On 1st July 1916 over 100,000 men went 'over the top', leaving their trenches to assault the German defensive line, the start of the Battles of the Somme.
Lieutenant Geoffrey Malins was attached to the 29th Division to film the battle opposite the Hawthorn Ridge.
Geoffrey Malins
Geoffrey Malins Filming Hawthorn Ridge
Geoffrey Malins Filming Location
The Germans had built a redoubt on the Hawthorn Ridge. In preparation for the battle the 252nd Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers had covertly mined underneath the defensive position and planted 40,000 lb (18,000 kg) of explosives.
Hawthorn Ridge Mine Tunnel
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Hawthorn Ridge Mine Tunnel
To aid the assault on Beaumont Hamel, a sap was dug from the British Lines to a sunken lane which lay between the British and German Lines in no mans land. The lane was occupied by the men of the 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers in the early hours of 1st July 1916 ready for the assault.
Sunken Lane across No Mans Land to Beaumont Hamel
Sunken Lane across No Mans Land to Beaumont Hamel
IJ No Mans Land to Beaumont Hamel
Lt Geoffrey Malins arrived in the Sunken Lane around 6:30 am and filmed the men preparing to attack from the lane at 07:30, zero hour.
Men of 1st Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers Sunken Lane 1st July 1916
Sunken Lane 11th September 2025
At 07:20 am, 10 minutes prior to zero hour the mine under the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt was detonated.
Hawthorn Ridge Mine detonation 1st July 1916
Malins recorded after the battle;
“The ground where I stood gave a mighty convulsion. It rocked and swayed. I gripped hold of my tripod to steady myself. Then for all the world like a gigantic sponge, the earth rose high in the air to the height of hundreds of feet. Higher and higher it rose, and with a horrible grinding roar the earth settles back upon itself, leaving in its place a mountain of smoke.”
Malan's filming of the detonation is one of the most iconic records of the events of the first day of the Battles of the Somme.
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