselled into his face. What the public cud not see was Ludetldorl'f's irrational behaviour. " Continued on page 5

THE SOMME 90 YEARS ON. NOVEMBER 2006

" Continued from page i

I-Ic planned operations down to the mmutest detail, yet overlooked the big picture. He worked tirelessly, rarely, if ever, took a day's leave, but was prone to fits 01' rage and, in particularly dark hours, to utter mental collapse. The duo's appointment was by German public and by the soldiers in the field. [31tt after two years on the Eastern Front, the had little idea of conditions in the West. At the headquarters of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, the senior German commander in the Sowmc sector, was delighted with the change of command. ''At long last!'' he scribbled in his diary. Rupprecht was among the more able German leaders, assisted h\ his highly-capable ehief-of-sta fl. Generalleutnant l-Iermann von K11111. KuhI painted a bleak picture: div isions were being worn out at the rate of one per day; they could spend no longer than a fortnight in the front line, and after a brief period of rest he pushed back into the Somme machine a second, perhaps even a third time. Yet there could be no withdrawal. To pull hack from the Somme would be a fillip to the Allies' morale and a bodybl ow to Germany's. ''Die Schlach t iii uss also durchgekfimpt't werden," Kohl concluded bluntly.

wel-comed gener-als

mincing,

/1/7(/

t/owigli

//I/S

lie 1/Il/SI fight our baole.

11w.

''And we will tight our way through this battle successfully." The duo listened intently. ''I began to realise what a task the field marshal and I had undertaken,'' LudendortI observed with typical understatement.

ON THE SOMME A GOD-FORSAKEN LAND AN ENDLESS MORASS

months

Their. of training over, the men of the Royal Naval Division arrived on the Soilinle at the beginning of October 1916. They took an instant dislike to the land. The Somme, observed Lt Douglas .1 errol d, the 23-year-old adjutant of Hawke Battalion, was "a Godforsaken battlefield". Jerrold was an erudite chap; postwar he would write the division's history and make his name as an author and publisher. For now he was a valued stall officer and a keen observer of lit'c in the Royal Naval Division. ''An atmosphere of over-elaborated brusque niefliciency pervaded the innteriand (If Slaughter,'' he complained. '"too many lien, too many o leers, hr too litany, generals and a thousand tines too many and endless seas of mud." Joe NI u rray agreed: ''It's useless trying to put a name to this or any other place - they all look alike." Farmhouses, hamlets, villages, all had been reduced to rubble. ''All that way 01' has gone,' Murray lamented. "Ill its place are huge heaps of broken bricks and cesspools, the result of thousands of shell bursts," A good mile or so behind the front, clerk AB Thomas Macmillan was bilietcd with the brigade stall' in the village of Englebeinier. i-Icadquarters had been established in II plirt iI ly shot-up French cottage. The rain dripped through the roof and formed puddles on the stone floor. The autumn wind wil stied through the building. A hundred yards away a I 6i n howitzer thundered away, hurling a storm of steel against the Gerniall lines. "Each time the gun tired, the doors (If our miserable dwelling Ilesv open and loose tiles clattered on to the ]loot-," Macmii Ian recalled. The rain fell incessantly. The Ancre valley was swamp-like at the best of inies. In the autumn of 19 16 it turned into a hideous morass. Trenches collapsed. Morale dipped. "This atrocious weather is getting the better of our nerves," a frustrated Murray noted in his diary. "In some strange way, Fritz relieves the mollotony when ills artillery opens up ss th a really dea telling roar. "Alive or dead, there is no peace here. He mused: 'Maybe some day we will all come to our senses, but these (lays will never be lorgotten, however long we live." Tile rain, the constant digging of new positions liom which to launch the attack, the hi lint new commander. all contributed to a worrying slump in the division's morale. ''The burden was nearly as great as many could bear,'' i\ role Jerrold.

jacks-in-office Machine-gunner life

few

blind our eyes to thedi lilelmhties," lie recorded in his (liar)'. "Nothing is so costly as a failure! Blmt I ;mni ready to rui reasonable risks." Douglas Haig had made Lip his inin(l. The attack would begin before dawn on the miicarow, Monday November 13 1916.

DEEPEST FEARS

" The ruins of the railway station at Beaumont Hamel which was seized by the Royal Naval Division during the November battle

Even before the battle battalions which should have been 700 men than 500 strong now mustered sailors. Those left were tired, weary. But. Douglas Jerroid observed, they were also They were determined to prove Shute wrong. They were determined to prove the Army wrong. They were sailors. They were determined to live up to the White Ensign's pro/Id tradition.

fewer

determined.

HUNS LOSE HOPE ATTACK EXPECTED A t'ew hundred yards away in the what was left o1 the village of Bcaucourtsur-Ancrc, the men of 55 J0!a/ltel'le Reg/nlellI waited for the English to conic. Always English Ellgla/lder - never B,'//ischei-. For ten weeks the German reservists had been in fine - nearly twice as long as their Commander-in-Chief had recommended. This was their second time oil the Somme; they had been here (ill the iirst day of the battle and they find accounted 'or 2,000 British soldiers on July I alone near the village of Gonimecourt, 'our miles to tile north of Beaucoiirt. The lwidsei - the German equivalent of 'Tommy' - of November 1916 was not the sanie as the 10/Ic/See of July 1916. As many as one in three German soldiers suffered l'roni dysentery. Their nerves were frayed. They no longer expected to be relieved. This was a battle without end. "Peaceful and rational men became irrational," Friedrich 'Fritz' Wiedeman n, a regimental adjutant observed. "Daily they saw comrades dying to the left and right 01' they stumbled over the bodies in the fightand counted on the lingers of ing two hands how many (lays would he needed until the last mail ill the cornpan)' Would be devoured by the battle and death." Laildser Max Pechstein wrote a few hues home to his wife Alex. ---We will soon have these (lays OIl the Somme behind us. thank God. ''I nii ss so many things, and you are perfectly right: grit our teeth and keep hoping." Others [lad already lost hope. They shunned lif'e itself', shut themselves oft from the world. "We are slowly beginning to believe here that a person doesn't matter at all,'' one soldier wrote. A suiiple wooden cross marked the place where tile Ge/ii/le,1 lay. Soon it would be shot away. "No-one will recognise this place where the good rest," the soldier coil tinned. ''Death is not the most awful thing. No, the worst thing is a serious svound which prevents you reaching sal'ety so you (lie a miserable death as hundreds have suffered since the of beginning September.

