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Remembered Today:

Battle of the Somme 100 years - 1916-2016


Seadog

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The War Diary of my Uncle Jack's outfit, the 25th Field Ambulance, RAMC, for 1 July 1916 presents a picture of a system overwhelmed, written in that characteristic, understated, getonwithit manner:

 

"Infantry attack launched at 7.30 am. First walking cases arrived at 8am & first car at 8.45 am. [...] At 10 am steady flow of walking cases set in, & from 11 to 4 state of congestion owing to large numbers [...] Up to noon evacuation of lying cases from the trenches was slow, as the team could not move owing to rifle fire  [...]

 

"5pm Urgent call for stretchers [...]

 

"7pm Urgent demand for more stretchers [...]

 

"By midnight we were choked with cases  [...]

 

"2/7/16 [...] By 10am inflow of cases had slackened off [...] "

 

I knew Uncle Jack fairly well when I was a boy. He was my Great Uncle, my grandmother's brother. I remember him as a kind, quiet, thoughtful man. He died in 1975.

 

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23835095272_f3081cabcd_c.jpg

 

HIGH WOOD TO WATERLOT FARM

There is a wood at the top of a hill,
If it’s not shifted it’s standing there still;
There is a farm a short distance away,
But I’d not advise you to go there by day,
For the snipers abound, and the shells are not rare,
And a man’s only chance is to run like a hare,
So take my advice if you’re chancing your arm
From High Wood to Waterlot Farm.’

 

High Wood to Waterlot Farm,
All on a summer's day,
Up you get to the top of the trench
Though you're sniped at all the way.
If you've got a smoke helmet there
You'd best put it on if you could,
For the wood down by Waterlot Farm
Is a bloody high wood.

 

E.A. MacKintosh
Lieutenant MacKintosh MC was wounded and gassed at High Wood in August 1916. He died on the 21st November 1917 at the battle of Cambrai just 24 years old.

 

Norman

 

 

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Commemoration Ceremony For Pt 1853 Charles Gordon Shaw

1/6th Battalion Notts & Derby Regt Sherwood Foresters.

11th July 2016

 

We held the Service of Commemoration on Monday, it went marvelously and was very well attended.

 

The Press took quite an interest (in the end) with both the BBC Look North and ITV Calender Yorkshire both sending reporters and camera men.

 

The ITV Report is here : http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2016-07-11/family-gather-at-lost-grave-of-solider-killed-in-battle-of-the-somme/

 

The BBC Report ( 12 mins and 4 secs in) is here :http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07k19l6/look-north-yorkshire-evening-news-11072016

 

The Granddaughter and Grandson of Sgt Dick Wagg DCM attended, bringing Dick's medals along with them. The Staveley Branch of the RBL did us proud with a couple of Standard Bearers and Buglers who were all magnificent, many thanks Gentleman. These same Gentleman will attend Christ Church Stonegravels Chesterfield again on the weekend of 10th September when they Commemorate "The Old Contemptables".

 

Sadly there were a couple of idiot amateur paparazzi photographers from a couple of local publications who showed total disrespect for the two minutes silence and the Service generally. I have learnt  hard lesson regarding the printed press as I gave over most of my day giving interviews and time to them to the detriment of spending time with relatives I hadn't seen for years, yet when I ask that same publication for a couple of still photos they wanted me to pay for them! A word of advice, don't waste your time on them as they are selfish vultures. 

 

However we didn't let them spoil the day, the presentation I gave about The Somme and Gommecourt went down very well.

 

I would love to paste some photos into this post but the file sizes are much too big, sorry.

 

Cheers

 

Ian 

 

 

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Good post Ian.  Well done on the ceremony.

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My take on a iconic photograph taken 100yrs ago.  Forum member Unitedsound found the location ( 250 yrds East side of Montauban) from where Ernest Brooks took the photo of a Piper of the 7th Bn Seaforth Highlanders , leading men of the 26th Brigade, 9th Div, after an attack on Longueval  on the 14th July 1916.I posted the image in another thread a couple of years ago.

Original

7th%20bn_zps4wle5y3s.jpg

 

Same location with a twist

mont-05_zpsdfebdev4.jpg

 

 

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Here are some photographs of the Commemoration Service on Monday, thanks Seadog for hosting them for me and sorting them out for me.

