Northumbrian Gunner

Saturday, 13 September 2025

Op La Boisselle - RND Memorial

A memorial to the Royal Naval Division (RND) is located at Beaucourt, where the division fought during the Battle of the Ancre in November 1916.

Royal Naval Division Memorial Beaucourt

The Royal Naval Division was formed in 1914 from a surplus of Naval and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers who were not needed for service at sea. They were embodied on 16th August 1914 and had no integral supporting arms (no Divisional Artillery) or logistics units.

The Divisions first action was in the Defence of Antwerp in October 1914. There they were forced to withdraw, together with the Belgian Field Army, into Begium. The RND units returned to England.

Royal Naval Division Antwerp

Their next deployment was to Gallipolli where they landed at the end of April 1915. They were engaged there until they withdrew in January 1916 when the Gallipolli Peninsula was evacuated.

Royal Naval Division Gallipoli

On the 29th April 1916, the RND transferred from the authority of the Admiralty to the War Office under Army control and designated 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.

The division landed in Marseilles in May 1916 and headed to the Somme. As part of the Army structure, the Division received support and logistics units, including Divisional Artillery.

The Divisional Artillery joined the 63rd (RN) Division on 5th July 1916 and included 315 Brigade Royal Field Artillery which was a redesignation of the second line 1st/2nd Northumbrian Brigade RFA raised in Newcastle.

On the 13th November 1916 the Royal Naval Division participated in the final battle of the Battles of the Somme, an attack by V Corps to eliminate a German salient in the River Ancre Valley. After three failed attempts to secure Beaucourt, the RND were able to capture the village on their fourth attempt.

Royal Naval Division Somme

A memorial dedicated to the men of Royal Naval Division Memorial who fought in the Battle of the Ancre was unveiled in Beaucourt on the 12th November 1922 by Lieutenant General Sir Hubert Gough. In attendance were over 150 veterans of the Battle of Ancre.

Royal Naval Division Memorial Beaucourt
Unveiling 12th November 1922

The Tyneside Scottish Branch RAA held a commemoration at the RND Memorial in Beaucourt to lay a wreath on behalf of the Royal Navy Association and to remember the Northumbrian Gunners of 315 Brigade Royal Field Artillery.

RND Memorial Beacourt TS RAA on Parade

RND Memorial Beacourt TS RAA 2 minutes silence

Royal Naval Association Wreath

Royal Artillery Wreath

Royal Naval Division Memorial Beaucourt

IN MEMORY OF

THE OFFICERS AND NEN

OF THE

ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION

WHO FELL

AT THE BATTLE OF

THE ANCRE

NOVEMBER 13TH-14TH

1916

Friday, 12 September 2025

Op La Boisselle - 34th Divisional Memorial

34th Divisional Memorial La Boisselle

In the village of La Boisselle is a monument dedicated to the men of the 34th Division who fought on the battlefield around the village on 1st July 1916. It was the first major battle of the Division.

The Division was one of Kitchener's War Formed formations of Pals Battalions. It consisted of three Brigades, the 101st Brigade, the 102nd (Tyneside Scottish) Brigade, 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade, together with integral combat support and logistics units.

The memorial was unveiled on May the 23rd, 1923 by Major-General Sir Cecil Nicholson, 34th Divisional Commander from 25th July 1916 until the end of the war.

Unveiling 34th Divisional Memorial La Boisselle

34th Divisional Memorial La Boisselle
34 Division Veterans

The memorial features a statue of Victory holding a laurel wreath (now missing), together with the Divisional insignia, a chequered patch.

34th Divisional Memorial La Boisselle

An inscription on the memorial remembers the men of 34th Division.

THE GLORY OF GOD

AND IN MEMORY

OF THE HEROIC DEAD

______

THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED

TO COMMMORATE THE

ILLUSTRIOUS DEEDS OF THE

34TH BRITISH DIVISION NEAR

THIS SPOT ON JULY IST 1916

THE FIRST BATTLE IN WHICH

THE DIVISION WAS ENGAGED

34th Divisional Memorial Inscription

The units of the Division that were involved on 1st July 1916 are recorded on the memorial.

INFANTRY

15th & 16th Royal Scots

21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th Northumberland Fusiliers

10th Lincolns

11th Suffolks

R.A.S.C.

101st 102nd & 103rd Companies 34th Supply Column

R.A.M.C.

102nd 103rd & 104th Field Ambulances

34th Divisional Memorial
Infantry | R.A.S.C. | R.A.M.C

ROYAL ARTILLERY

152nd 160th 175th & 176th Field Artillery Brigades

Divisional Ammunition Column

ROYAL ENGINERS

207th 208th & 209th Field Companies

34th Divisional Memorial
Royal Artillery | Royal Engineers

Op La Boisselle - Thiepval

The Thiepval Memorial bears the names 72,331 soldiers from Britain and South Africa who have no known grave. It commemorates those who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918, over 90% of whom were lost during the Somme Battles between July and November 1916.

