*VIRTUAL TOUR - The Somme Offensive Continued* Lochnagar Mine Crater

The Battle of La Boisselle

Machine Gun Team

When III Corps of the Fourth Army attacked the German line at Ovillers and La Boisselle on the 1st July 1916, they were facing formidable opposition. The Germans had dug themselves into the spurs which protruded like fingers, from the Pozières Ridge. III Corps comprised of three Divisions: 8th Division, who attacked North of the Pozières ridge towards Nab Valley, Ovillers Spur and Mash Valley, 34th Division, who attacked the La Boisselle Spur, Sausage Valley, and Fricourt Spur, and 19th Division, who were held in reserve. The attack was aided by two mines which were exploded under the German strongholds, Y-Sap in Mash Valley, and Lochnagar in Sausage Valley; each was intended to create huge lips in order to disrupt the line of fire of the German machine-guns. The 34th Division's objectives were to advance towards Contalmaison by taking out La Boisselle, using two flanking attacks, one in Mash Valley by two Battalions of the Tyneside Scottish of 102nd Brigade, and the other in Sausage Valley by the remaining Tyneside Scottish. It was to be followed by taking the Schwaben Hohe Redoubt, which was severely damaged by the Lochnagar mine, using the remaining Units of the 101st Brigade, 15th Royal Scots and the 10th Lincolnshire Regiment, known as the Grimsby Chums, which would attack through Sausage Valley and take Sausage Redoubt. The follow-up attack would involve the Tyneside Irish of the 103rd Brigade; there was to be no reserve at this point of the attack. The Divisional commander, Major-General E.C. Ingouville-Williams, planned to put all his Battalions into the Battle, forcing their way onto the Pozières Ridge. 

Preparing For The Attack

However, the attacks on La Boisselle did not finish on the first day of the Battle, 19th Division, which had been held in reserve, was put into the assault on the 2nd July. Firstly, they had to make contact with surviving units of the Tyneside Scottish, who had not withdrawn. The 57th and 58th Brigade attacked South of La Boisselle, using a ruse of bombarding Ovillers, in order to confuse the Germans. By 15:30hrs some of the Men had bombed their way into the village; this led to some severe house-to-house fighting with the German Defenders, and the village was eventually taken the following day. Counter-attacks from the Germans had to be fought off, and only by the 5th July could the village be said to be safely in Allied hands. Attempts to take Ovillers, to the North of La Boisselle, were doomed to failure until the 16th July when a consolidated attack led to the ruins of the village falling into British hands. 

A gentle reminder; the attack was due to start on the 29th June 1916; however, due to the weather it was put back to the 1st July. The Artillery bombardment began 5 days before the 29th, and had to continue until the 1st July. The main problem was the amount of ammunition required; therefore, they reduced the number of shells fired during the last few days of the bombardment. The bombardment ended at 07:30hrs on the 1st July 1916. Our Troops were given the order to walk inline across No-Mans-Land, with no firing allowed. Once the bombardment ended the Germans came out of their dugouts, they noticed 1000s of Soldiers advancing over No-Mans-Land, without a single shot fired. obviously, they were afraid at first. But once they realised there were no bullets flying towards them, they started to shoot at the advancing Troops; causing catastrophic death and destruction. I have read in a number of books from the the German perspective, that if our Soldiers had ran using normal tactics and shooting as required they would have beaten the German Front-Lines and taken their Objectives.

The Aftermath

Within minutes of the start, most of the Men were cut down by concentrated machine-gun fire, from in front and both flanks, and by the Enemy Artillery which had not been damaged by the British bombardment, the British Forces had to cross 800 yards of open ground to reach the German trenches, leaving them open to attack. On the right of La Boisselle, in Sausage Valley, the 15th Royal Scots, coming under severe enfilading fire from their left, lost the line of attack and forced their way towards Fricourt; which was an objective of XV Corps just to the South of La Boisselle. Although they took the German line, a lack of support and ammunition forced their withdrawal. The Troops in the Lincolnshire Regiment had left five minutes after the detonation of the Lochnagar mine, before moving forward; this proved to be too long, and devastating fire from the German lines meant few advanced more than 400 yards into No-Man's-Land. Most of the survivors sought refuge in the newly-formed Lochnagar crater. It has been proven that the majority of the Allied Soldiers were killed by a single German Gunner; he decimated the whole Division; all 12 Battalions. It has been said that the Gunner was chained to his machine gun and told to traverse the gun continually as the Allies walked across No-Mans-Land.

The 102nd Brigade had similar problems in their attack on the flanks of the La Boisselle salient; the two Battalions of the Tyneside Scottish attacked through Mash Valley, between Y-sap and the village. They had 500 yards to cover before they reached the German lines. Again, they did not make it as the machine-gun fire was too intense. Although, the Tyneside Scottish, attacking the Schwaben Hohe Redoubt had less distance to travel, the intense fire from La Boisselle village itself meant few reached their objectives. The Tyneside Irish, from the 103rd Brigade, had nearly a mile to advance from their positions along the Tara-Usna line before they reached the original starting point on the British Frontline. Artillery fire and machine-gun fire cut these Men down as soon as they came within range; most of the casualties in the Tyneside Irish were taken before they even reached their own Frontline. The survivors did not stop, but continued their advance across 500 yards of No-Man's-Land; eventually, a small group did continue, until they were isolated 700 yards deep into the German trench system. In all, 34th Division took 6,500 casualties on the 1st day of the Somme Offensive, the 1st July 1916.