Current Information:

Age-21

7, Denmark Road, Barnsbury

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.

Two weeks after the events of 1st July, the British Army on the Somme was ready to renew the offensive along a broad front stretching from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit. The Battle of Bazentin Ridge, an attack on the German second line, began on 14th July, 1916. Different tactics were employed this time. The troops moved up, unseen and unnoticed, in the dark and after a fierce five minute artillery barrage, rose to the attack at 3.25am. The surprise element worked and the villages of Bazentin-le-Petit and Bazentin-le-Grand were soon taken as was most of Longueval but these early successes were not fully exploited and opportunities were lost, notably the failure to capture High Wood which was for a short time undefended. The new line was consolidated but once again the British Army found themselves engaged in a war of attrition as they attempted to push the enemy further back across the Somme battlefield.

20th Royal Fusiliers of 19 Brigade, 33rd Division arrived on the Somme on 10th July, 1916 and on 15th July 19 Brigade were in reserve when 98 and 100 Brigades of 33rd Division attacked the German trench, the Switch Line, running in front of Martinpuich. In the face of uncut wire and unchecked machine gun fire this attack failed and the survivors fell back to their starting line between Bazentin-le-Petit and High Wood. At 3am on 16th July, 20th Royal Fusiliers moved forward into support trenches to relieve 16th King’s Royal Rifle Corps who had been involved in the previous day’s battle. That evening they were withdrawn and returned to bivouacs in Mametz Wood. There was heavy and constant shell fire on these positions throughout the day, during which 20th Royal Fusiliers sustained 42 casualties. One of these was Frederick Peffer.