The British soldiers had no chance; they were shot as soon as the Germans got a glimpse of them, yet Haig still insisted to go on with the attack. As Haig insited, more soldiers died.
over 600,000 French and British died in the first 3 months, and no progress was happening on their side.
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| The diary and photographs of Private Walter Hutchinson, who fought in the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 |
Saturday July 1
As soon as we got on the road we saw an awful sight, for there was wounded men by hundreds coming from the line ... then the order came down, dump everything and fix bayonets, you have got to fight for it lads. We obeyed the order like men ... I know we had had a lot of lads wounded and I had not seen anything of Charley my pal since ... the morning.
Sunday July 2
I asked about my pal and they told me they was afraid he had been killed. But I went and lifted the oilsheet from over his face and found that it was Harold Beecher ... I was very sorry for we had been good chums from the day we arrived in France ...
Tuesday July 4 - Friday 7
Made some tea and had something to eat for the first time since Saturday morning ... We was fairly quiet from the Wednes to the Friday teatime, then Fritz started shelling us again. I was talking to these three men some 10 yards away and a shell dropped and killed all the three of them. It was an awful sight.
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