 

album-72157671052273795

 

album-72157671052273795

 

album-72157671052273795

Thanks 

 

Ian

 

 

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Here are the images Ian refers to above

 

28304323455_cb07e6643f_c.jpg

 

This image shows the Shaw family around the grave, Private Shaw 1853  served in the 1/6th Battalion of the Notts and Derby Regiment, The Sherwood Foresters. The ceremony took place at  Christ Church Stonegravels Chesterfield

28304352775_fe05bc4979_c.jpg

This image shows the Shaw family around the grave, Private Shaw 1853  served in the 1/6th Battalion of the Notts and Derby Regiment, The Sherwood Foresters. The ceremony took place at  Christ Church Stonegravels Chesterfield

28022873350_87fed41a66_c.jpg

The Buglers and Standard Bearers from the Staveley Branch of the Royal British Legion play the Last Post

Norman

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This is a very poignant poem written by my Auntie Doris in August 1998.  She read this poem out in the church during the Commemoration for her uncle Charlie on Monday. It typifies the quiet heroism of the Great War generation, like Sgt Dick Wagg who rescued 3 men from No Man's Land on the morning of 1st July 1916, an act that he never spoke of whilst he was alive!

 

 

                                                                   REMEMBERING

“What was the war like Grandad?

The one before the last-

 1914 to 1918

A long way back in the past”

“I can hardly remember lad,

It was so long ago.

Train loads, boat loads, fine young men,

Eager to meet the foe-

Oh yes, it was exciting

The cheering and waving of flags.

Quite smart in our new uniforms,

And over-filled kit-bags”

“But what about the fighting

And how you beat the Hun?

Tell me, were they frightened

When you had them on the run?”

“There’s Black-Fly on the carrots,

But onions are alright,

And will they play that new chap

In the match tomorrow night?”

“Grandad , did you kill a man?

And what did it feel like?”

“Didn’t you ought to be getting off home?

And where have you left your bike?”

Gone, has he? Thank God for that-

I couldn’t have stood much more;

Some things are better left unsaid,

Like- What was it like in the war!?

 

By Doris Innes

8 August 1998

 

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Here is a YouTube link to a video of a Presentation I gave at Christ Church Stonegravels Chesterfield on Monday 11th July 2016 about Pt. 1853 Charles Gordon Shaw and A Company of the 1/6th Battalion Notts & Derby Sherwood Foresters Regt in the attack on Gommecourt on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916.

 

It is two parts :

 

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0CdWEGmFKo

 

 

  Also here is a link to the You Tube video of the Graveside Service of Commemoration:

 

Thanks

 

Ian

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28290219722_b442496928_c.jpg

 

Lewis Gunner Summer 1916

White metal kit assembled and painted in oils by a very talented friend even to the hand-painted Highland Division (HD) patch. The background is my photo of a poppy field near Bristol. The overall height of the figure is just 3 inches.

 

This soldier is walking through the fields of Picardy towards High Wood which the Division first attacked on the night of 22/23rd July 1916, the attack was repulsed as were subsequent efforts.

 

The Attack

http://51hd.co.uk/history/battle_somme_high_wood

 

“So ended the first offensive operations in which the Division had been employed as a whole unit. The results had been disappointing and dispiriting to all. Over 3500 casualties, including 150 officers, had been sustained. In two fruitless attempts to carry a German position which remained intact, in spite of many attacks by successive Divisions, until 15 September. The Germans had shown that High Wood could not be taken hurriedly by a frontal attack".

 

Thiepval 1st July 2016

The White Swan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/28017204575/in/album-72157670843098516/

 

Norman

 

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High Wood - ghastly by day ghostly by night, the rottenest place on the Somme.

High-Wood-bw.jpg

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13776487915_29a6c0c669_c.jpg

Nice one Morris good to see the wood from another angle, here is a shot looking from the road to Martinpuich towards Longueval. The building centre right stands in the London British War Cemetery 1914-1918

 

Norman
 

 

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DSC_8409_1024_2.jpg

 

DSC_8426_1024_2.jpg

 

DSC_8107_1024_2.jpg

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High Wood in the background.

image.jpeg

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Nice photos and good to see the "Bristols Own" memorial cross in the above post.

4367383349_aa28e71e83_z.jpg

On the edge of the wood

3572412599_7b0ec3c6fc_z.jpg

Norman

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Found this behind High Wood.

image.jpeg

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Nice find but a lot of empties so I trumps with this between Contalmaison and Pozieres

2201611447_0cb252d8fe_z.jpg

 

Next one please!

 

Norman

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and another one at the crossroads at the NE corner of High Wood near Cork Alley (wood in background)

DSC03176b.JPG

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Somme montage.

somme-montage.jpg

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Hello All,

Last Sunday I went to a live orchestral performance of The Battle of The Somme film. Although I possess the DVD I was amazed hearing Laura Rossi's score live which was such a great experience, never mind seeing the film in a larger format than television. The Somme100 Film Project is an international project working with the IWM to mark the anniversary of the Battle of The Somme. If you have the opportunity I very much recommend going to see and hear this marvellous piece of 1916 history with the added glory of the modern music. I would love to add a link of venues but have found this impossible. My best effort is the Imperial War Museum home site and looking through the events calendar. I cannot add a link but I started from www.1914.org. and used the tab for events.

The venues are all over the UK and internationally.

Steve Knox

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