Northumbrian Gunner: Op La Boisselle - Tyneside Scottish La Boisselle

The Tyneside Scottish, part of the 34th Division, were located at La Boisselle for the Big Push in the Somme Sector in the summer of 1916.

The village lay on the Albert-Bapaume Road from which it rises to the Thiepval Ridge passing through the shallow valleys nicknamed Sausage (right) and Mash (left).

La Boisselle Panorama

The Tyneside Scottish Brigade on on the left of the Divisional assault were tasked with attacking forward of the village of La Boisselle toward Contalmaison. The 101st Brigade were on their right with the Tyneside Irish Brigade echeloned to the rear. The axis of the attack was along the Albert to Bapaume Road.

Two mines had been dug by Royal Engineers Tunnellers below German strongpoints at Lochnagar and Y Sap which would be blown prior to Zero Hour.

British artillery had pounded the German defences around La Boisselle and along the Sausage and Mash Valleys in the six days prior to the assault.

On the morning of the 1st July 1916 the two mines at Lochnagar and Y Sap were blown at 07:28 and two minutes later at Zero Hour, 07:30, the Tyneside Scottish left their trenches to the skirl of the pipes. To their rear the Tyneside Irish advanced to the tune of the Minstrel Boy.

Tyneside Irish advance at La Boisselle

The preliminary bombardment had failed to subdue the Germans. Deep bunkers had protected the defenders who quickly manned their trenches and machine guns and wreaked havoc on the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish.

By nightfall of the 1st July 1916 the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish were back in the original trenches they held at 07:30. Tyneside Irish parties penetrated as far as Contalmaison but forced to withdraw. Only slight gains were made to the south of La Boisselle. The two Tyneside Brigades had been decimated by machine gun fire.

Brigadier Trevor Ternan commander of the Tyneside Scottish Brigade recorded;

"The attack had been pushed on with extraordinary heroism , but with no avail.

Officers and men had been literally mowed down, but in rapidly diminishing numbers they resolutely pushed on to meet their deaths close to the enemy wire. No-Mans-Land was reported to be heaped with dead. “

“While the enemy’s Artillery caused many casualties our losses were mainly due to the intensity of the enemy’s machine gun fire”

The British Army sustained 60,000 casualties on the 1st July 1916. The assault by the Fourth Army failed to break through the German defences. To the North of the Albert to Bapaume road little ground was gained, the main successes were to the South where British and French troops advanced 2,000 metres.

The Tyneside Scottish and Irish Brigades had sustained the heaviest casualties that fateful day with around 4,000 men killed, missing or wounded. The losses were such that of all the Brigades engaged on the 1st July, the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish were the only ones withdrawn due to the extent of their losses.

The Tyneside Memorial at La Boisselle commemorating the men of the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish was unveiled on the 20th April 1922 by Marshall Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander in the Western Front during World War One. Representatives of the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish together with civic dignitaries from the North East were in attendance.

Marshall Foch unveils Tyneside Memorial

Civic / TS / TI Representatives

Tyneside Memorial 1922

The Tyneside Memorial has a sculptured George and the Dragon panel, representing the Northumberland Fusiliers, in the centre. On the left is a Tyneside Scottish badge and on the right a Tyneside Irish badge .