The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st July 1916 and lasted four and a half months. In that time the battle claimed over a million casualties, from both Allied and German Forces, which makes it one of the bloodiest battles in history. The stories from the Great War are still poignant today, and at the Royal Hospital several of the Chelsea Pensioners have relatives who fought in World War One.
Chelsea Pensioner Sam Cameron’s grandfather (pictured bottom left in the below image) fought at the Battle of the Somme but he didn’t breathe a word of it to his grandchildren. Sam only made the discovery when he began researching his family history when he moved to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. “I had been doing research on my family but it was all down the male line. One day I spoke to my cousin on the phone when she asked the question - what about my other granddad who fought in World War One? To which there was a stunned silence because never in my life time had it been mentioned that my grandfather fought at the Somme – not ever.”
Sam’s curiosity was ignited and he subsequently started making trips to the battleground to try and find more information on his grandfather who managed to survive the battle and served with the 36th Ulster Division. Although he had visited the Somme before, this new discovery interested him even more. He explained: “Having been to the territory of the Somme a few times, read up on it and spoken to a number of people; I can understand why my grandfather didn’t want to talk about his experiences. At that time a lot of soldiers who returned didn’t like to recall the horrors they witnessed, it wasn’t the done thing.”
“To actually be on the battle ground where he fought (pictured below) was both creepy and emotional. Walking in your grandfather’s footsteps 100 years later - it’s not something we do every day.” “What I discovered about him was that on the 1st July 1916 he went out as a Lance Corporal and on the 2nd July he went out as an acting Warrant Officer. What that actually tells us is that there were an awful lot of people who weren’t there anymore. My grandfather was one of the lucky ones who survived.”
The 36th Ulster Division were tasked with crossing a ridge and taking the German second line, and managed to achieve their objectives relatively quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately the divisions who flanked them at either side did not move as fast. “On the 1st July 1916 they were used to attack a German strong point - the Schwaben Redoubt and on the day they were just about the only people on the front to achieve their goal. Not only were they being fired on from the front, the people on either side hadn’t got as far forward so they were also being fired on by the side. After which the rolling barrage which the British had put down hadn’t kept pace so they were also being shelled by our own artillery.
Despite all of this they eventually took the strong point. Numerous runners were sent back to tell them ‘we have done this – if we get reenforcements we can hold it.’ The top brass decided against it, so not only did they have to fight their way out they had to fight their way back.”
The battle of the Somme is no longer in living memory - the last serving soldier from the First World War died in 2012. This does not make the testimonies that survive any less moving or less relevant today. As Sam says, “People still remember. In the Ulster psyche it’s a very, very important day [Battle of the Somme Centenary]. If you were to arrive in Northern Ireland on the first July and visited any [war] memorial there will undoubtedly be a ceremony.”
