Understanding the Somme 1916 by Steven Heys

Author:Steven Heys
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War I
ISBN: 9781910294901
Publisher: Helion and Company
Published: 2014-10-18T16:00:00+00:00

Meadows described the Leipzig defenses and the remorseless nature of the fighting:

The nature of the Leipzig defenses, a maze of trenches and underground saps, made advancing into the area where this projected out towards the British front line extremely hard. One was continually attacked in the rear.

What seemed dug-outs were bombed, and when passed numbers of the enemy rush from them, they being really underground communications with their rear defenses. The whole fighting was merciless and no quarter was given or taken. One of the battalions opposing the British was a students’ battalion from Bavaria. The enemy used explosive and dum-dum bullets, and they sniped off any of our wounded lying exposed in the open.

It was not permitted to stop to take back prisoners or to stop to dress a wounded chum but it was permitted to stick the bayonet of a wounded man’s rifle in the ground and thus to mark the spot where he lay. The Germans observed this and watched for any movement in the heap beside the standing rifle. Men coolly fired at each other at point blank range and sniping became the chief cause of casualties.6

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