by Robin Prior
14. 23 Division, ‘Report on Operations – October 1916’, 23 Division War Diary Oct. 1916.
15. Comments by du Cane on 41 Division Reasons for Failure on 7/10/16, in XV Corps War Diary Oct. 1916, WO 95/922.
16. 3 Canadian Division, ‘Narrative of Operations from 3rd October to 11th October, 1916’, 3 Canadian Division War Diary Oct. 1916, WO 95/3837.
17. Ibid.
18. Haig Diary 8/10/16.
19. Fourth Army Summary of Operations, 7 Oct., 1916, Fourth Army War Diary, Fourth Army Papers V4, IWM.
20. 30 Division, ‘Report on Operations 30 Division: October 1916’, 30 Division War Diary Oct. 1916, WO 95/2311.
21. Ibid.
22. 4 Division, ‘Narrative 12/10/16^ 4 Division War Diary Oct. 1916,WO 95/1445.
23. See their respective war diaries for 12/10/16 in WO 95/1445, WO 95/1610, and WO 95/1858.
24. Royal Irish Fusiliers War Diary 12/10/16, WO 95/1482.
25. Ibid.
26. Rawlinson Diary 12/10/16, Churchill College, Cambridge.
27. Report of a conference at Heilly 13/10/16, AWM 26/6/41/46.
28. Fourth Army Document 299/48(G), 12/10/16, in AWM 26/6/41/46.
29. Rawlinson Diary 13/10/16; Conference at Heilly 13/10/16.
30. Haig Diary 14/10/16.
31. Miles, 1916 V2, p. 443, n.1.
32. Rawlinson Diary 6/10/16.
33. Ibid.
34. Haig to Robertson 7/10/16, WO 158/21 (Commander-in-Chief, CIGS, Secretary of State for War Correspondence).
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. See 4 Division ‘Narrative 18/10/16’ in 4 Division War Diary 18/10/16; Rawlinson in his diary for 13/10/16 is commenting that the state of the ground did not allow an extension of his light rail system to bring shells to the front.
38. 1 East Lancashire War Diary 18/10/16, WO 95/1498.
39. Ibid.
40. Miles, 1916 V2, pp. 457–8.
41. G.P. MacClellan to Edmonds, 15/10/1936, CAB 45/134.
42. Haig to Gough and Rawlinson 18/10/16 (OAD 182), AWM 26/6/105/35.
43. Fourth Army Conference 18/10/16 in Fourth Army Papers V6, IWM.
44. 4 Division ‘Narrative 23/10/16’, 4th Division War Diary Oct. 1916; 8th Division ‘Report on Operations Octr. 19th–30th 1916’, in 8 Division War Diary Oct. 1916, WO 95/1675.
45. 25 Brigade ‘Report on Operations Octr. 19th–30th 1916’, 25 Brigade War Diary Oct. 1916, WO 95/1675.
46. Captain R.O. Russell, The History of the 11th (Lewisham) Battalion, The Queen's Own, Royal West Kent Regiment (London: Lewisham Newspaper Co., 1934), p. 78.
47. ‘Report by Major Gort 3/11/16’, AWM 45, Bundle 31.
48. Lt.-Col. J. H. Boraston and Captain Cyril E.O. Bax, The Eighth Division in War, 1914–1918 (London: Medici Society, 1926), pp. 87–8.
49. C. E. Hudson to Edmonds 28/2/36, CAB 45/134.
50. Ibid.
51. Haig Diary 22/10/16.
52. Cavan to Rawlinson 3/11/16, AWM 45, Bundle 31.
53. Haig to Rawlinson (OAD 205). This is an untitled, undated document summarising letters relating to the attack on 5 November in Fourth Army Papers V5, IWM.
54. Rawlinson Diary 3/11/16.
55. Cavan to Edmonds 9/4/36, CAB 45/132.
56. Haig to Rawlinson (OAD 205).
57. Ibid.
58. Bean, Australian Official History, p. 915.
25 ‘We Must Keep Going!’
1. Asquith's report and the subsequent discussion are taken from the War Committee Minutes 12/9/16, CAB 42/19/6.
2. War Committee Minutes 18/9/16, CAB 42/20/3.
3. Robertson's remarks and the subsequent discussion are taken from the War Committee Minutes of 12/9/16, CAB 42/19/6.
4. Robertson to Haig 7/9/16 quoted in David R. Woodward (ed.), Military Correspondence of Field Marshal Sir William Robertson: Chief of the Imperial General Staff, December 1915–1918, p. 85.
5. War Committee Minutes 9/10/16, CAB 42/21/3.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Hankey Diary 12/10/16, Churchill College, Cambridge.
