Answer sheet - The Newfoundland Regiment and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel fact quest

1. What date is known as Memorial Day in Newfoundland and Labrador?
   
   July 1^st
2. Approximately how many Newfoundlanders joined up to serve during the First World War?
   
   From a total population of about 240,000, more than 12,000 Newfoundlanders would join up during the war and almost as many would try, but be rejected for service.
3. Why would the men of the Newfoundland Regiment become known as the "Blue Puttees"?
   
   They would become known as the "Blue Puttees" due to the colour of the uniform leggings they wore on their lower legs.
4. Where did the Newfoundland Regiment see action prior to being sent to the Western Front?
   
   After seeing action in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey in late 1915, the regiment was withdrawn and the Newfoundlanders sent to the Western Front in France in the spring of 1916.
5. What region of the Western Front was chosen for a joint French and British assault? What was the name of the village close to where the Newfoundland Regiment would enter the action?
   
   The Somme was chosen as the site for a joint French and British assault. It would be on the first day of the Battle of the Somme—near the village of Beaumont-Hamel in northern France—that the Newfoundland Regiment would enter the action.
6. True or False: The British and French troops attacked the Germans by surprise at night to open the Battle of the Somme? Justify your answer.
   
   False. At 7:30 a.m., on July 1, thousands of British and French troops began their shoulder-to-shoulder advance across No Man's Land in broad daylight toward the German positions to open the Battle of the Somme. (…) The sector of the front in Beaumont-Hamel where the Newfoundland Regiment would see action was supposed to be taken by surprise, but the Germans knew the attack was coming.
7. Why did the Newfoundland Regiment begin their attack from the St. John’s Road support trench, located behind their own front line?
   
   They attacked from this trench, which was actually behind the front line, because of the sheer number of soldiers of whom some had been killed or wounded in other attacks and now clogged the front trenches.
8. What obstacles did the Newfoundland Regiment have to overcome before reaching the enemy trenches?
   
   The Newfoundlanders had to traverse more than 200 metres in full view of the enemy before they even made it to the Allies' own front line. Once they made it to No Man's Land, they were then expected to cross through tangles of shattered barbed wire to reach the enemy trenches, more than 500 metres down the slope.
9. About halfway in No Man’s Land, between allied and German trenches, there was a gnarled tree. Find reasons why the Newfoundlanders nicknamed it the “danger tree”?
   
   The tree halfway down the slope marked the spot where German fire seemed to become particularly intense. It marked the spot where many of them would fall that morning.
10. Out of about 800 Newfoundlanders who took part in the attack on July 1, 1916, how many were able to answer the roll call the next day? How many were casualties (dead, wounded, missing)?
    
    Of the 800 Newfoundlanders who went into battle that morning, only 68 were able to answer the roll call the next day, and more than 700 would be killed, wounded or go missing in the fighting.