Somme fields in July 1916

[Devils Own]

Hi

What vegetation have been prominent on most of the Somme battlefields in July 1916?

Would it have been permanent pasture? Or would it have been a kind of 'set-aside' mix of previous crops and wild plants?

Steve

[truthergw]

Hi

What vegetation have been prominent on most of the Somme battlefields in July 1916?

Would it have been permanent pasture? Or would it have been a kind of 'set-aside' mix of previous crops and wild plants?

Steve

I think that we should bear in mind the very narrow band that formed the actual battlefield at the start of the battle. Get more than a few kilometres from the trenches and everything carried on as normal. There are some startling mentions of agriculture being carried on very close to the front. Of course by the end of the year, that warzone had rolled several miles to the northwest and left a trail of destruction behind. That and the scorched earth of the withdrawal to the Hindenburg line 1917 caused more damage and left the Somme battlefield that we tend to think of.

[Desmond7]

Patrols in the sectors near the Ancre River reported that they had difficulty in moving silently because of 'dried rushes' which crackled and snapped as they moved. This was in the period of March 1916.

Des

[Tom Morgan]

Lots of accounts refer to untended farmland and the vegetation which would result from this. No-Man's Land had not been shelled overmuch prior to 1st July, and there was often grass growing to at least knee-high.

Tom

[uncle bill]

you should look at the cd roms from the Battlefields of the first world war, if you can. There is a panoramic photo of Mill Road that could have been taken today, barring trenches of course.

[squirrel]

Read somewhere an accountof a patrol in NML. The leader was at pains to make sure that all the patrol members avoided the patches of tall, dried grass. Not only for any noise it might make but as it was bleached nearly white they would show up against it at night.

[Mat McLachlan]

I know we are referring to 1916 here so this is a bit off the mark, but I was reading yesterday about the battle of Hamel in July 1918 - one Aussie soldier was complaining that they had to lie out in a wheat crop before the advance, and that wheat always made him sneeze...

[DaveBrigg]

I read one account of a battalion based at Carnoy just after the Battle of the Somme who found a cow, and fed and milked it during their stay.

[Papineau]

you should look at the cd roms from the Battlefields of the first world war, if you can. There is a panoramic photo of Mill Road that could have been taken today, barring trenches of course.

Very true - when you look at photos like these and aerial shots of the Somme taken prior to 1st July, then you can see just how much vegitation there was. Most accounts of men crossing No Man's Land on 1st July talk of waist high grass, which is probably the result of over-grown fields. A certain times of the year you can see such fields even today; there was a good example south of the road between La Boisselle and Contalmaison.