War Diaries Talk

Battle of Falfemont Farm, Guillemont 3/9/16

  • Andymacn48 by Andymacn48

    Just reading an account of an attack on a German stronghold - Falfemont Farm (Battle of the Somme) on 3/9/16 by 2nd Battalion KOSB and what a waste of life. The French were supposed to bombard the farm all the previous day but did not. The troops were to leave the departure trench under the cover of a creeping barrage but this did not happen. So they crossed the 500 yards of 'no man's land' under the heaviest of machine gun fire and were practically wiped out! Why would someone give an order to proceed without two vital parts of the attack plan and not see the result?

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  • Andymacn48 by Andymacn48

    The following is a quote from Lieutenant .Colonel P. Stevenson, Commander of the 2nd Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB), after the attack on Falfemont Farm, Guillemont (Battle of the Somme) on 3rd September 1916.
    99 of his men were killed, 140 wounded and 55 missing.
    "I don't think any men of any regiment would have gone to entertain death the way ours did - having seen as they did the failure of both preliminary bombardment and creeping barrage - their foremost dead lay almost on the fireman parapet. The .....ful thing about it in that they all new when they went over that this would happen and not a man flinched - so far as I could see - to command such men is an honour of which few among us are worthy".

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  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    Image AWD0003h4a The 6th Bn Connaught Rangers commemorated the first anniversary of Guillemont. Next year it will be the 100st anniversary.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I haven't seen this before, where a unit commemorates a battle earlier in the war, although I have seen where they remember battles from longer ago. Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I saw a few commemorating the battle of waterloo, but like Cynthia I've not come across this before.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I've found a comment in the 8th Royal Dublin Fusiliers for 9 September 1917, that Major General Hickie, commander of the 16th Division, came to inspect the 48th Infantry Brigade on the anniversary of the battle at Ginchy.

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