Thiepval Memorial | CWGC

Northumbrian Gunner: Somme 2023 - Thiepval

Recorded on the memorial are 1,426 Tyneside Scots of whom 778 lost their lives on the 1st July 1916.

Thiepval Memorial IJ

Thiepval Memorial

Thiepval Memorial
Stone of Remembrance

Thiepval Memorial
French and British Cemeteries

Thiepval Memorial
British and French Cemeteries

Op La Boisselle - Ovillers Military Cemetery

Ovillers Military Cemetery

Ovillers Military Cemetery is situated 1 km north of La Boisselle. It originated as a battle cemetery behind a dressing station and used until March 17. After the Armistice it was expanded as the fallen from the battlefields of Pozieres, Ovillers, La Boisselle and Contalmaison were buried in the cemetery.

The cemetery contains 3,440 graves of which 2,480 are unidentified. Of the 960 identified casualties, 290 are recorded as being killed on 1st July 1916. There are 76 Tyneside Scottish and 27 Tyneside Irish graves. There are many unidentified Tyneside Scots buried in the cemetery, many of whom would have probably lost their lives on 1st July 1916.

The cemetery also contains 120 French casulaties.

Ovillers Military Cemetery | CWGC

Ovillers Military Cemetery IJ

Ovillers Military Cemetery

Ovillers Military Cemetery
Tyneside Scottish Unknown Soldiers

Ovillers Military Cemetery
Tyneside Scottish Unknown Soldier

Ovillers Military Cemetery
Unknown British Officer

Ovillers Military Cemetery
2/Lt William Charles Hickman
KIA 1st July 1916

Ex Reflect Somme - Ovillers Military Cemetery

2nd Lieut. William Christie Hickman
Royal Field Artillery

Gunner Casualties 16 Battery 41 Brigade RFA

16 Battery 41st Brigade

Royal Field Artillery

KIA 20th January 1917

The War Diary of 41st Brigade Royal Field Artillery records;
Place: MOUQUET FARM & COURCELLETTE| Date: January 20th
16th Battery had a g.s. wagon & team hit at TULLOCH CORNER. 4 men killed + 2 wounded.

Driver F Dolan | CWGC

Serjeant F N Atkins | CWGC

Acting Bombardier J E Hambleton | CWGC

Driver G Bradshaw | CWGC

Ovillers Military Cemetery
British & French Graves

Ovillers Military Cemetery
French Graves

Op La Boisselle - Lochnagar Crater

The Lochnagar mine was dug beneath a German fortification known as the Schwabenhöhe (Swabian Height) in preparation for the Battle of the Somme.

Lochnagar Crater IJ

The digging of the mine started on 11th November 1915 by 185 Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers. It was completed by 179 Tunnelling Company when they took over in March 1916. The entrance to the Tunnel was in a communication trench named 'Lochnagar Street'.

The tunnel sloped down to a depth of 30 metres then out to 274 metres until it was below the Schwabenhöhe. Two chambers,18 metres apart, were prepared and filled with ammonal explosives. One was charged with 16,330 kg (36,000 lb), the other with 10,900 kg (24,000 lb).

The Lochnagar mine was detonated at 07:28 1st July 1916, two minutes before zero hour. The explosion created a crater 21 metres deep and 100 metres wide. An officer in the Royal Flying Corps, 2nd Lieutenant Cecil Lewis, on air patrol in the skies two miles from La Boisselle descrided the explosion;

We were over Thiepval and turned south to watch the mines. As we sailed down above all, came the final moment. Zero! At Boisselle the earth heaved and flashed, a tremendous and magnificent column rose up into the sky. There was an ear-splitting roar, drowning all the guns, flinging the machine sideways in the repercussing air. The earthly column rose, higher and higher to almost four thousand feet. There it hung, or seemed to hang, for a moment in the air, like a silhouette of some great cypress tree, then fell away in a widening cone of dust and debris.

Lochnagar Crater

At 07:30 the infantry of the 34th Division assaulted forward from their trenches. The Lochnagar Crater was secured by the Grimsby Chums, the 10th (Service) Battalion, The Lincolnshire Regiment. They continued onto their first objective where they were repulsed by a German Counter attack and withdrew to the crater. Stragglers and wounded from across the 34th Division, including Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish, took shelter in the crater.

Those sheltering in the crater were harassed by both German and British artillery fire. By the evening of the 2nd July a communication trench had been dug to the crater.

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