Nicknamed the ‘Big Push’, the assault was designed to smash the enemy’s defences and allow the British to decisively break through the stalemate of the Western Front and relieve the French Army under pressure from the German offensive at Verdun. The attack would begin a general advance by the Allied armies that would send the Germans reeling all the way back, it was hoped, to Berlin. Until July 1915, the Somme region had been held by the French but, as part of the BEF’s expanding commitment to the war, it was agreed that British troops would take over and occupy the area to the north of the river Somme, while the French would remain on the ground to the south. Both armies would serve side by side and, largely because of this, the region was chosen for a symbolic joint attack: Allies together, shoulder to shoulder. One of the first battalions to arrive on the Somme in 1915 had been the 7th Royal West Kents, and among their number were teenage friends Vic Cole and George Pulley. Vic had been sent to the Signals Section of the battalion and the two had been parted, but their paths still crossed, giving them a chance to catch up on news from home.
What do You think about Boy Soldiers Of The Great War?
