Current Information:

Stonebridge

Born-Harlesden

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.

162 Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery had been raised in Camberwell by the mayor and a committee and after initial training joined 33rd Division. The Brigade arrived on the Somme battlefield on 10th July, 1916 and on 14th July moved forward through Becordel-Becourt to Meaulte. The following day moved to positions in Caterpillar Valley where the Brigade HQ was in a strong dug-out on the Montaban road and the forward observation posts were in old German second line trenches on top of the ridge line in front of the batteries. On 21st July, 33rd Division was relieved by 51st Division but as was often the case the divisional artillery remained in place. At 9.30am on 27th July, while still in these positions, a 15cm shell landed in a large pit behind B Battery, where breakfasts were being cooked. In the resulting explosion four men were killed, one of them being Edward Bassett.