The Newfoundland Memorial in the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Park pays tribute to the Newfoundland Regiment and its part on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916. © 2013, John M. Shea
"The Newfoundlanders had to go 300 yards before reaching the British front line and then a similar distance across No Man's Land. In view of the urgency of their orders they went straight over the top from a reserve trench, instead of going to the front line by way of congested communication trenches. As soon as they appeared in the open, German machine-gunners spotted them and opened fire. No artillery bombardment kept the Germans' heads down; no other targets distracted them, for the Essex had not appeared. They concentrated their fire on the 752 Newfoundlanders advancing over the open ground less than half a mile away."
Most of the British troops fighting on July 1, 1916, the first day of Battle of the Somme, were from the United Kingdom, and many of them were part of the British New Army. The Newfoundland Regiment was among the few Dominion troops fighting on what would be the worst day in British Army history, thrown into the battle with little notice after the troops before them had failed to advance. The 1st Essex Regiment was supposed to be advancing simultaneously to the Newfoundlanders right. Of the 752 Newfoundlanders who crossed the ground at Beaumont-Hamel, 26 officers and 658 men were casualties. On that day, July 1, 1916, the British army suffered nearly 60,000 casualties on the Somme, 19,240 of them killed. In 1916, Newfoundland was a British colony, not yet part of Canada.
First Day on the Somme by Martin Middlebrook, pp. 189-190, copyright © 1972 by Martin Middlebrook, publisher: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., publication date: 1972
1916-07-01, 1916, July, Battle of the Somme, Newfoundland, Newfoundland Regiment
