Somme

Mr. Gies recalls arriving at the front line and remaining static for the first month. After a German breakthrough at the Somme, his unit is sent to help repel them. In the ensuing action, four-fifths of his unit are either killed or wounded.

Mr. Stevenson describes how his corporal’s instinct saved their lives during a barrage, and burying the dead in shell holes as part of a burial party.

Mr. Stevenson describes the mule driven limber, a wheeled vehicle used to transport artillery to and from the front. He describes a shelling incident and its impact on the mules

Mr. Copp describes the effects of fatigue depleting his Company’s ranks during a forced march to Mametz after five days in action at the Somme.

Mr. Vale describes the method used to establish ammunition dumps in the front lines by way of narrow gauge rail lines, their vulnerability to being bombed, and his role as a machine gunner in protecting unarmed ammunition details.

Mr. Conrad offers some general comments about the death toll at the Somme, the horrible conditions at Passchendaele, and concludes by describing in more specific detail his own living conditions.