Reserve

then,

German soldier from ) Hans Gcuer, a 23-year-old that ''May I he spared that at least.'' politics. In fact, it had recorded his impressions of tile Somiiic Cologne, He would lot. The 'English' were almost everything to (10 dreadful atiturill, not finished oil the Soninie. with politics. For a month German intelligence The battles oil the ',ka.4nawdoesebefore, had monitored the enemy build-up: Somnie were pros'a. /uwrI:c44(e. batteries were being moved into positoo Yythe4iLgyveyw rag/tuJ 'or War ing costly a. thotesa.#td borreic, tion, three or tour fresh divisions Minister David Lloyd 8lDVd'IeAJ (nitdflewItJl'O51( id ittier be&is bent. had been identified, artillery lire was A /IU'dIC/3 / 501(4144440k, fOltI7 George. He was look(uutd.ta-ha.et% bottle roger ca.aire. A elsewhere for viethe it smashing defensive positions and 7/tnt rig f/mIt Pierre-VomIt. ruining the German trenches. toi'y, perhaps in tile ( Fr a.fitv ir the cp&irtered fresH cold, dItueseot/j stan "The word is that Douglas Haig is Balkans. And then / becositer quit u;ulez the Allied leaders would looking to capture nior,g strongpoillts," O/tl,i)a. cerae/ic pa.i#uf/d whiiupeaCrown Prince Rupprecilt observed. flied a few days' hence 7P--re dmt4 casiter! I fuwe of/s/I s'es/r The word was right. at French headqliarlet a wad

a-f

A DOGGED LEADER A NEW OFFENSIVE ONE LAST PUSH Nine decades after the Somme, Douglas 1-laig remains a deeply controversial figure. In a war where the generals were 'donkeys', 'butchers and bunglers', ill the eyes of his critics Douglas Haig was the chief donkey, the most bloodthirsty butcher. It i, of course, far too simplistic a view. Like all his coilteniporarics, Allied and German, H aig found himselfcontronted with a war which he had not anticipated. The warriors of 1914 had expected a war of movement. They got one - until the front solidified initially that autumn. Haig 's first attempt to breakthrough had been repulsed on July I But there were many more black days through the summer and autumn of 1 9 16 oil the Somme. The British soldier died at the rate of nearly 900 a day - the total, by the beginning of November, was around 40t),00iI casualties; three in every ten were killed. As in 2006, so in 1916. The niedia of the (lay were obsessed - with some justification - by the casualty lists issued by the War Oflice. If Britain's casualty list was bleak, Douglas Haig consoled Il mscl f that Germany's was (lute clearly bleaker. At his desk, lie played with raw statistics. More than 1.150 German battalions had been rotated through the oil the Somme since July I One in six soldiers had been killed; one in 'our had been wounded. In Haig 's analytical mind, that surely meant more than 600,000 enemy casualties on the Somme. There was still time this winter to add to Germany's woes with one last push on the Sonime. It would come in the val Icy of the River. Ancrc.

machine

German

mincing

The attack oil tile Ancre had le to do with nudging the font line Itimard. It had little to do with the villages of Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourtsur-Ancre. It had little to do with the Gerniall stiongpoiilts svhich looked down upon te roiling valley. It 101(1 a lot to (10 with

ters

north

Chantilly

TWI?/i//g

of Paris to debate strategy 'or the 12 months to collie. Britain's standing would he nilich higher

with her Allies if her nien were standing ill Beaucourt with 3,000 Gernian to prisoners

was

that

the

idea of a "good and 'cheap' success--was dreamed up by 1-laig's stafil Their iiiaster concurred.

READY FOR BATTLE 'BLAH BLAH BLAH' The Royal Naval Division was given the task of smashing its way along the left bank of the Ancre, eight battalions in two waves advancing along a lent jlist 1,200 yards long over rolling terrain to seize what was left of tile of Beaucourt-sur-Ancre on high ground a little over P/2 Miles to the north-cast of the British lines. The plan was meticulous, metliodical. Lines were drawn on a map to a specific timetable. The first major objective, the 'Green Line', a trench on au escarpment overlooki 19 the battlefield, after 40 minutes, then further up tile hill to the second major objective, the '6 Line', just in liont of Bealicolirt, a couple of hours into the assault and, finally, the 'Red Line', list beyond tile village by the third ]tour. The final (lays before the assault were spent milling around the deserted behind the front. Mesnil was a miserable place. A cold village. Not really a village, just tile ruins of line. "There was nowlicre to sleep, nowilere to sit, nowhere to look -and nowhere to walk," wrote Jerroid. Engichehiier was slightly better; the men at least had a roof over their heads in tile houses. The guns began spewing fire and steel late on Wednesday November 8. They would not cease until after dark on tile twelfth, a Sunday. "The din was so terrific and the air vibrations burst your eardrlmnis,'' recalled Pie Williani t3rc of the Royal Marines Light Infantry. ''If you touched the wall of a house or allything solid it felt like a mild electric shock."

