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Born-Islington

The Battle of the Somme (July-November, 1916)

On 1st July 1916 The British Army launched a massive offensive along a section of the front line running north of the River Somme. The French attacked south of it. The first day was a disaster for the British army which suffered nearly 60,000 casualties, 19,000 of whom were killed, and made hardly any inroads into the enemy lines. But the battle had to go on, if for no other reason than to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun where they had been facing the full onslaught of the powerful German Army. So it continued all the way through to November with nearly every battalion and division then in France being drawn into it at some stage. In the end the German trenches had been pushed back a few miles along most of the line but the cost in lives had been staggering. By the end of the fighting in November, 1916, British Army casualties numbered over 400,000, killed, wounded and missing.

12th Division, including 11th Middlesex of 36 Brigade had been involved in some of the early fighting when they attacked the village of Ovillers on 7th July but on 20th July they moved into Brigade reserve at Mailly-Maillet where they were engaged in training and providing working parties at night. During the night of 27th-28th July, 11th Middlesex moved into the front line north-west of Pozieres where the Australians were engaged in a desperate struggle to capture that village and the high ground beyond it. The trenches that 11th Middlesex now occupied were ill defined and in a parlous state and the relief was very unsatisfactory. In the confusion one company were led to the wrong destination and sustained many casualties from enemy action. German bombers were active and the casualty list grew bigger. One of those killed was Edmund Browne.