pferguson | September 18, 2023
War and War Trophies Prior to the attack 533 British guns fired more than 250,000 shells during a four-day bombardment commencing 21 September 1915. At the time, the engagement was the largest Great War British offensive. The battle also marked the first use of gas by the British Army. Specialized units of the Royal Engineers […]
pferguson | July 30, 2023
Remembrance on the Somme A visit to the Commonwealth War Graves website begins Close to 150,000 Commonwealth casualties are buried in close to 350 sites on the Somme. They range from large cemeteries with thousands of graves to individual graves in churchyards and burial grounds. There are eight memorials to the missing of the Battle […]
pferguson | June 30, 2023
The Mines On the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916), 19 mines were detonated. Eight large and eleven smaller charges prepared by tunneling units of the British Army exploded on the German frontline. Both the mines at Lochnagar (detonated at 7:28 AM) and Hawthorn Ridge (detonated at 7:20 AM) were, […]
pferguson | May 30, 2023
The Artillery Barrage Light gauge railways delivered ammunition to the frontline. Prior to the attack on 1 July 1916 a seven-day barrage fired 1.5 million shells. Of these it is estimated 1/3 of them were duds. The Canadian Expeditionary Force’s battalions took part in the Battle of the Somme but much later than the events […]
pferguson | April 30, 2023
The Commanders The Somme was where the British and French armies met occupying a 25-mile front mostly to the north of the River Somme. The battle of 1 July 1916, was the largest operation of the Great War and started with 500,000 men, mostly volunteers of the Pals battalions. The Pals did not have the […]