lage

villages

Each clay Joe Murray and his flood comrades

esraw/ry legs

4 a. di'un.knt btctc/ter. Deuithlj A/14 today 11(550 qII lice oddly quiet He luv los sored k/i esythe a.tĂ¸test to the gvow#id. en 4414 with pal, (uuu/c He ~c He lvase/oc the bolt a,owtd his bogey back. let so/lick nwimllykt yqaeon, H/the/id eyes,

show for their efforts. And

do-e. rage like the cnstos/ia.n'c of Hod,

/ 14

vil-

had trotted Out ill the rail waiting for the order to move up to the trenches. Each day the weather had scotched any hope of an attack. The sailors returned to their billets, soaked to the hone. It was still raining when Cameron Sllute inspected the miicn of the Hood Battalion, the 'Steadies'. The rating not impressed by the Army mail's ''blab biah biah'' "We've heard it all before" - recorded ill 11i5 diary. Shute pulled no punches. "Very 500 you will he called ipon to wrest liom tile enemy one o1 his strongest points n the Western Front. "Many previous attempts have 'ailed, but I have every coilfidence in you." The rub, hosvevcr, came at the end of the general's address. ''I iiiust warn you, however, that the more prisoners you take the less Iliod you will get as they must be fed l'roni your rations.--Also visiting his men ill those hidNoveniber days was General Sit.] filbert Tb rlmster' Gough, Commanding Oflicer Fifth Arniy. Goligil '5 rise had been nicteoric even by wartime standards, due arguably less to his ability than his Iliendship with 1-laig. At 46, Gough was younger than most of his Ci low generals-, lie possessed more dash, if 1101 necessarily more intelligence. An ambitious man, he was eager l'or a victory on the Sonime to enhance his reputation. But the attack succeed'? II lmbcrt Gough was hope fill but no inure. The incessant waiting for good weather was wearing down his lien. It was now or not for another iiionth - iv tb di fiercmit units entirely, lie told his Commandcr-iii-Ciiief. The prospects were "quite good". I/er a tour of his cI iiisions. 1-Ilibert Gough had changed his li md: "quite good" became simply "good". General 1-laig weighed up tile hue of thousands of lien. .,The necessity for ii success mnlmst not

would

I ii N'lesn i I, the flicml 0 I' the Flood Battalion received their rations to sustain them during the attack: a tin oljani each, ajar of piddl/h i I I i apiece and two sacks of' phosphorous honhs to share between tliemii - the hatter to destroy Gernian bunkers. The 'Steadies' marched up to their junsp-off trench in a mood of gnus determination. ) ---We were boys once, but riot any i inure; we are iosv iiiuch older and I. 5515cr and miiuch worn, yet anxious to finish the job.'' All Thoniams visited his old company, waiting in a rtmn-dowil f'ariii on the edge of' Enghehcimer for the order to move up to the front line The miien chatted, reached themiiselves tot- the coming trials, sang Ull printable ditties. ---Suddenly someone began tile stirring song the ship's hands --j played as we left for Gallipoh: When B/-i/cl//I /1/5/ al //eOh'e/l S Colmllm/cInc/,'' recalled. ''As if by miiagic all stood to attention and raising their right arms high as if in defiamice of all corners, they sang the first verse and chorus.'' As night fell, the incessant bark of the British artillery ceased. ''Every gum ll fiell silent at once," Pte Browll remembered. "Alter four whole days and nights of that racket, the silence was uncarmny, almost unbearable CPO Richard Tobi ii of the Hoods build the iva i hug inte:rmii inable. "We stood there In dead silence. You couldn't miiamke a noise," lie remneiiibcred. "The next Ito you felt hike loved him, your best although you probably didn't know him a day hefbre." The minutes passed. "They were both tile longest and shortest hours of niy I.i f All iii hhntiymiian in the front line ffbels the coldest, deepest feat-," Tobill ruecamiled. Joe Mumrray lily do\wil in a nit linking two waterlogged shiell craters. He rested his head oil am s;ack of phosphorous bombs. "Looking at the desolation around mile with bcsi-i lofernielmit, I enjoy each breath of polluted aiim-," he recorded in his diary. "Each and every liolur is the same. "There are so manly things I want to do. I svamit to eracd date the hardships of yesterday, thic slaughter and the sorrow I miiumst durim, tile imminent holocaust.--Fate had taken ovier low. All the sailors could do was wait hope and pray.

Macmillan

fellow friend - you e

endure

Lt Col Bernard ~rc)yberg wandered up and clown tile linic, encouraging his men. In a relnarkable; division, Bernard Frcyherg wamss a remarkable Born in Sumrrey, hoe was amt the age of two to. New Zealand when his paixents emigrated. Theme he (111111 fieoi.f as a dentist, but lie ailso -t

taken

volunteered as an olilicer iii the domiii iom'mi's Territorial Army. Seeking adventuree whemi

4~d

THE SOMME 90 YEARS ON. NOVEMBER 2006

iii

the-cels, bits of' equipilnent and boxes was difficult to see anything which resenibled a trench.---

THE SECOND DAY THE

.L sontheSomme

THE BATTLE WON

war broke Out 1i lu headed ldLd or the nioth (t country later propaganda suggested he returned to Britain via Mexico. where he ought alongside Poncho Villa - and persuaded Churchill to secure hint I (OfliilliSSiOfl in tile nc I l`ornned Royal Naval Division. Churchill's faith was well placed.

