Exploring The WW1 Somme Battlefields in France

The first day of the Battle of the Somme, is often considered one of the bloodiest days in the history of the British Army with approximately 57,000 British casualties including over 19,000 deaths.

On July 1st, 1916, The British launched a massive offensive, with soldiers advancing across no man's land into heavy enemy fire. With a few exceptions, the attack is said to have been a failure and the offensive developed into a series of major battles that ended with the onset of winter and exhaustion of troops in November 1916.

This is part two of a series exploring the WW1 sites on the Western Front and I start my visit to the Somme WW1 battlefields in France by visiting the Lochnagar Crater. While in the Somme, I also discover the grave of another possible family member who died here in 1916.

Thank you to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Lochnagar Crater for their assistance in the production of this film.

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If we haven't met before... Hi, I'm Ruth 👋 and I recently bought a campervan to travel my home country of Scotland after living overseas for 12 years. I’ve hardly seen anything or been anywhere in Scotland and now is the time to change that!

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00:00 - Battle Of The Somme
01:16 - Lochnagar Crater
03:32 - Thiepval Memorial
07:55 - The Ulster Memorial
10:09 - Connaught Cemetery
13:06 - Mill Road Cemetery
16:33 - Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
17:29 - Looking For A Family Grave
19:36 - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Visitor Center

[johncarman]

I visited the memorial at Thiepval along with many others during a trip to the Somme in 1999. I do not believe I've ever been moved so much when I turned the corner from the visitors car park and the huge structure came into view..

[veterangunner]

The headstones at Mill Road are laid flat because the cemetery is built over the Schwaben Redoubt, which was a strongpoint consisting of very extensive underground works with several entrances and lots of tunnels. Not all the stones are laid flat - just those above an area which suffers from a lot of subsidence.

[PatrickMcTaggart-ut]

Thank you Ruth my grand father McTaggart fought IN WW1 he was one of the lucky ones who survived. Still have his metals.

[patsy]

This is great Ruth. Thank you - it’s nice to hear a fellow Scotswoman’s voice speaking about these sad losses. Yes, there was a fee that families had to pay for the gravestone inscriptions. It was threepence ha’penny (3.5 pennies) in old money or 1.5 new pence. So if the full 66 letters were used it would cost nearly £1 (£76 in today’s value). My granny said it was pitiful seeing widows and mothers struggling to raise the money. She helped her neighbours, in a poor part of Glasgow, to apply to the council, churches, charities and ex-employers for help in paying the bill. Such was the public outcry (this was during the years of the interwar Depression) that the fee was dropped or the debt not pursued. Her older brother was killed at Gallipoli and has no known grave.

[stephenchild]

The Ulster Memorial Tower is designed to replicate Helen’s Tower in Clandeboye Estate in Co. Down. Many of the soldiers of the 36th (Ulster) Division trained in the Clandeboye Estate and the tower, high on the hill, would have been a familiar sight to them. A service of remembrance is held there every year on the 1st of July.

[RedStickHistorian]

What a powerful and moving series of videos. Thank you so much for bringing these stories of sacrifice to life for us, your ancestors would be proud.

[Amzyk]

I had no idea the Common Wealth War Graves Commission had a information centre! Very interesting to see how much work goes into preserving all of the cemeteries. Great video!

[camperp]

As a coach driver in the 90, s i have visited nearly all WW1 cemetries, bit I must say, lochnagar crater is the place that really hits you, you just cannot imagine the horror that both sides went through.
Always remember NEVER forget 🌹😔
A fantastic no2 video ruth, i must admit i had tears in my eyes on this one, one of my relatives is buried at thiepval cemetry, looking forward to the next one.

[jimhunter]

Absolutely brilliant, I have visited the Somme nine times on my motorcycle from Northern Ireland, after watching this I have to go back and do the Commonwealth War Graves Tour, I didn't know about it. Looking forward to your Belgium video, my Great Uncle is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetry, Cpl RJ Hunter. Thank you so much.

[Mattie]

Just stumbled across this as I am an avid history person who is deeply into ww1 & ww2. Iv been myself to the somme where my great great uncals cousin is upon the many names there. My great great uncal is buried just outside Ypres passing as a 18 year old, visiting on a regular basis with family members who have now passed on. Fantastic video, and thank you.

[ArrivaAzazello]

I think it is also important to stress that aside from volunteers, most of the soldiers were civilians, just like us, forced into war. Penalty for desertion could be capital punishment. Thank you for reminding us about the importance of visiting these graves

[amanitamuscaria]

I learnt most about it via my sons' gcse poets. I had no idea of the extent of the upkeep. this is very valuable knowledge Ruth. This is invaluable work. All that loss. All for what? God love them all. Keep on rockin' girl.

[jamesmillers-rr]

This is a great video and even that the age of 78 has given me so much more knowledge especially the section of the Workshops of the Commonwealth Graves Commission, i think this should be shown on National TV around the time of the Remembrance Day

[danheily]

Ruth;
Thank you for taking me to intersting places and showing me novel things.
I had to fight back tears when you went to the Great War cemetaries.
I am heartsick for the women who never were able to have husbands and children.
I am haunted by the children who were never born.
Woodrow Wilson exacerbated both the war and the peace.
FYI, I am in your grandfathers generation.
Keep up the good work
Dan

[Kim-J]

After my grandfather passed away I found all his little keepsakes he had from WW2. Hand warmers that used fuel and Swiss army knife, ect I treasure them ❤

[howitzer]

Ruth, you did a magnificent job. So much I did not know about this subject. Thank you.

[colmgeraghty]

Very moved. Thankfully, to my knowledge, our family had no loss during WW1/WW11. Even as a 10 year old, seeing the Normandy graveyards had an effect on me. 40 years later, the sacrifice those young people made hasn't diminished. We are still living in an era, sadly, where good people are being sacrificed for the vanity of the ruling classes.
Thank you for reminding us all of what these people went through/ died for

[patsy]

The best book to read about the WW1 graves is David Crane’s “Empires of the Dead”. It describes how Sir Fabian Ware, a Quaker, had the vision to set up the War Graves Commission so that all the war dead would be buried equally near where they fell instead of officers’ bodies being brought home and other ranks being in mass unmarked graves as happened in previous wars.

[jbattenberg]

May God grant eternal Peace to your relatives and all those who lost their lives. Thank you for sharing such unique content. ❤

[jimcummings]

Thank you for this one Ruth. Coming from Northern Ireland I can say that the Battle of the Somme is still commemorated every year by some members of our community. I thought you handled the fact that some from the other provinces of Ireland took part in this war which was not a popular choice in those provinces. It is a delicate subject over here. The thing to remember though is the fact that so many from all walks of life made the ultimate sacrifice. Beautiful video.