Circumstances Leading to Death - Courtesy of Historic UK          

To maintain discipline the British divisions had been ordered to walk slowly towards the German lines, this allowed the Germans ample time to reach their defensive positions. And as they took their positions, so the German machine gunners started their deadly sweep, and the slaughter began. A few units did manage to reach the German trenches, not however in sufficient numbers, and they were quickly driven back.

This was the first taste of battle for Britain’s new volunteer armies, who had been persuaded to join-up by patriotic posters showing Lord Kitchener himself summoning the men to arms. Many ‘Pals’ Battalions went over the top that day; these battalions had been formed by men from the same town who had volunteered to serve together. They suffered catastrophic losses, whole units were annihilated; for weeks afterwards, local newspapers would be filled with lists of the dead and wounded.

Reports from the morning of 2nd July included the acknowledgment that “…the British attack had been brutally repulsed”, other reports gave snapshots of the carnage “…hundreds of dead were strung out like wreckage washed up to a high water-mark”, “…like fish caught in the net”, “…Some looked as if they were praying; they had died on their knees and the wire had prevented their fall”.

The British Army had suffered 60,000 casualties, with almost 20,000 dead: their largest single loss in one day. The killing was indiscriminate of race, religion and class with more than half of the officers involved losing their lives. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment of the Canadian Army was all but wiped out… out of the 680 men who went forward on that fateful day, only 68 were availble for roll call the following day.