Campbell

(i' ;

One Iioui bLIOIL dawn oil Tuesday No enTher 14 1916, three tanks slowly towards the hues of the Royal Naval Division. Sporadic German shell i-ire knocked out one of' these steel beasts. But dense Soninic jinist shrouded the other two tanks. . Lt Allan RNVR strode . i oil into file dark, cI IlllbLd on to tile leading vehicle and began directing it towards the German stroltpoint which had dciii indcd such ._ 0 . toll ill blood 24 hours bi. I oi i

rolled

Are

TANKS COMETH

. ..

. .

armoured

.Z-

ii1 tLstI11l11 GaIiipof 1916, lie was iii cliaige of the Hood Battalion. ---The mcii ill ,LLmcd islccp Freyherg recalled. Closer inspection showed thern awake, their in ;i. 11110 the night.' The odd man spoke, most Frcyhci.,

noted, ---secilled to be ill another

world". " The colonel spied Joe Murray, recognising him 1mm Gallipoli. "You, too, are still with us. So pleased to SLL You. Make yourself'

Ancre mud. One got no !.iriIier illail Iind second bLC imi. down ha Geriiai lines. But these tanks were far from being ducks they turned their 61h .,un the Gernian redoubt. ' flag, appeared in did riot c "C. the tank crews

I::ii1 ,.

mop,

...

.. ,-

.. ..

" --

lame

on "

S.............................

-'.

.. -.

" -

. . .

.. . . . . " Band of brothersThe band of the Hood Battalion in early 1917. Seated in the centre is Bernard Freyberg VC; on his right is Arthur Asquith, son of the former Prime Minister Herbert Picture Capt Christopher Page, Naval Historical Branch

battalions reached the third Gcrni in liclcusly cratcrcil no nian s land. as comloitable as you can and good "Shells were usand beliind amongst line. Hawkc no longer existed", its luck. . some om the and some ofour war , enemy, diary tersely recorded, while the Freyberg 'tour' cContinued. lie recalled. third and fourth waves of Nelson men

inert. The Drakes

climbed

Longed

following behind

Bernard I icyhcr

was ill (Or dis id

had been reduced to little more than inn his lbrcc, attacking with one half So men. and leaving the other behind to defend

towards the hunker brandishing Htchkiss machine-tinsat which 400 Ia,uis'e,s, a mish-mash of joint men froiii live divisions, and two officers cliiiibcd out of' their

trench

and surrendered.

