Current Information:

Born-Wanstead

Mesnil Communal Cemetery, Somme

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

By the beginning of October, 1916,  the Battle of the Somme had been raging for three months. Thousands of men had already been killed or wounded or were simply missing, never to be seen again and and just a few square miles of the French countryside, all in the southern part of the battlefield, had been captured from the enemy. Mistakes had been made by the various commanders and would be continued to be made but there was no turning back as the British, Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders and Canadians carried on battering away at the German defences in the hope of a breakthrough, 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 more 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.  

On 6th October, 1916, the 14th Hampshire battalion of 116 Brigade, 39th Division, were relieved from the front line in the Auchonvillers sector in the northern part of the Somme battlefield. They had been very active during the sixteen days spent in these trenches, trying to divert German attention from the main fighting taking place to their south. Trench mortars and rifle grenades had been used freely and the enemy had replied in kind. Arthur Blogg was killed in action on 6th October, possibly during the actual relief which was always a time of increased activity.