DLI Christmas Card

The 2016 Christmas Card is on sale at the Rifles Office

It commemorates the 100 Anniversary of the battle of the Somme. The front shows the Thiepval Memorial, the rear some information about the battle of the Somme. The inside is suitably Christmassy. The front and Back of the card can be seen below. The order form is below:

 

Rear of the card text

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME

Thiepval Memorial has inscribed on its arches the names of more than 72000 soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Somme and who have no known grave. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, and built between 1928 and 1932. It is the largest Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing in the world.

The Battle of the Somme began with the huge explosion on Hawthorn Ridge at 7.28am on 1st July 1916. This explosion resulted in a huge crater which exists to this day known as the Lochnagar Crater.

On hearing the explosion, officers’ whistles were sounded and the British troops emerged from their trenches to begin the crossing of no-man’s land towards the German trenches, which had been subjected to a British artillery bombardment for 5 days. The British troops had been told the German barbed wire had been cut and their trenches destroyed so they would be able to advance to the German front line unopposed.

This was not to be. The German wire in most places was intact and the German trenches many feet deep had not been much damaged. The Germans emerged from their trenches, and engaged the British troops with carefully sited machine guns. The British infantry advanced into a wall of machine gun fire and sustained enormous casualties. Approximately 60,000 British soldiers were killed on that day and what ground was captured was in most cases given up within days.

It was the blackest day the British Army ever faced. Two Durham Light Infantry Battalions, the 15th and the 18th ‘Pals’ were deployed on that day. The 18th suffered 58% casualties.

Other DLI battalions that fought on the Somme in the following days were the 2nd, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 19th. The Battle of the Somme continued until 18th November when it ground to a halt.

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