at 6:30 a.m. on the 1st of July 1916 across the Som Battlefield whistles blew and Men Rose from their trenches to advance across No Man's Land within seconds hundreds had fallen and by the end of that first day over 19,000 lay Dead one man for every 4.4 seconds in this video will follow the fortunes of just one Division and one set of Brothers as they attacked the most heavily defended part of the entire Battlefield this is the story of The Assault on the schwaben redout by 1916 the war in the W
estern Front had descended into one of brutal attrition on both sides the opponents had dug in creating vast networks of trenches stretching for hundreds of miles from the English Channel to the Swiss border occupying those trenches were millions of troops amongst them were the men of the 36th olster division originally recruited from northern irand they were fiercely patriotic volunteers raised predominantly from the pre-war oler volunteer force and her three line regiments the Royal Irish rifl
es the Royal Irish fusers and the Royal inis Skilling fusers formed into three brigades the 107th 108th and 109th and under the command of Major General Oliver nugan the division number 12 battalions of about 1,000 men each when they sailed for the Western Front in October 1915 since that time they've been waiting for an opportunity to show just what they could do in July 1916 they would finally get their chance the idea was relatively simple attacking along a 25m front they would break through
German positions and capture the logistical Hub of bam forcing the Germans to redirect troops from Verdan to shore up their defenses of course for those on the ground it was far from simple let's take a look at the British sector running along this part of the front from the village of gor towards the river som the British sector crossed some 18 miles of gently rolling Farmland dotted with ancient Villages crossing the heart of the British part of the battlefield and effectively splitting it in
two was the Roman built Alber bam Road in this video we'll focus to the north of that road by overlaying a historical trench map of the time we can superimpose the British and German trenches to the exact location they occupied in June 1916 and understand the terrain and the challenges it presented this is our and the ERS Battlefield stretching for some 3,000 yard north to south it began on the slopes just north of the enur river a nearby rail line running alongside south of the river the ground
sloped upwards towards this area the ti B spur a gentle but dominant rise on which the Germans had cited their strongest defensive positions at the other end of the olers area of attack but just outside it was this the village of TI v no man's land in this area ranged from about 2 to 600 yard the ulster's objective for the coming attack were four distinct lines a to d the first was the German front line running here with particular strong points around the en River known as the mound and Railwa
y sap those positions and important trench Junctions as we see here were given olster Town names before the attack with the front line breach the ERS would then push on to the B line the German support trench running along here here again well constructed with dugin machine guns it was linked to the front by communication trenches a key Point here was an area known as the crucifix which was to the rear of TI Val Village and in a strong position to fire Enad across the entire area running through
and beyond that second line was the vital position in this part of the battlefield known as the schwaben routs a heavily Mann and well-sited strong point based on two parallel running trenches with 360° views of the entire surrounding Battlefield including the Villages of s Deon and tal if the olers were to succeed on that day they needed to capture and hold this position and then push on to the Sea line seen here and then onto two further positions known as stuff and goat routs to their final
objective the dline where they would dig in and consolidate the gains all told a distance of some 2,200 y standing in their way with these men troops from the 99th Infantry Regiment of the third and fourth Bavarian Reserve regiments under the command of General France Von sorden what's important to remember here is that these troops have been in the area since 1914 and were very familiar with the terrain its strengths and weaknesses hman Von verm of the 99th would be in the area for the attack a
nd knew exactly where the vital position lay the schab we was a point of decisive importance if the enemy succeeded in establishing himself here on a long-term basis Not only would the whole position be extraordinarily endangered but also the entire operational viability of the divisional artillery on the North Bank would have been called into question because from the redout all the batteries there would have been in full view the olster division would go over the top with its three brigades of
infantry a total of around 12,000 men on zero day among them were these men 20-year-old William Billy mcfadin born in luran in County armar he worked before the war as a linen manufacturer but was a keen rugby player and standing at 6 feet tall was a popular and well regarded member of the 14th Battalion Royal Irish rifles in the same regiment's 12th Battalion was this man 31-year-old private Robert quig born in County ANM he was one of six children to a workingclass family was employed by the
wealthy mcnorton Family Estate before the war volunteering in 1914 he joined up with liutenant Edward mcnorton the son of his employer becoming his orderly or Batman finally there were these men David Herbert Andrew and Robert Hobs four workingclass brothers from luran for me at least it's always a powerful experience to learn about the lives of those who found themselves on the Western Front let's take a look at what historic records can tell us about the Hobs boys turning to the vast Archive o
f material available with find my past which offers a fantastic set of resources for historians and family researchers alike we find that the Hobs family as was typical of the time was substantial in 1901 according to the Irish census Robert and Deborah Hobbs have no less than eight children the four boys and four girls with each daughter holding the unusual occupation of handkerchief drawer by searching the national census of April 1911 we find that sadly the mother Deborah whose literacy statu
s is listed as cannot read is by now a 52-year-old Widow with six children still living at home in Union Street luren it was from this modest house that when war was declared in 1914 the boys traveled together to Belfast to enlist in the Army by tracing the available records for their enlistment and the sequence of their issued service numbers we even know that Andrew was stood the head of his brothers David and Robert in the Q as they joined up before long all four brothers would fight side by