As the tanks quelled the German With the attack elsewhere struCthe battalion's gains so far. redoubt, the sailors and marines who LilAt' "ceased to exist as a lighting lbrcc". But the rain ofsteel remained fixed. Aiid id the maelstrom, a few yards gling, Freybere faced a stark choice. had hltcred in the I icc of ss itlici in front ol his inert, stood Arthur Hart, Amon the casualties was Douglas Advance with his depleted, mixed up The creeping barrage no longer crept fire on the thirteenth stormed iiro arcl Jerrold. force, or fall hack. forward. shaving his arms furiously, urging his C uLt ci today." otirteenth. l-lawke's adjutant moved out to set He chose to advance. At his headquarters, Cameron Shute again at dawn on the nien Oil. I f he shouted encouragement, The artillery barrage crept forsvard no man heard bins for it \s'as lost in up a forward reporting centre behind pored over the information coniine Bolstered by a brigade ol soldiers, the men came within a couple of hundred the advancing lighting men. as planned at the allotted hour. and the back from the front. the tutistilt. - the lit one hand he clutched a revolver, Hoods and Drakes followed. What news there was was hardyards of the 'Yellow Line' Richard Tobin left his trench and for the first hours other the battalion's Down the Anere icrlaid down in the orders, Nelson and Hawke objective found his ear and terror had vanished undulating ly encouraging. 0 I the attack the previous clay - bel ore rain the ad hoc force then up although there was little battalion left instantly. wiped out. Anson and Howe nau led. an escarpment to the attack's first so too I 51 and 2nd Royal Marines German macli i ne-gun lire halted their " to give orders too. 'You don't look. YOU see. You don't . , , _ AroundI ulfl. tile minert of' the I Ioo As he struggled across no-man's progress. listen, you hear. Your nose is filled objtive. a trench line overlooking Light Light InOntry. Battalion began to waken - I I t icy lit S/Li Trevor Jacobs ran the gaunttile battlefield just north of Beaucourt division had battered its way with fiines and death and you taste tile land, he reeled back. His left arm had ever acnasleep. ascep. been shot away. station. to the lirst objective, but apart from let of shell. machine-gun and sniper top Of your oouth, he recalled. . For the next 40 or so minutes the ' h. With typical .t ltLInLnt ic I foi.ind toy trio hanging soni. The sailors began smokin out the You in. one with your ss c ipon Frcyhcr s iii ikshilt force, had gone waited I tI They stretched tIIcltheir recalled that the advance through the where around my back lie wrote in positions s greiisdc here i the veneer of civilisation his dropped little luithcr. Thi. stionpoint cchecked their L( iflhld hecanie, at ilnies. 'rather warni rather iiiatter-of- faetly. phosphorous bonib there. ssli ich had scythed the sailors in their away and you see just a line of lien their greatcoats. J0hs walked across tile battle] eld; "There seenied to he more prisonand a blur of shells." I-Ic slumped iii a shell-hole while hundreds rcniained unsubdued. The d .l' -' I I I lie didn't run, he wanted to conserve medic treated his shattered arm and ers than atta.k ''e rs,' a perturbed Joe The floods fell upon the first Sliste ordered the guns to conceitline lbrmin his ciiciy lot later oil. "All ol ficci Mui I iy observed. trench "battered almost pondered his hte irate on 11w redoubt. For oil Minutes would pass their lips. told mc later that hi. expected to see So that was the end of my di c mi Around 400 prisoners, in fact. "The nition Joc Murruy tile guns turned their attention to that beyond rcco lis eminuies to 0 hi. wrote. No heroic exploits, no ii iumphs Just noise of battle iiisde coniilluilicĂŹtton drop it toy momcni observed. stubborn, concealed Gcrnrin position The sailors fixed bayonets, stood it ---The expected did not happen.--three niilcs of retreat in G illipoli and difficult with thusi but file point of thy There were no Gcrni ins here. They Around I 2 3Opni the rcnhlyints of six the ready, ]leads and shoulders Icinin Â° yards of' advance in France. Net bayonet is understood by ill lighting were cithci dead or [lad ]alien back. battalions bludgeoned their way br ocirilics in hand. rhis rice or colour,- the Bernard I rcybci had spent the night iien whatever gain to the ciiciiiy 5,250 yards.--Tile floods pressed oil. The second ward - and were bloodily repulsed. 5 44am Douglas Jci iold might consider Sc illidO recorded. rallying his ad hoc forni ition Shortly ordinary line was slightly more rcco There was nothing left to do Shutc S/Li Arthur Hart, platoon to sis ccl) Mini the nicii were himsclf fortunate. His battalion corniiisahlc is s trench, but still bashed decided only srmoui could save the cOillill mdci C C OiTi in Hood finish " Ii forward and nimdcr was gravely wounded; nine they ]lad about". Battalion, glanced at hiswatch. day and called foi six links to knock officers were dead. ay before y seizing out the thorn in his division's side. 'One miiiute to go, nlen.' Murray found an eiierny dug-out, eou Battalion ition d betThese hurled ill 1 phosphorous bombbol 45am us histlcs Sounded ilon ONE LAST ATTEMPT Lionci Card) Mont icii field out their coiiiiiiandei ten Lt Col were a good 1icigiants tii ]owed by a couple of' Mills. bornhs tile little hoc ui thc attack. The ni tchinc was killed, is were nine ilorc of the the original pinc ipplc slnpcd hind hoc They could not be And the gods ob ss ir the lioss it/cis relentless- battalion's officer cadre. guns iii Bcitieourt still fired relentless Daylight noss bathed the battlefield hcforc dawn oil the fourteenth. and field guns, barked ill at once. grenade - br good ilcistire to iivike uiiafbected by the Iceble British for ss'hat it was worth; patches of Iy, And the men of the Royal Naval Richard Jerry November mist still clung to the val- Division dui in luillicl the mud of the barrage. "Then came the nlist of dawn - a Tohin The hail of steel hccamc morc ss bloor, tb acrid Icy mingliiig 1 Aiicrc valley and defended thcmscls cs Nos cmhcr d iss Richard Tohin One hundred and ii fifty of yards as zero hour approaclicd, then . ffirnes phosphorus and corditeiiitcnsc icmcmhcrcd front of of the the Flood Battalion's trenches, through the afternoon and evening. I Bernard F I artillery barrage continued its They waited for relief and reinforce'A burst 01 shellsgavea dirty orange . T no-man's land disappeared behind a trench and urodhi inexorable creep borss aid jII11IJcOJiI Ilcilt colour and left hoi I ible tunics 5' ill of 1-Ire', WIPED BATTALIONS OUT iiloi , forss trd carried one 0b jcc is c, _ . Having The smoke the noise, the chaos of A few hundred feet away,' the - minc d Montaizu followed him with ho . Bernard F.................... was ...I as c ci 0 rcy cl is In all, elements of seven British. divibattle \Vli5 too much for SOflie lien. As Oil the extreme left of the division ,s German soldiers were shaken by the . lets raining one passed Past its" passe ic......next, . . . ................................... a ci nl,tn rcnc 1 just " carry the 5lOS battered and smashed their way Gcriiian soldiers emerizecf ]'rout dug- .- front - furthest Iroili the Anere - Pie furious barrage. through his sleeve. Three fillies the front I tI ic ruins 0 f B caucoui t sur forwards astride tile Ancrc aided outs they ss crc bayoneted by sonic of Willrim Bioss n out of t box o ---We threw ourselves towards out. to i halt, but c ich attack stuttered recalled. "Red S/Li John Bentham S company. hole he'd been sheltering in, a German Aiicic, less than 60() yards away. by an unimaginable steel hail; by pieces," one tinle Fre her" rose and waved the and continued The Hoods Drakes "It \Vl15 riot that they ssere that way bullet struck his right hand. flares soared up and at that precise mid-day alone that Monday, 240,00(1 troops oil. A bullet struck his helmet short of the lip tile slope, but stopped inclined, but that they had lost all I-I c looked it his wound., part of' 181b shells had down on the illoillcnt 55 c sent 0111 shells on their . knoc . king hint to file floor. lie stood trench which was still scil)hlaflcc to I civilised being. ThThe his right tliuiiih was split He nluit being plastered Gcrnian positions. way. a fourth tiillc and tile 63rd (Royal British and shells. From a reasonably sale vantage inferno was enough to send any sane tered to not because he'd by The only place the assault Division carried irriccf the attack. It was there that Joe Murray s battle nlin absolutely berserk,- Benthim been wounded but bcc iuse the mound hid faltered was around the Germ ii) German iiior tIc sccmcd to siicf point Douij isJcrrold 'a is incsmci iscd ended. Struck in the abdo" reasoned. wasn't bad enough to warrant a trip to by shrapnel strongpoint near Beatimont. by the spectacle. deiil Crumble 'The Boehes Trevor mefl, he awoke a mile behind the line, the sick bay. Otherwise, General Sir Douglas "The massed artillery oftwo armies Prisoners not bayoneted fared no Jieos observed were -rushing up to oil i stretcher -with somconc hcttcr. They were sent to tile real. Brown continued for another Ii il f lying H was raining down on the n ii ross delighted. More than 3,000 surrender so tb ]lands up iii, iiuiobci where niany were shot by the iiicn of' a mi Ic or so, then glanced at his hand washing mud o Ii my lice-. prisoners had been taken - for the loss quarter of a iii i Ic l'roiii the front line theni'' His comrades were not 50 fortunate. Drake battalion coming up to bolster of 5,000-6,000 British casualties. where we \sere standing to the German again. C(lillCi:0fl Shute had wanted to take shovels the attack. "The two niiddle fingers were They grabbed their picks and "The success," I-laig concluded, front line," he wrote. no prisoners; reality dictated that his and began to dig themselves in before "has conic at a most opportune Jerrold watched as first the I-Iawke hanging down; there was a gaping lien had to. While the Hoods and Drakes linde hole through the paint - I could have another leap into the unknown. moment.' Battalion, then the Nelson behind it, ---It was all ama/i ii a sight - they, I t was not all mud, death and elanlbered out of the trench and into good progress, the iiien on their left, poked four fingers through. Instead of came out of their holes, lean ii a oil' destruction, however. The Hoods the Hawke and Nelson battalions were The night o f November 13-14 was the lust shrouding no-nian '5 land. fly thuinlb being split, it was ,,cue." their eciu i Pilleilt, L ionc I M ontaozu found a Gernlan supply depot - and mown clown. William Brown's battle was over. cold and damp. There was little rest. remembered. "I shall never see a sight more with The men grabbed picks and shovels noble," a nioved Jerrolcl A German strongpoint promptly raided it. "I myself rounded "We opened their parcels and and dug in. The machine-guns ratthree machine-gun nests and Only on the right of the line was '.' wrote. lip at least 50, waving smoked their cigars," Lionel Montagu fled all night long; there was the reconcrete dug-outs, svell-hidden, the Royal Naval Division making "Eight lines of men passed lily revolver at them recalled. "We found lots of good I11C so shoutine closely that I could proved tiipervious to the British ground. quent crack of nIle fire. There were and : few comforts for those in the front see every expression on their With the Anere, a road and things to eat, including sausages Sc./j,lc//!" barrage. r and cakes, as well as socks." line, except perhaps for captured laces as they faded into the The first the men of Hawkc line oil their right, But, as Shuitc railway German rations including, mist. and then Nelson Battalion, the 'Steadies' Eiuind, as ice had . , The battle plan called predicted. ' for another spring foras Lionel Montagu found "I saw notoneexpression following behind, knew Murray succinctly put it, taking large ward, this time through inside two hot water hot of fcar or regret, or even of of the redoubt was when their IcIt is ing in the iluilihci s of , the ruins of the village to and the machine-guns rattled air". ties., cold coffee surprise." prisoners posed , a final objective beyond and the hot steel ripped Within hall an hour of liqueurs, problems. . Beaucourt drawn on the Not so Joe Murray. He --r the attack beginning, the ,. through the khaki and " Continued \ -In the darkness of the was afraid. Hood Battalion tore through their flesh. Hoods had been reduced the stall' planmap by ' on page iv small hours of the f'ourteenth, was moving slowly across the die time tile two to little more than 300 tiers: the red line. By 5

