Beaumont Hamel and the Blue Puttees

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By Jo-Ann “Jo D NL” Duke

The other day, I was reading an article by Dr. Eisman on PTSD on RSR; it made me remember back to when I was a young child, and I met one of the nicest people I would ever meet in my life. He was my friend’s uncle, who was sweet, soft spoken and he was always a gentle man. I don’t think that I ever heard him raise his voice to any of us, even though we probably deserved it. He seemed so sad all the time, and when I asked his niece, she told me that her mom had told her that he had shell shock. I asked her what that was, but she didn’t know, and she said when asked her mom, she would get sad and start to cry; so she stopped asking. At the time, I never thought about asking my parents, and it wasn’t until a few years later, in history class that I found out what shell shock was; that it was something that affected a portion of the people who came home from the war. Nowadays, we all know that it would be called PTSD as Dr. Eisman had written. After the memories of that sweet man, I began to think of the price that Newfoundland paid in the different wars our soldiers had fought in, especially in the first world war.

July 1st for most Canadians is known as Canada Day. However, in my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, for us this day perhaps has a more solemn meaning than just celebrating the birth of our country. In Newfoundland, July 1st is also known as Memorial Day and my province marks it as the anniversary of the fighting at Beaumont-Hamel during the First World War. I started thinking about Newfoundland’s history with the world wars, specifically World War 1. When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, since Newfoundland was a dominion of Britain; as part of the British Empire, Newfoundland was at war as well. At this time, we were not part of Canada; and wasn’t even a consideration at that time.

When the call came of the war, the young men of Newfoundland responded with immense patriotism, and many rushed to enlist. More than 12,000 men would join up to fight during this time, and this was about 5% of the total population from a province whose population was about 240,000 people in 1914. The young men who joined up formed the Newfoundland Regiment, and the regiment was quickly assembled and hastily trained. The first group of recruits were sent overseas in October 1914 to become a unit as part of the British Army. They would become known as the “Blue Puttees” because of the colour of the uniform leggings they wore on their lower legs. At first, the Newfoundland Regiment would see action in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey from September 1915 to January 1916, after this engagement, the regiment was withdrawn from this area, and the Newfoundlanders sent to the Western Front in France in the spring of 1916.

After the opening battles of 1914, the First World War in Western Europe quickly became a war that was based in trench warfare, where the opposing soldiers dug in. They faced each other from an intricate series of trenches across an area of land known as “No Man’s Land”. It was defended by soldiers acting as lookouts and barbed wire, and guns; during this time, a combination of artillery, snipers, grenades, mines, machine guns and sickness took a great toll on the brave soldiers fighting these battles. As has been written in history, the generals in command could see only one way to end the stalemate; to stage brutal frontal assaults in the face of intense fire, as a way to break the enemy defences. It was this plan that involved many Newfoundland soldiers as part of the British army. The Allied plan for 1916 was to make the “Big Push” as they named it; and Somme, France was chosen as the site for this maneuver; a joint French and British assault against the enemy lines. It would be here on the first day of the Battle of the Somme; close to the village of Beaumont-Hamel in northern France that the Newfoundland Regiment would enter the action.

On the morning of July 1, 1916 at 7:30 a.m., thousands of French and British troops, including the Newfoundland Regiment began their advance across No Man’s Land in broad daylight toward the German positions; they were to open the Battle of the Somme. The result was slaughter, with more than 57,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers killed, wounded or missing. This was the heaviest combat losses ever suffered by the British Army in a single day, including so many young brave men from my province. The area of the front at Beaumont-Hamel where the Newfoundland Regiment would fight during the battle was supposed to be taken by surprise; this didn’t happen as the Germans knew the attack was coming. In addition, most of the German defences were mostly undamaged from the initial Allied bombardment.

At about 9:15 a.m. that morning, the Newfoundlanders who formed part of the 29th British Division commenced attack from a support trench nicknamed St. John’s Road. They advanced from this trench, already behind the front line due to the sheer number of dead or wounded soldiers who had been involved in earlier attacks, as they were clogging the front trenches. For the Newfoundlanders, it meant that they had to traverse more than 200 metres to even make it to the Allies’ own front line; and after this, once they made it to No Man’s Land, they were expected to cross through tangles of barbed wire to be able to reach the enemy trenches that were more than 500 metres away. As the Newfoundland soldiers advanced toward the enemy, there was a tree as they went down the slope; it marked the area where German fire seemed to become particularly intense. It was gnarled up, and nicknamed the “danger tree” by the Newfoundland troops, sadly it marked the spot where so many of them would fall that morning, and not get back up again. It has been said that as they walked into the hail of machine gun and artillery fire that many of the young men tucked their chins in, as if they were walking into the teeth of a blizzard back home. This time, however, it was not snow flying all around them, and in less than half an hour, the Newfoundland Regiment would be practically decimated by intense German fire.

Unfortunately, this tragic morning of July 1st would only be the first day of more than four brutal hellish months of fighting during the Battle of the Somme, in which Canada as well saw significant action. By the time the Battle of Somme ended, the Allies would have seen 650,000 or more soldiers killed, wounded, missing or taken prisoner. Thanks to this long brutal battle, each side, both the Allied forces and the Germans would lose about 200,000 lives. For this incredible cost of death and destruction, the Allies were only able to move the front line forward about 10 kilometres.For the people of Newfoundland, the losses suffered by the Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel on July 1, 1916, were mind-blowingly distressing. Of the approximately 800 Newfoundlanders who went into battle July 1, 1916, only 68 answered the roll call the next day, with more than 700 killed, missing or wounded; in this number of the dead, it included 14 sets of brothers, including four lieutenants from one family in St. John’s, the Ayre family.

The Newfoundlanders’ sacrifice on the front lines was not overlooked; as the commander of the 29th British Division said regarding Newfoundland Regiment’s action on that July morning: “It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour, and its assault only failed of success because dead men can advance no further.” The Newfoundland Regiment was practically wiped out that day, but the survivors would continue to see action, and reinforcements would come to help rebuild the regiment. This amazing regiment of brave young Newfoundland men would go on to earn the official designation “Royal” from the British Crown in recognition of its gallant actions in battles at Ypres and Cambrai later in the war; it was the only unit of the British Army to earn that distinction during the war years. Records show that by the end of World War 1, with the Newfoundland Regiment, more than 6,200 Newfoundlanders had served in its ranks, with more than 1,300 of the members losing their lives; and another 2,500 being wounded or taken prisoner. I know from hearing stories passed down through my family and others that the loss of so many young lives, as well by the number of wounded, disabled and sick who returned to Newfoundland after the war; that it would have a significant impact on the colony for many years afterward.

With, the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial in France shown here stands in memory of those from the dominion of Newfoundland who gave their lives in the First World War. This monument site is one of few left where visitors can see a Great War battlefield like it was then, with the artillery craters and trenches that were left untouched after the war. The danger tree has been preserved and still stands at the spot where so many brave Newfoundlanders fell on that morning; it is both a proud and tragic permanent reminder of the great courage and sacrifice seen that day by those who died there that day. The monument of the great bronze caribou, which is the emblem of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, stands on the highest point overlooking the site of the battlefield where they lost their lives, the base of the statue holds three bronze tablets bear the names of the more than 800 Newfoundlanders who died in the war and have no known grave, honoring their sacrifice to this day. Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, we all still remember the incredible sacrifices of the men of the Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel in Newfoundland and Labrador; every July 1, we always pause to remember and thank those who gave so much to help protect the peace and freedom people enjoy today.

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