Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Day Eighty Two on the Somme


Wednesday 20th September 1916: From our Correspondent in the Field



Even when there are lulls in the fighting the everyday tasks of siege warfare, for that is what this war seems to have become, carry on. As correspondents we have had to become versed in looking at trench maps, an example of which is above. These divide the countryside into a grid of ever smaller squares and show the enemy trenches on them. Our own trenches do not tend to be shown as officers take them into the front line in order to navigate successfully and, if the bearer is captured the maps might reveal information the enemy does not have.

The adjutant of the 1st Battalion tells me that today they have been in support trenches east of the captured village of Ginchy. These positions are in the squares T14 b and c (the small squares north-east and south-west of the number “14” on the map above).

A working party of sixty men under an officer has been digging assembly trenches for the next attack. These are at the small squares immediately north-east and south-east of “9” on the map above, north of the quarry.

Source: X550/2/5

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