Hello Tobin, how are you'?" he buttonholed the sergeant lilt to uoi All right, sir.

UNTO THE BREACH

ALL HELL LET LOOSE

went,

Germ

under

German

tons

German

before

COMMAND DECISIONS

bellow

committed

FEARFUL LOSSES

smoke

THE ATTACK FALTERS

. -

Ian/se,

climbed

himself,

German

crashed

'here

THE SOMME 90 YEARS ON. NOVEMBER 2006

" Continued from page iii

---it \sas rather tricky \vandering,

surrendering Germans, as one never

In February 1917, Lt Alan Patrick Herbert (pictured be/otis) recorded his impressions in 'Beaucourt revisited':

)

Hun would riot have a shot or throw In the Hood Battalion's makeheadquarters amid the ruins of Beaucourt, Ni ontagu found a Bernard Freyhera.

I wciv4y

np to 'F.eawcoccrt; t tookg the rvertracl, saw the L.i.ves we Lived ss, before the B'oche went bacskt,;

mine

reflec-tive shill

.\\/i had a long talk: how proud he was of the Hood, boss splendidly the

battalion

had

the

carrying

over

days,

done

three 1.000

mach ne-guns

and

in attacking and two objectives i prisoners besides a

vast

quantity

rade.

had,

always

confided dreamed

,l i

in of

his

would name

capturing

This

pleasant

interlude

had

recalled.

riever

experienced,"

was

Montagui

any clothing on, and saw the lower near

- -

a'firel

ST PIERRE Ill VION

A,ni,y

)

another man blown up

llANA -

THE ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION -

Beaucourt

hours.

least

three,

times

were

buried

two,

Montau bv

four nearly

and and

the

pp front line.,

of'

f-tere, at the head of Peche Street, 'twas death to show oi,cr face; To tv.e t seeisi,ed Like visasic to Liss.ger Liv the pLace; For 'ste how vstaiai.j spirits hctivg rois the Kev,tLsh Caves,

t the

alter

ypyi Und All tile tinic, the battalion coniniander issued orders. All(] then 1IC turned to his Coinrade. ---Do you think 1 could walk to tile dressing station'?" lie asked.

