First day of the Somme

by Andrew Macdonald

  § 1/5th Battalion (Territorial Force) South Staffordshire Regiment. 137th Brigade states 186 casualties (17 k, 112 w and 57 m). SDGW notes 49 deaths.

  ¶ 1/5th Battalion (Territorial Force) Lincolnshire Regiment. SDGW notes 1 death.

  * 1/5th Battalion (Territorial Force) Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment). 139th Brigade states 432 casualties (33 k, 153 w and 246 m). SDGW notes 195 deaths.

  † 1/7th (Robin Hood) Battalion (Territorial Force) Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment). 139th Brigade states 463 casualties (35 k, 237 w and 191 m). SDGW notes 199 deaths.

  ‡ 1/6th Battalion (Territorial Force) Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment). 139th Brigade states 154 casualties (17 k, 133 w and 4 m). SDGW notes 30 deaths.

  § 1/8th Battalion (Territorial Force) Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment). 139th Brigade states 46 casualties (1 k and 45 w). SDGW notes 7 deaths.

  * 1/5th Battalion (Territorial Force) Leicestershire Regiment. SDGW notes 13 deaths.

  * 1/4th Battalion (Territorial Force) Leicestershire Regiment. SDGW notes 1 death.

  * The figure of 19,240 dead on 1 July is higher than in CWGC (18,480 for France, refined for UK and Canadian forces, and adjusted for army, airforce and aliases) and SDGW (17,125 for France and Flanders) databases. Deductions for non-Somme fatalities and additions for soldiers who died in a period including 1 July only lower these numbers. Work on the official figures ended after six months for ‘reasons of economy,’ not because they were complete. It should not be presumed that the Official History’s 2152 missing soldiers were dead, or that the figures stated would have remained materially unchanged if work on them had continued to completion.