| Grapesoda |
07-01-2006 11:06 AM |
90 years ago today . .
On July 1, in broad daylight, one hundred thousand men, the Newfoundlanders among them, climbed out of their trenches and advanced shoulder to shoulder in line, one behind the other, across crater-torn waste of No Man's Land. Weighed down by 30 kilograms of equipment each, they advanced slowly towards the awaiting German guns.
From their starting position in the British support trench known as St. John's Road, the Newfoundlanders had to cross 230 metres of fire-swept ground before they reached even their own front line. As they made their way through zigzag lines previously cut in the British wire, casualties came with increasing frequency. Those of the leading companies who finally emerged into No Man's land could look down an incline to see for the first time the barrier of the German wire, 500 or more metres away. It was a wonder that any man could remain unhit more than a minute in the inferno of fire that swept across the exposed slopes. Nevertheless, holding as best they could the parade-ground formations then prescribed for assaulting infantry by the General Staff, the thinning ranks pushed steadily forward. Half-way down the slope, an isolated tree marked an area where the enemy's shrapnel was particularly deadly. Called "The Danger Tree", its twisted skeleton has been preserved and still stands at the spot where many a gallant Newfoundlander fell on that tragic July day.
In less than half an hour it was over. The Commanding Officer, who from a support trench had watched the destruction of his Regiment, reported to Brigade Headquarters that the attack had failed. Afterwards the Divisional Commander was to write of the Newfoundland effort: "It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour, and its assault failed of success because dead men can advance no further."
The casualties sustained by the British army in the opening day of the Battle of Somme totalled 57,470, of which 19,240 were fatal. No unit suffered heavier losses than the Newfoundland Regiment, which had gone into action 801 strong. When the roll call of the unwounded was taken next day, only 68 answered their names. The final figures that revealed the virtual annihilation of the Battalion gave a grim count of 233 killed or died of wounds, 386 wounded, and 91 missing. Every officer who went forward in the Newfoundland attack was either killed or wounded.
---- over 19,000 men killed in 1/2 hour? damn . .
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