And there, with shells still falling,

Lionel Montagu delivered Bernard Fri'vher' Into iii,' care of' I hi' fliedk's "You can imagine what a gap he left when he was wounded,' Montagu wrote later. ''Not only had he behaved with marvellous courage and heroism throughout, but he showed real genius. The officer mused: "Ifhe is spared, the whole world will he talking of lint Soon. Freyherg was spared. And the world would indeed soon he talk ing about him. For his actions on the Somme he would earn the Victoria Cross.

mili-tary THE AFTERMATH TRAGIC SIGHTS BOTH SIDES CLAIM VICTORY

Fortunately for the Royal Naval Division, Bernard Freyberg svas wounded with the battle f'or l3eaueourt all but won. Isolated pockets of German troops held out in the shattered village Until around midnight, then filtered through the scant British lines to reioni their comrades. As for the sailors, they were relieved in the small hours of the fifteenth by men from Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Lancashire and sent to the rear. Lionel Montagu took shelter front the November cold in a captured German dug-out and grabbed three hours' sleep; a doctor shared a second bunk space; the third was occupied by a dead German oflicer. As he wandered hack through the battlefield of two days before, Trevor Jacobs came across the strongpoint which had taken such a hideous toll of Royal Naval Division blood. "I never saw anything so tragic," he svrote. "It was a shambles, any amount of our brave telloss-s being all round in shell holes and ss ith terrible wounds, some of them with ha If a head blown of]', others without legs and arms, and others with numerous bullet svounds." In Englehelmer, the miserable village where the sailors had waited before the assault, the men were nict by 'Tiger' Shute. A month before lie had thought

see

o spirits -thee oL

seethe

I foctvud the haLf-dug ditches we fash'rosved for the fight, we Lost a score of isceis. there kiLLed that vs'cght;

side-by -side ,

to escort his 1 elms it an enibanknient to the first aid post maybe 300 yards il~\r~1V.

graves. -_

Thetwo men lay

vuow there are hoss&es ii'c f-ta i'v.eL and tesvts in the Vale of I-i-eLI, And a cai'stp at Scsic'cde corner, where half a re ØLssselvt felt.

possibly Freybera

reninarits

The barrage or 1k 55 is struck ill the neck by shrapnel - a fragment also struck Montagu in piercing his helmet. the head

vaLLej, and set the ses

The new troops foLLow a'er, av..d tread the Lasvd we wovt,, To thepsc 'ts so m.csch hLLsLde re-wrested fro- the t-tcsi.s,; We oiLj waLk with reverence th~.5 .5k1Len vK~Le of nt,ci; lle sheLL-hole's hoLd okr k~.StOrd, and kPLfoftlien,, otxr TU0001

. :

lasted

- -

quite

barrage

)

ON THE ANCRE, NOVEMBER 1916

me."

The

And I thocght, f-tow Lofrvg we Laid there, a,d watched across the Wi.re, whLe gi.i.vs roared roc<.svd the

soon

their stomachs and took shelter in a shallow trench. ---Here we lay for about half an hour. I don't want to exaggerate but I was sure that 30 of these big shells 'elI within 20 yards of us,'' wrote Montagu. S/Lt Trevor Jacobs cowered in a trench as the German barrage intensified. "I saw one man blown up 50 to 70 Yards high and come down without of

GRANI)COURT

11050

The men threw themselves on

half

.55155

4ss

TheGermaniztins barked "such as I

155 -

racehorse Beaucourt

(he did it even won a race). shattered.

Selion sliLe

corn-

Beaucourt. NI ontagu too became wistful. If he survived this war, he told Freyherg, he

5Ø55.11ml

'°'e

stores," Montagu recalled. He

(

Bcst peace was now 'csv Pottage, the Front was far ahead, The Front Eastward and hjorsrsvejec ovsLj le the dead,

5555155555555i\\

"sv,,,

eassø'

ou,ssgJavises was

I saw the star sheLLs star'm'vg. t heard the bi,cLLets haiL, 'ctt the new troops pass ucsvheed't.svg thed never heard the tale.

" The

guns now silent, the Ancre battlefield today

I crossed the bLood-red r'dbboss,, that once was NoPicture: Capt Christopher Page, Nasal Historical Branch

little of these sailor-soldiers. Now he had changed his tune. "You Floods are wonderful, the men are magnificent and the oflicers are marve Iloits,'' he blurted out as the weary troops filed past. Magnificent and marvellous, yes. But also few. Of'Trevor Jacobs' company which had begun the battle 150 strong, there were just 85 men left. November 1916 was a black month. On average, the Royal Naval Division lost three officers and 53 men killed everyday. Total casualties, dead and wounded, amounted to almost 4,000.

M ontagu agreed. ''I always thought that it was a magnificent division with splend cl officers and men,'' lie wrote afterwards. "I hope they now get their fair share of honour." They did. "The capture of Beaucourt was a brilliant piece of work," The Timex enthused. "It gave England another hero." In reality, it gave England, or rather Britain, a division of heroes. Their memory, Winston Churchill - the division's original architect - wrote, would flourish 1(11) years hence. He continued:

The Battle of the Somme fizzled out on Monday November 19. Douglas Haig was delighted with the outcome. ,.The picture is full of encouragement and promise," the general declared. The enemy, lie proclaimed, had sufibred "far heavier" losses; his morale had suffered too. "It is safe to conclude that an appreciable proportion of the German soldiers are now practically beaten men ready to surrender." That was riot how Crown Prince Ruppreeht saw it. For all their elThrts, the Allies had seized only "a narrow strip of utterly-ruined terrain". Victory was Germany's, not Britain's. In a rousing order of the clay, lie declared:

By theirconduct in the forefront of the battle, by their character, and by the feats of arms which they performed. they raised themselves into that glorious company of the seven or eight most famous divisions of the British Army in the Great War. Their Iv as reputation consistently maintained in spite of losses of so awful a character as to sweep away three or four times over the original personnel.

