The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Some raged from July 1 to November 13, 1916, and claimed a total of one million lives from all sides. On the first day alone, the British had suffered 60,000 casualties, of whom 20,000 were dead.
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Some raged from July 1 to November 13, 1916, and claimed a total of one million lives from all sides. On the first day alone, the British had suffered 60,000 casualties, of whom 20,000 were dead.
More than 300 Lincolnshire officers and men were killed on the first day. In the main attack were Lincoln soldiers of the 1st, 2nd and 8th Battalions, and the 10th Battalion 'Grimsby Chums', of the Lincolnshire Regiment.
On 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, the Grimsby Chums were in the first wave attacking the fortified village of La Boisselle. To aid their attack, a massive mine, known as the Lochnagar mine, was detonated beneath the German trenches at 7.28 am, two minutes before Zero hour. At 7.30 am, the Grimsby Chums rushed forward to occupy the crater. Here many were trapped for the rest of the day, harassed by both German and British artillery.
In total the Grimsby Chums suffered 502 casualties on 1 July; Only 2 of the officers came back unwounded, and only about 100 men.
The Grimsby Chums was a WW1 Pals battalion of Kitchener's Army raised in and around the town of Grimsby in Lincolnshire in 1914. When the battalion was taken over by the British Army it was officially named the 10th Battalion, The Lincolnshire Regiment. It was the only 'pals battalion' to be called 'chums'. Men also joined from neighbouring towns and villages such as Boston, Louth and Scunthorpe.