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52 unusual facts about Somme


5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards

The Inniskillings began their advance on Belgium on 31 August-the 7th Armoured Division's objective was the city of Ghent-and crossed the Somme, where the regiment's predecessor regiments had fought during World War I, and Authie rivers.

Å, Sweden

Å, which means stream or small river, is a contender for the title of shortest place-name in the world — although other places named Å as well as Ö and Y can make the same claim.

Algernon Greville

He was also present at the capture of Péronne, and soon after was appointed aide-de-camp to General Sir John Lambert.

Battle of Hastings

William mustered his forces at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, and was ready to cross the English Channel by about 12 August.

Belfield, New South Wales

Three streets are named after World War I sites of importance to Australians; Bazentin Street (after the town Bazentin in the Somme, France), Persic Street (after the SS Persic, a ship that transported Australian soldiers to Europe during the war) and Mena Street (an Australian Army training camp in Egypt during World War I).

Brassy

Brassy, Somme, a French municipality in the région of Picardie

Bray-sur-Somme

On 1 September 1944, Bray-sur-Somme was liberated by units of the United States Army.

Camon

Camon, Somme, a commune in the Picardie region of northern France

Canada's Hundred Days

There they were stationed in the villages of Fouquescourt, Maucourt, Chilly and Hallu from which they would attack eastward toward the Hindenburg Line.

Canal de la Somme

The Grande Somme is 120 km with 19 locks from English Channel at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme to Canal du Nord at Péronne.

Cantigny

:For the town in France, see Cantigny, Somme.

Chasse-marée

The coast supplying Paris by road was originally, that which was nearest to its market, around Le Tréport and Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.

Count of Ponthieu

The County of Ponthieu, centered on the mouth of the Somme, became a member of the Norman group of vassal states when Count Guy submitted to William of Normandy after the battle of Mortemer.

Eaucourt-sur-Somme

Henri Sannier, the mayor, is also a well-known French television sports reporter.

Edward L. Atkinson

In 1916 he served on the Western Front and fought at the Somme, receiving the Distinguished Service Order.

Edward Milford

In command of the 11th Battery from February 1918, he was recommended and awarded the Distinguished Service Order as well as a mention in despatches for his efforts in controlling artillery support during operations on the Somme and the Battle of Amiens.

Elwin Ransom

Some casual references in Perelandra reveal that he had fought in the First World War, that he had been on the Somme and that on one occasion he had to overcome considerable trepidation before accepting - and successfully implementing - an unspecified "very dangerous job".

Fanny Durack

During World War I, the statue of Mary and the infant Jesus on top of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Brebières in Albert, Somme, France, was hit by a shell on January 15, 1915, and slumped to a near-horizontal position.

Fricourt German war cemetery

Fricourt German war cemetery is near the village of Fricourt, near Albert, in the French département of the Somme.

Gare de Famechon

The Gare de Famechon (Famechon station) is a railway station located in the commune of Famechon in the Somme department, France.

Georges Lachmann

On 15 July 1916, Lachmann scored his first aerial victory, using a Nieuport to destroy an enemy observation balloon over Ham.

Godeberta

She was born at Boves, near Amiens, to a noble family that was associated with the court of Clovis II.

Godfrey of Amiens

The third child in a noble family, he was taken in at a young age by his uncle, the bishop of Soissons, who sent him to be educated in a monastery close to Péronne.

Harold Hodges

On the night of 22 March 1918, he entered a small factory on a road between Ham and Eppeville, hoping to make contact with a British battalion.

Henry Horne, 1st Baron Horne

His divisions focused their attack on two villages, Fricourt and Mametz; they captured both on the first day for about 8,000 casualties.

House of Montdidier

The House of Montdidier was a medieval French noble house which ruled as count of Montdidier, Dammartin and Roucy.

Hugo Bleicher

He served as a private soldier in the First World War in the pioneer gas corps and was captured near the Somme.

J. N. L. Baker

His undergraduate career was interrupted by the First World War, during which he was wounded on the Somme.

John Hellard

A second lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry during the First World War, he was killed on the second day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and is commemorated at the Serre Road cemetery.

Kenneth William Junor

On 23 April 1918, Junor fell victim to German ace Egon Koepsch of Jagdstaffel 4, who shot him down at Bray-sur-Somme.

