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Age-21

7, Ashlake Road, Streatham

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

By the beginning of September, 1916,  the Battle of the Somme had been raging for two 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.

The Battle of Flers (15-22 September, 1916)

On 15th September, 1916, the offensive on the Somme was renewed with a full scale attack on the German third line of defences. Four Army Corps were used on a front that stretched from Combles, through the village of Flers and on to Courcelette.. The artillery barrage that preceded this attack was more concentrated than that on 1st July and the attack itself was more successful. The villages of Flers, Martinpuich and Courcelette were captured and the enemy was finally pushed out of High Wood, but the breakthrough was not achieved and the reality was that when the battle ended on 22nd September, the front line had just been moved forward a mile or so. The battle is notable for being the first time that tanks were used.

At 6.20am on 15th September, 1916, the Canadian Corps attacked on the left of the British front towards Courcelette. On the right the 2nd Canadian Division moved forward behind a good protective artillery barrage, with the 18th Battalion, 20th Battalion and 21st Battalion, all of 4 Brigade, in front. Within fifteen minutes the German front line had been cleared and by 7.20am they had reached Factory Lane where they cleared the Sugar Factory and the deep dugout beneath it. At 9.20am, after a further barrage, they reached the southern edge of Courcelette where they repelled counter attacks and consolidated their new positions. There were of course casualties, one of whom was Reginald Hickman of 20th Battalion.