June
The final month before the opening of the battle began with great business
and efficiency when on 1 June the 108th and 109th Brigades were taken
from the line for a few days of special training at Clairefaye, leaving
the 107th Brigade to man the line.
On 5 June the Mid Antrim Volunteers moved again to the front to undertake
a raid on the German lines; north of the Ancre. An artillery barrage was
laid down and the Ulstermen moved up to the wire, broke through and raided
the German trench that ran parallel with the main railway line just north
of the river. Dugouts were bombed, an officer shot and two tunnels leading
towards the British lines were discovered and blown up. The pre-raid shelling
had seemed to do a thorough job and the dangerous assumption was made
that under the intense bombardment planned for the few days before the
Battle commenced, the entire German front would be similarly smashed up.
But the trench destroyed in this raid was not nearly so well fortified
as most of the German line, lacking deep bunkers and machine-gun nests,
and it was not a good example from which to generalise.
Firing rifle grenades. Cup dischargers are attached to
muzzles of SMLE rifles
(which can be done without removal of bayonet). Soldier has his rifle
angled.
[Footage
© the Imperial War Museum]
Five nights later on Saturday 10 June the Germans paid a visit to the
British trenches, in a sector being held by the North Belfast Volunteers,
and after a few moments of hand-to-hand fighting the raiders were expelled
from the Ulster trenches. However it took several days of hard work to
repair the battered line.
On 12 June the YCV were sent along with the rest of their brigade to Aveluy
Wood to help the Pioneers with preparation work for the offensive - such
as arduous task as carrying ammunition to new gun positions. Other Battalions
had to help construct gun-pits and erect shelters for the regiment of
French field artillery who had joined the Ulstermen’s ranks.
On 15 June the South Antrim Volunteers joined the Armagh men bivouacking
in Martinsart Wood. Working parties were sent down to Thiepval Wood to
help dig assembly trenches, and a considerable number of men were wounded
by German shells in the process. Meanwhile the war diarist of the YCVs
also recorded ‘everyone working at high pressure on the digging
of assembly trenches. Everyone looking forward to the Great day’.
He wrote on 16 June despite the fact that the YCVs, along with the 10,000
or so other troops sleeping in Aveluy Wood, encountered, each night, enemy
machine-gun fire playing through the trees and high-explosive shells bursting
overhead.
On June 19 the preliminary attack orders for the YCVs came through and
were read to all the officers. On the following day, final attack orders
were given to the Battalion and tools and stores were placed carefully
in assembly trenches. The same day the NCOs of the South Antrim Battalion
were given a last pep talk and enjoyed a final concert in D company mess.
On FRiday 23 June after a warm day, heavy rain began to fall and made
things most unpleasant for the men. By the end of Friday the Infantry
who were to occupy the front-line positions during the bombardment were
in place - the Tyrone Volunteers and the South Antrim Volunteers in the
Thiepval Wood Sector, and the Armagh Volunteers in the Hamel trenches.
These troops would have hell to endure under increasingly furious German
shelling.
Then on Saturday 24 June the British bombardment started. The final violent
prelude to the big push had begun........
View
and sign Guestbook
South Belfast Friends of the Somme Association and its
website belfastsomme.com do not necessarily agree with all comments and
statements made in the guest book, and cannot be held responsible for
the content of external links placed on the guestbook. The guestbook is
moderated and IP address recorded, so any vulgar, sectarian, degrading,
raciast or bigoted comments will be removed and the violaters Internet
Service Provider informed.