Le Chateau du Broutel

Le Château du Broutel is an 18th-century Château situated in Rue.

Les Rayons et les Ombres

On 16 July 1836 Hugo watched a storm off the coast of Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, and this experience led him to write the poem.

Lionel Sadleir-Jackson

On 21 May 1932 he was driving near Peronne when he encountered a farm cart in the road and swerved too vigorously to avoid it, leaving the road and colliding with an electric pylon which severed the left front wheel and threw the car over.

In heavy fighting around the town of Albert, Sadleir-Jackson's men took their objectives led from the front by their Brigadier, who was wounded in the knee by machine gun fire near Bellevue Farm.

Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector

Historians Peter Barton and Jeremy Banning with archaeologists Tony Pollard and Iain Banks from the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University were successful in May 2010 in finding at Mametz the remains of one of the Livens Large Gallery Flame Projectors.

Louise-Victorine Ackermann

She was born in Nice, but spent her younger days in more rural surroundings near Montdidier, south-east of Amiens.

Marie-Nicolas-Antoine Daveluy

His first assignment was as an assistant priest in Roye.

Mathilde Bonaparte

She was originally engaged to her first cousin, the future Napoleon III of France, but the engangement was later broken following his imprisonment at Ham.

Newtownards

The centre commemorates the involvement of the 36th (Ulster) and 16th (Irish) divisions in the Battle of the Somme, the 10th (Irish) Division in Gallipoli, Salonika and Palestine and provides displays and information on the entire Irish contribution to the First World War.

A replica of Helen's Tower was built on the Somme battlefield as Northern Ireland's national war memorial.

Noadswood School

Several residential trips are organized at the school, including excursions to Bude, Cologne, Paris and to Ypres & the Somme.

Peter Casserly

On arrival in France, he was sent to the Somme, where he served as an armed guard with the 2nd Transport Unit.

Robert Strachan Wallace

In 1918 he was posted to the A.I.F. Education Service in Cambridge, England and served as the director of the Australian Corps Central School at Rue, France.

Saint Aimé

After being (falsely) accused, he went into exile, first to Peronne, and later to Breuil, where he died in 690.

Saint-Valery-sur-Somme

The commune was popular during the 19th century with artists and writers and Victor Hugo, Jules Verne, Sisley and Degas all had villas here at one time or another.

Somme

British historian Sir James Edmonds stated, "It is not too much to claim that the foundations of the final victory on the Western Front were laid by the Somme offensive of 1916."

Soues

Soues, Somme, a town and commune in the Somme département of northern France

St Peter's Church, Le Crotoy

The old church, like the one in Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, had two parallel aisles and was surrounded by the cemetery.

Tertry

Tertry, Somme, a commune in the Somme département in the Picardie region of France.

Ulster Volunteers

Both of the remaining divisions suffered heavy casualties in July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and were largely wiped out in 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.

Walric, abbot of Leuconay

Saint Walric (also known as Gualaric, Waleric, Walericus, Walaric, Walarich, Valery and several closely related forms) (†622) was the founder of the abbey of Leuconay on the Somme River (today Saint-Valery-sur-Somme ).

William John Hocking

His youngest son Leslie (was in the R.A.M.C.) died on the Somme 1914-1918.


1923 Air Union Farman Goliath crash

May 1923 Air Union Farman Goliath crash, in which F-AEGB crashed at Monsures, Somme, France with the loss of all six on board

Alexander Lion

After the ceasefire on the Romanian front, he returned to France, serving at Reims and the Somme.

Alexandre-Théodore-Victor, comte de Lameth

Having served in the American War of Independence under Rochambeau, he was sent in 1789 as deputy to the States-General by the nobles of the bailliage of Péronne, Somme.

Alfred St. George Hamersley

Colonel Hamersley, now in his sixty-eighth year gave over the command to a younger man, Major Drought and the Batteries were commended by the authorities for their efficiency in battles such as the Somme, Arras and Ypres.

Arthur Hulme

He was serving as a corporal in the 7th Battalion at the time of his death in action in October 1916 at Gueudecourt, in the Somme department of France.

Battle of Moreuil Wood

At 08:30 on the 30th, General Seely and his aides travelled towards the Moreuil woods from where his forces were stationed on the other side of the River Avre, with orders to cross the river and delay the enemy advance as much as possible.