Everyone who was there can be proud to have been a warrior of the Somme. The greatest battle of the war, perhaps the greatest of' all time, has been won. No man in the Royal Naval Division would permit the tag 'German victory' to the battle for Beaucourt. It was a British victory, a Royal Navy victory, through and through. The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, Douglas Flaig proclaimed, "advanced further and took more prisoners than any division had clone in one day.--When Lionel Montagu (filled with Edward Beddington, one of Gough's stall' of'fieers, st few days after the battle, praise was heaped upon the soldier-sailors. "No division had done better," Beddington told him.

A week after the battle Sb/iso,:! - stall' doctor Hugo Natt with 118 Reserve Iofiuitei'ie Regiment wandered over the battlefield. "Everywhere there are deep shell craters, mostly filled to the brim with water," he recorded in his diary. 'Then a hideous group of corpses, about six, the bodies ripped to shreds, covered with blood and mud. "The head of one is half, shot away, a bit further on there's a leg shot away. a couple of bodies have become so entangled that amid the mud we cannot identify the individual bodies." The Somme, a rather obscure German hoopononn - captain - Halls volt Hetitig wrote after the war, "was the muddy grave of the German field army and oftlte faith in the infallibility of German leadership." In the post-war years, Hentig's words were seized upon by Haig's supporters as proof the general's strategy on the Somme had been correct.

THE SOMME - AGAIN A TERRIBLE GAME OF WAR The Royal Naval Division's association with the Somme and tile Aricre did not end in November 1916. They were back in the line in February 1917. A healed Joe Murray found little had changed in three ntdinths. "The whole of the Anci'e valley is a filthy quagmire,'' lie wrote ill his chary. "After years of constant shelling there's not a yard of even ground anywhei'e. "The shelling continues, each salvo putting sonic poor old blighter out of It is ntisery without a murmur. "There are itlomettts when I wonder that, if it were possible to converse with ally of lily departed pals, what their answer svould be to lily question: Is this pain and siilk,~.iiig getting u.s ani'wheie" It was a little question, bill Murray tried to answer it. "Men are born to die. The time and place is of no consequence. Each breath of life we take or give leaves its less of life to live. "Providence is our only hope as the shells continue to reap their harvest." That winter Douglas Haig toured the former battlefield. The Scotsman was riot a figure prone to revealing his inner emotions, yet lie was for once nosed by the deeds of his armies in this "terrible gante of war". "No-one can visit the Somme without being impressed with the magnitude of the effort iliade by the British soldier," lie wrote. "To many it meant certain death and all must have known that before they started," Leuoiaitt Otto Ahrends, a Bavarian regimental adjutant, perhaps wrote the epitaph of every man who 'ought at the Somme ill 1916, f`riend and f'oe: When you see a fighter who was there at the Soninte, bow low to the -,round, because You siniply do riot know what he did for you.

Mtti'v's t,..aivd.

Saw a sst'dstj dajbreak avud a sstisvutte-hasvd; creepia'vg And here the Lads went over, al-0d there was t-tarm,sworth shot,

And here was w'cLL'casss, Lj'wg -bi.st the new si,tesv kiow theist

And I sid, "There is stiLL the river, asvd stiLL the

stiff, stark trees, To treasisre here ousr stor3, bitt there are ois.L these;"

'B'i,ct cu'sder the white-wood crosses the dead ssa,eis, answered Low,

"The new istess, ksvow ss.ot - we know,"

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With particular thanks to Capt Christopher Page and the staff of the Naval Historical Branch. Portsmouth The following books have also been consulted: A fI'Ierhacht, Holger Kaiser Willie,,, II a/.s Oheisie,' Kriegs/teri' On Ersien tVeltk,'ieg Arthur. Max /lx,'ooe,t Voices of the Great War Binding, Rudolf A Fatalist at tVa,' Brown, Malcol ni The Inipeiial Wa,' Mii.sei,ni Book of the Sotttitte Dc Groot, Gerard Douglas Hii~g Dti 'by, Christopher Through Gernian Eves: The British and the ,Son,nie Foerster, Wolfgang Wir Kunipt'r On t-Ve/rk,'ie,q Haig. Douglas Diary, field by the National Archive, Kew Hart, Peter 'The Soninie Hirschtfelch, Gerhiard (Cd) Die Denise/ic,, au die Soiiiine /9/41918

eaco-t bitt we are here

Hoh'fntann, Rticholf Dci' Deuuc'Ite So/dat: Briefe aim dciii tVe/iki'ieg Holloway. Susan Froin Trench and Turret ern) Id. Douglas Georgian Adventure Jerrold, Douglas The Roval Naval Division Murray. Joseph Call to A?-ins Page. Christopher Conuttaitd in the Royal Naval Division Reicltsarcltiv. Der tVeItk,'ieg 191419/8. Band XI, Her/,,st 1916 The Royal Naval Division, magazine edited by Leonard Sellars Sell ars. Leonard, The Hood Battalion Sheldon, Jack The Ge,',na,i A,',tton the Sontine Juhiatt The 1916 Thtompson, Experience Thonipson, Julian 7'/t e Royal Marines: Front Sea Soldiers to a Special Force Williams, John, Corporal Hit/c,' and the Great tVa,' Winter. Denis Haig '.5 Co,,u,ta,id: A Re-A ,sse,s.s,,ie,it