In this year, humanity is commemorating one of humanity's grossest acts of inhumanity against humanity: the First World War. I do not refer to it with the prefix of 'Great' as how is it at all possible to use such a word in the context of that war. An oxymoron conjured up, surely, by a moron.
The map below passed through my hands. It is approximately where my grandfather was at the end of June 1916, as the allied forces prepared to launch the attack that would deteriorate into the Battle of The Somme. It is a map that I suspect he drew but cannot say whether it was the plan before or a map drawn from memory after the event.
The map shows an area north of Albert and the Somme river. The pretty patchwork of irregular shapes is the German trench system. The map is actually facing east and so the British frontline is heading south as it exits the map on the right.
Huge numbers of troops in numerous battalions that made up the brigades stood in wait for the whistle at 7.20 am on July 1st. My grandfather was in the 1/8th Royal Warwickshires, whose target that morning was an area to the south west of Serre known as the Quadrilateral or Heidenkoph, a German stronghold - where the dash-dot line meets the trench system. My autumn trip to France will be to stand as best I can on the two xs marked on the British front-line. Don't ask why - it is just a thing I seem to have to do. Unfortunately, the xs are out in the pastures that returned to cover the horrors of that day. However, I will not try traipsing across farmland to follow the dash-dot line.
Needless to say, it all went bandy on the day and the x at the bottom of the dash-dot line is now the biggest cemetery in the Somme.
No comments:
Post a Comment