Day Seventeen on the Somme

Monday 17th July 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

Word has reached us that 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, is about to join the struggle on the Somme, now in its seventeenth day. The battalion has marched to the town of Ville-sur-Ancre after a series of four route marches in the last four days. The 2nd Battalion is at Vaux and has been training after its struggle in Trônes Wood. The 7th Battalion, meanwhile, received fresh orders this morning to assault the village of Guillemont in co-operation with 53rd Brigade from the same division (18th). Again these have been cancelled but the battalion remains under orders to move at a moment’s notice.

Again the reason for the delay in any assault on Guillemont is the failure to secure the northern parts of the village of Longueval and the north-west of Delville Wood. Further attacks by the Scots and the South Africans early this morning ground to a halt around noon.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd; X550/8/1