Cecil Healy

Cecil Patrick Healy (28 November 1881 in Darlinghurst, New South Wales – 29 August 1918 in Somme, France) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1900s and 1910s, who won silver in the 100m freestyle at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1919

RRC Baggallay served in the Irish Guards and was successively captain and major, seeing service at the Somme and Ypres.

Donald Hankey

That grave was never located, and his name appears on the huge Thiepval memorial to the 70,000 missing and unidentified dead who fought on the Somme.

Edward Tennant

His son Edward Wyndham Tennant (1897–1916), English war poet, killed at the Battle of the Somme

Ernest Farrar

Farrar was killed on the Western Front at the Battle of Epehy Ronssoy, near Le Cateau in the Somme Valley south, west of Cambrai, in 1918.

Ernest Seaman

Ernie is commemorated at Tyne Cot Cemetery (Panel No. 70), the memorial to the 36th Division at the Ulster Tower near Thiepval on the Somme, Felixstowe War Memorial (Suffolk), and the Scole War Memorial (Norfolk).

Erwin Vierow

On 1 July 1943 he was appointed commander of the army in northwest France, covering the regions of Laon, Orléans and Rouen and held this command until September 1944 when he was appointed chief of the ad hoc ‘General Command Somme’.

Escadrille 26

In June 1916, it moved to Cachy to join an improvised formation, Groupe de Combat de la Somme.

Gare de Namps-Quevauvillers

The Gare de Namps-Quevauvillers (Namps-Quevauvillers station) is a railway station located in the commune of Namps-Maisnil and near Quevauvillers, in the Somme department, France.

Hampshire Yeomanry

1/1st Hampshire Yeomanry was part of the 1st South Western Mounted Brigade on mobilisation but departed for France and saw action in Messines, the Somme, Arras, Ypres, and Flanders.

Herbert Pease, 1st Baron Daryngton

Lost his eldest son Ronald Herbert Pike Pease on 15 September 1916 at the Somme in France, killed in action.

Jean Miélot

He was born at Gueschard, between Abbeville and Hesdin, in what is now the Somme département, but was then in Picardy, and from 1435 part of the Duchy of Burgundy.

Jean-Toussaint Arrighi de Casanova

In 1810 he became a general inspector of cavalry and two years later he was given the command of all French troops on the North Sea coastline, from the Somme to the Elbe.

Lochgelly Albert F.C.

The second theory, and probably the most respected, is that the club took its name from a town that was unlucky enough to be on the Somme front during the Great War of 1914-1918.

May 1923 Air Union Farman Goliath crash

Goliath F-AEBY of Air Union crashed at Monsures, Somme, France following the structural failure of a wing in flight.

McCrae's Battalion

Shortly after the publication of this book, a memorial cairn was constructed in the village of Contalmaison on the Somme.

Missionary Sisters of St. Columban

Among them was Lady Frances Moloney, a widow, Mary Martin, who had gained nursing experience on the battle lines of Somme, and Agnes Ryan, a schoolteacher.

Otto von Below

Below was expected to overrun Arras during March 1918 in a repeat of Caporetto; his inability to do so led to the failure of the German campaign to capture the Somme that same month.

Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt

The letter is addressed to an otherwise unknown Picard countryman named Sygerus (Sigerus, Ysaerus) of Foucaucourt, possibly a friend and neighbor of the author; Foucaucourt borders on the home area of Peregrinus around Maricourt, in the present-day department of the Somme, near Péronne.

Prince of Wales's Own Civil Service Rifles

:* Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Le Transloy, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Cambrai 1917, St. Quentin, Ancre 1918, Albert 1918, Bapaume 1918, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1915-18, Doiran 1917, Macedonia 1916-17, Gaza, Nebi Samwil, Jerusalem, Palestine 1917-18

Richard Henderson

Richard Alexander Henderson, First World War stretcher-bearer at Gallipoli and the Somme

Roland Dorgelès

Born in Amiens, Somme, under the name Roland Lecavelé (he adopted the pen name Dorgelès to commemorate visits to the spa town of Argelès), he spent his childhood in Paris.

William Fitz-Ansculf

William's date of birth is not known, though it was likely in Picquigny, Picardy, now in the Somme department, France, in the mid 11th Century.