Somme related items

[Tony]

William, I’ll echo the above. That really is a very nice find. 

A year or so ago I only found out that a great great uncle of mine was killed in Princes St. during the fighting on 19/7/16.

[AlecH]

First day of the Somme battle card - "The glorious First of July 1916 - Our first prisoners" English Daily Mail Battle Pictures postcard (maybe staged) shows German soldiers coming in. The reverse has a printed paragraph "a great flow of German prisoners into the British camps began immediately with the Great Advance, and the picture shows the first batch marching in". Propaganda card gone badly wrong, more considering the casualties the British suffered on that day.

[AlecH]

French Soldiers picking their way through the Somme Battlefield

[William1]

On 29/01/2017 at 18:07, Chris Boonzaier said:

Ooooohhh... nice, strong South African connection for Delville wood, which Bavarian unit?

I've just noticed that I never answered your question, Chris. The bayonet is marked to the 4th Regiment, the scabbard to the 19th.

I have a couple of other Somme-related items - a Vigilant pocket periscope named to a private in the 2nd A&SH dow Sept 1916, and a pocket diary to a stretcher bearer in the Sheffield Pals who was KIA on 1st July 1916 at Serre. Both packed away and no photos handy. Also this 1st pattern British steel helmet which isn't provenanced but is the type worn during the Somme battle with the typical green paint finish.

 

[Tony]

Shame there aren't any photos of the diary and bayonet periscope to hand but that 1st pattern Brodie is a cracker. Has the chinstrap been replaced with a sliding buckle or is the prong just not visible in you photo?

[William1]

Hi Tony

I'll have to see if I can find those two items. I have rather more stuff than I ought to (!) and it sometimes takes me a while to locate things.

The Brodie has the pronged buckle, it's just not showing as you correctly surmise.

Another Somme-related piece. This 16th Londons jacket was issued to Private Rowley in August 1916 - you can just about make out 8 16 going across his service number on the pocket. He joined his unit on 7 July 1916, just missing the 56th Division's disastrous Gommecourt attack, and was invalided home in April 1917. The Division remained on the Somme until the autumn and took part in several more battles. I'm guessing my man was a HQ clerk or something like that, as I can see no other way for the jacket to survive.

Cheers, W.

Edited March 5, 2018 by William1

[peter monahan]

Perhaps the tunic went with him when he was invalided home.  And mustered out?

The liner on the Brodie is interesting.  Not a style I recognize but my knowledge is a little sketchy on these.  The one I've seen [and wear on occasion] has 'netting' of a sort, a fibre pad in the crown of the helmet and two loops through which the strap passes.  But perhaps that's a latter pattern liner?

[ColinRF]

Nice to see that helmet! Seems I got the apple green colour of the Somme brodie right on the model bust I did of my great uncle (see my avatar). 

My Great uncle George was in the 19th LF (3rd Salford Pals) in the July 1 attack on the Leipzig Redoubt and Granatloch. I was given his last letter describing the attack by a descendent of the recipient a few years ago. So it was fascinating to see these interesting posts relating to the view from the other side of the hill in this area of the Somme battlefield.

I have read and reread the 3rd Salford war diary for July 1. It has to be one of the more detailed reports of action that day.....written by battalion intelligence officer Lt. Geoffrey Bache Smith (one of JRR Tolkein's best friends). The first day attack is described in varying detail in three separate reports in the war diary. Great map included too. 

I just wish the Luftwaffe hadn't destroyed his file in the blitz. 

Colin

[William1]

Colin

I saw your post and blog on your Great Uncle. A fine job of work there. Also I am very impressed with the detail on your model and it looks indeed like you got the helmet paint spot on!

Peter

The liner in the helmet I posted is the first pattern of British helmet liner, produced from late 1915 to sometime around (I think) May 1916. All front line troops had helmets by then and presumably stocks had been built up so the next type of liner didn't start making an appearance on the battlefield until around autumn 1916.

Best, W.

 

[Harry the Mole]

The only item I have which can be categorically linked to the battle of the Somme is a kodak pocket camera, once the property of Private Harold Tookey. A few years ago I did a 'blog' for Helion publishing. I trust that no-one minds me attaching it to this post, and I hope you find it of interest.

Cheers,

Steve

Private Harold Tookey.docx

[Tony]

Thanks for adding that Steve.

[Harry the Mole]

If the option to 'Enable Editing' appears on the top of the document, press on it and the doc will appear in it's proper form.

Cheers,

               Steve.