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Born-Pimlico

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

By the beginning of August the Battle of the Somme had been raging for a full month. 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.

Between 22nd and 26th August, 20th Royal Fusiliers of 19 Brigade, 33rd Division  were in the front line to the right of High Wood and on 24th August  they were in reserve to the attack by 100 Brigade on the enemy lines between Wood Lane and the Flers Road. On 26th August they moved back to Mametz Wood. Francis Wood was killed on 25th August, probably as a result of shell fire which was very heavy at the time.