On the right the memorial cross outside Longueval, commemorating the 12th battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment (Bristol`s Own) with High Wood on the skyline.
And on the left a photocard produced for my local church, St Michael and All Angels at Windmill Hill, Bristol in order to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Great War. The image is courtesy of Soren Hawkes MA.
The church WW1 Roll of Honour is here:
stmichael.instabook.com/rollhon.htm
Norman
The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st July 1916 and the Battalion was moved back there on July 20th. By the end of the month they were in the line facing Delville Wood or `Devil's Wood` as it had already become known. `Bristol's Own` received their first blooding in trench warfare, when on the 3rd September 1916 they attacked the German positions in an area known as Wedge Wood. This attack required the Battalion to advance in daylight over a distance of one and a half miles, in full view of the enemy and as a target for the murderous machine-gun and artillery fire. The attack was successful in the terms of the First World War but the cost to the `Bristol's` was horrendous for in this brief action one officer and 44 men were killed and another 48 were missing. Six officers and 225 other ranks were wounded. From a total of 913 men, 324 had been killed or injured in their first full action. Such was the Battle of the Somme.
Uploaded by shipscompass on 7 Jun 08, 8.00AM CDT.
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