10. The correspondence between Robertson and Lloyd George is to be found in Woodward (ed.), Correspondence of Sir William Robertson, pp. 90–6.
11. War Committee Minutes 24/10/16, CAB 42/2/5.
12. See the War Committee Minutes 9/10/16, CAB 42/21/3.
26 The Political Battle
1. 25 Division, ‘Somme Battle’, AWM 26/6/48/43.
2. Ibid.
3. 16 Sherwood Foresters War Diary 9/10/16, WO 95/2587.
4. 4/5 Black Watch, ‘An account of the action at the Schwaben Redoubt’ 14/10/16, 4/5 Black Watch War Diary Oct. 1916, WO 95/2591.
5. ‘Operations of the 1/1st, The Cambridgeshire Regiment 14th–16th October 1916’ 1/1 Cambridgeshire War Diary Oct. 1916, WO 95/2590.
6. 25 Division, ‘Somme Battle’.
7. Ibid.
8. Reserve Army Operation Order No. 32, 15/10/16, AWM 252/A112.
9. Ibid.
10. Haig to Rawlinson and Gough (OAD 182), 18/10/16, AWM 26/6/105/35.
11. Reserve Army Operation Order No. 33, 21/10/16, WO 158/256.
12. Haig to Gough 24/10/16 (OAD 187), WO 158/256.
13. For the weather conditions at the front see Haig's diary, National Library of Scotland, or the very useful chronology in Gliddon, The Battle of the Somme, pp. 415–24.
14. Haig to Gough 3/11/16 (OAD 199), WO 158/246.
15. Haig to Gough 5/11/16 (OAD 207), WO 158/246.
16. ‘Memorandum on Operations’ by Neil Malcolm 13/11/16, WO 158/256.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Haig Diary 12/11/16.
20. Ibid.
21. ‘Report on Machine Gun Work during recent operations at Beaumont Hamel’, 51 Division War Diary, WO 95/2845.
22. 51 Division Operation Orders 22/10/16, ibid.
23. ‘Report of Operations of XIII Corps for Week ending 6 p. m. 17.11.16’, XIII Corps War Diary Nov. 1916, WO 95/896; George Lindsay (3 Division) to Edmonds 25/1/37, CAB 45/134.
24. 2 Royal Sussex, ‘Report on Operations November 13th’, 2 Royal Sussex War Diary Nov. 1916, WO 95/1437.
25. See 1 King's and 17 Middlesex War Diaries for 13 Nov., 1916 in WO 95/1359 and WO 95/1361 respectively.
26. Miles, 1916 V2, p. 492.
27. Ibid.
28. 51 Division, ‘Report on Operations of November 13th–15th Including the Capture of Beaumont Hamel’, 51 Division War Diary Nov. 1916.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. V Corps ‘Summary of Operations, November 11th–17th, 1916, V Corps War Diary, Nov. 1916, WO 95/747.
32. Martin Middlebrook, Your Country Needs You (Barnsley: Leo Cooper, 2000), pp. 37–8.
33. 63 Division, untitled narrative, 63 Division War Diary Nov. 1916, WO 95/3093.
34. 4/5 Black Watch War Diary 13/11/16, WO 95/2591.
35. 39 Division, ‘Report on the Battle of the Ancre: 13th November 1916’, 39 Division War Diary Nov. 1916, WO 95/2565.
36. Miles, 1916 V2, pp. 504–8.
37. Haig Diary 15/11/16.
38. Note by CGS (Kiggell) OAD 279, 17/11/16, WO 158/246.
39. Ibid.
40. Haig Diary 16/11/16.
41. Note by CGS 17/11/16.
42. V Corps ‘Summary of Operations 18th–25th November, 1916, V Corps War Diary, Nov. 1916.
43. II Corps Operations 19/10–1/12 1916, II Corps War Diary, Nov. 1916, WO 95/638.
44. Miles, 1916 V2, pp. 414–22.
45. L. W. Kentish to Edmonds 19/11/36, CAB 45/135.
46. Rawlinson to GHQ 7/11/16, Fourth Army Papers V5, IWM.
27 Reflections on the British at the Somme
1. Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis 1916–1918, Part 1 (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1927), Table B, facing p. 52.
2. Great Britain, War Office Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire, 1914
–1920, (London: War Office, 1922).
28 Epilogue
1. All quotations in this chapter are drawn from the War Committee Minutes of 3/11/16, CAB 42/22/13.
2. Frances Stevenson's Diary, 12/1/7, quoted in Lloyd George: A Diary by Frances Stevenson (London: Hutchinson, 1971), p. 139.
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—— Three Years with the 9th (Scottish) Division (London: Murray, 1919)
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