| The Battle of the Somme
On 24th June 1916 the preparatory bombardment began from 1010 field
guns, 427 heavy guns and 100 French guns.
At 0730 on July 1st the whistles blew of platoon commanders along the
25 mile front; 17 divisions rose out of their trenches. The troops
advanced in extended lines with the men at approx 3 yard intervals -
into waiting machine gun posts; they were literally mown down.
There were approx. 57,400 casualties of which 20,000 were killed
outright.
The battle of the Somme lasted until November. There were approx.
630,000 allied casualties - less than the number of German casualties.
The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers lost 2,208, more than any British
regiment has ever suffered in a single day of action.
There were Territorial battalions involved, including:
9th Volunteer (Highlanders) Battalion
The Royal Scots ( The Royal Regiment )
8th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion
The West Yorkshire Regiment ( The Prince of Wales's Own)
4th Battalion
The East Yorkshire Regiment ( The Duke of York's Own)
4th Battalion
The Royal Leicestershire Regiment
4th Battalion
The Green Howards ( Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment)
7th Battalion
The Worcestershire Regiment
4th Battalion
The South Lancashire Regiment(The Prince of Wales's Volunteers)
The Buckinghamshire Battalion
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
4th Battalion
The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)
The Shetland Companies
The Gordon Highlanders
1st Battalion
The Cambridgeshire Regiment
South Irish Horse
The London Irish
The Tyneside Irish
This list is not comprehensive, I have more details on some units than
others. No sleight is intended to the unnamed Regiments.
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