The Newfoundlanders , Beaumont Hamel

This is another of those sites on the current Somme that give a hint of what it may have been like. The site was bought after the war by the regimental chaplain and he influenced keeping it 'preserved' as it was then. Therefore you can clearly see the trench lines, the pock-marked terrain of shell holes and how narrow no-mans land was.

 

This is the view from the British side using the elevation of the 'Caribou' monument to see the whole site. The German front line was between the two clumps of trees on the left and the ones of the right. At their closest point, less than 200m. At the widest no more than 500m.

This is one of the communication trenches leading up to the front line - in this section they all had names based on London streets. This is Marylebone Road.

 

 

This is the 'Wellington trench' . On July 1st this did not exist - it was build after the battle. It is about mid-way into no-mans land.

This is the German front line - Y-Ravine. It was partly a natural feature that they extended to an quite staggering degree.

 

The 'Caribou' monument. One of several at various WW1 sites.

 

 

The site is preserved because on July 1st the Newfoundlanders 1st Battalion stood up and walked across the narrow strip of no-man's land and lost 684 men or 70% of the full strength in less than 30 mins. All of the officers were either killed or wounded.

 

I found this site one of the most disturbing visited. I'm not sure exactly why - many of the other sites had more names or headstones or scale of loss to commemorate. It may be to do with the preservation and the smallness of the site. You can walk around the whole thing in a few minutes. Maybe that puts the loss into some sort of perspective that you can handle as a human.