Day 3- The Somme

Another early start saw us on the road to France and the battlefields of the Somme. We discovered peaceful countryside made up of strands of trees in rolling fields. The fog and dampness was a stark contrast to the weather on Saturday 1st July 1916. Then the sun was shining and the larks were singing. It was against this backdrop that the largest British military loss on one day took place. Nearly 20,000 men were killed and 40.000 wounded, many of whom died of their wounds on the very next day. Our visits enabled us to think about some of the events of that fateful Saturday almost one hundred years ago.

 

[Lancashire Fusiliers wait to go into battle]

We started at the Lochnagar Crater, a giant hole in the ground left when the British miners planted tons of explosives under German positions. The German gunners were literally vapourised by the huge explosion that left a massive crater that has to be seen to be believed. Photographs will struggle to do justice to this sight.

Then it was on to a small cemetery where the Devonshire Regiment met a predictable fate on the morning of the battle. Captain Martin was one of their officers and on a home visit he used the contours from maps to assess the likely route his men would have to take. He realized that he would be likely to die and expressed this in a letter to his parents. He died along with his men on in an assault on German trenches. After making the Germans retreat, the Devonshires buried their pals on the afternoon of 1st July in the trench that had been their refuge and is now the small well-tended cemetery we visited.

 

 

The Thiepval Monument was next on our itinerary. This is a monument to the men whose bodies could not be found as they could not be found or identified. Over 70,000 names were on this huge structure. Many students found their own family names on the walls. This colossal loss of life was just on the Somme and was one of several emotional parts of the day.

The Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel was bought by the Canadian government and is untouched by development, making it a unique historical resource as well as a superbly maintained monument. The Newfoundlanders were decimated on the first morning of the Somme and the names of their memorial had many same surnames from this small community that was very far from home. This visit made a big impression on our students.

Lastly we visited the Ulster Tower to recognise the important contribution of our Irish friends. There were many Irish visitors to the venues described above and many praised the respectful ways in which our students listened. They thought that what we were doing was really important and that everyone of school age should do this