Somme Battle Stories

Somme Battle StoriesAlec John DAWSON (1872 - 1951)Stories of World War I warfare published in 1916 in the midst of the war. (That''s why names of persons and units are literally blanked out.) Alec John Dawson (1872 - 1951) generally known as A. J. Dawson (pseudonyms Major Dawson Howard Kerr Nicholas Freydon) was an English author traveller and novelist. During World War I he attained the rank of Major and was awarded the MBE and Croix de Guerre in recognition of his work as a military propagandist a work the listener may want to keep in mind. (Terminology Boche means the Germans singular or plural; Blighty means hospitalization in England; The Push means fighting in the Somme offensive.)The Battle of the Somme ( Bataille de la Somme Schlacht an der Somme) also known as the Somme Offensive was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on either side of the River Somme in France. The battle was one of the largest of World War I in which more than 1000000 men were wounded or killed making it one of humanity''s bloodiest battles.... 1 July 1916 was also the worst day in the history of British Army which had c. 60000 casualties... The British Army on the Somme was a mixture of the remains of the pre-war regular army Territorial Force and the Kitchener Army which was composed of Pals battalions recruited from the same places and occupations whose losses had a profound social impact in Britain.... The Battle of the Somme has been called the beginning of modern all-arms warfare during which Kitchener''s Army learned to fight the mass-industrial war which the continental armies had been engaged in for two years. This view sees the British contribution to the battle as part of a coalition war and part of a process which took the strategic initiative from the German Army and caused it irreparable damage leading to its collapse in late 1918. (Wikipedia Battle Of The Somme) ( Wikipedia and david wales)