side on the S with the ninth Royal Irish fusers and so it was to this very position that the men of olster moved in the hours preceding the attack eventually occupying trenches running just inside this edge of TI valal wood looking across the open ground towards their first objective for the upcoming assault the British had placed all their eggs in one basket relying almost exclusively on the destructive power of massed artillery to destroy the enemy trenches and soldiers opposite and whilst fro
m the 24th of June to the 1st of July the largest artillery bombardment in the history of mankind hammered the German trenches crucially it was not killing the Defenders who were in deep dugouts Out Of Reach from all but the heaviest enemy guns and whilst undoubtedly exhausted and terrified they were nevertheless alive the olers unique amongst the divisions attacking on the 1st of July had tried to tip the odds in their favor even further instead of attacking out of their own Frontline trenches
troops would crawl out into no man's land in the minutes before zero and when the attack came it would come from much closer to the German positions in addition unlike many units the ERS were to run to reach the enemy trenches as quickly as possible to further improve their odds when the main artillery barage finally moved off from the German front line that morning a short and violent bombardment by trench more Waters and smoke shells would hit the German trenches until the very moment the firs
t olers reached them by about 6:00 a.m. on the 1st of July with the bombardment reaching a crescendo above their heads men prepared for the off amongst them was young Billy mcfadin who'd been given the job of Distributing Mills bombs to each man in the assaulting waves as he was doing so one of the boxes slipped from the trench parapet spilling the contents with two safety pins coming loose in the process immediately grasping the danger Billy dived on top of the bombs moments before they explode
d killing him instantly in that one moment of selfless courage private mcfan saved many lives at the cost of his own becoming one of the very first casualties on that brutal day Billy's dad proudly received his Victoria Cross from the King on his behalf a few months later for the rest time crept on though ominously signs that the Germans were very much alive soon emerged soon after 6 am. just north of the ench a German bombardment struck the lines of the ninth Royal Irish fusers causing 50 casua
lties before the attack had even beun undeterred the remainder including the four Hobs boys crawled out from their Frontline trenches into no man's land and were by about 7:15 a.m. in position ready for the off just 15 minutes later all along the line whistles blew and Men Rose from the ground to begin their Advance they immediately encountered problems moving to towards the German first line north of the en it was found that the enemy wire had been very poorly cut by the bombardment and Men str
uggled to make their way through moments later the rattle of German machine guns from the mound and Railway sap proved what many had suspected the artillery had failed within moments a stream of bullets was thumping into the leading ranks of the ninth fusers who pushed on under a withering fire some men attracted by the apparent safety of the Railway embankment found themselves trapped in a cauldron of death taking cover wherever they could men of the leading wave began to move forwards in small
groups through gaps in the wi and into the German lines when a few minutes later the second wave of attackers began their Advance they too were cut down this time by an even heavier barrage of machine gun fire losing more than half their strength in minutes to make matters worse by the time the third and fourth waves emerged the German artillery had begun to react and they were hit by explosive and shrapnel shells as they advanced in the open remarkably some men did succeed and small groups eve
n made it as far as boort station but far too few under increasing pressure from three sides the survivors on the north of the enre were faced with a growling return back to their trenches many wouldn't make it by 9:30 a.m. the attack north of the enchor was over with hundreds of men left dead and wounded across this ground and hundreds more nowhere to be seen amongst them missing in no man's land were Andrew David Herbert and Robert hops but what about those olers to the South would their story
be any different well yes and no when those whistles blew across this ground that morning the 13th Royal Irish rifles closest to the river the 11th Royal Irish regiment to their right and the inner skillings alongside them near TI valal had also pushed on on the left the 13th met a similar fate to their comrades north of the onk hit heavily by enemy fire from the Mound and S Pier Devon they could make little progress and suffered badly as they Advanced on their objectives one of the major probl
ems was Communications almost immediately all links to the rear had been cut and with signalers falling at a rapid rate Battalion commanders who had been forbidden from joining the attack could exert no influence on the battle and Chaos was the result to their right though there was some success advancing under a last minute bombardment having cut down the distance to Crossing man's land and with the aid of a smoke screen the 11th Royal Irish rifles quickly got into the enemy's first line trench
es now the brutal hand-to-hand fighting in which the Olman would Excel could begin clearing the enemy line Traverse by Traverse using bombs bayonets trench clubs and knuckle dusters they soon captured the A-line and swept forward to take the B and even into the sea line it was a remarkable advance to their right the advancing troops had also seen success with the shocked enemy unable to stop the charging in his skillings within moments the remaining 100 yards of No Man's Land have been crossed a
nd they too were fighting in the German system as they work their way forwards to the shwab and redout with the wire to their front well cut and enemy disorganized the Skins swept all before them bypassing strong points and reaching the a b and c lines in turn by 8:30 a.m. Against All Odds the Eastern end of the schwaben redout was in British hands along with some 400 prisoners but could it be held even though good progress had been made in this sector several major issues now emerged first the
speed of the advance had left pockets of Germans in their wake who now started to fire on the ERS from the rear secondly the 32nd division's assault on the village of tial had failed leaving it and the nearby crucifix position in enemy hands and able to fire into the side of the attackers who were silhouetted as they crested the ridge finally with the assault north of the enchor having failed men in the boo rout could direct their fire across the enchor into the sea line on the extreme right of
the advancing olster line closest to tial the going had been very tough hit hard by infil fire from a machine gun in the village Cemetery many men had fallen along this sunken road which today still crosses the battlefield others though had survived that deadly Lottery and reached the first and second German lines to advance towards and into the Cru pacifics capturing it after a bitter hand-to-hand fight despite the confusion that had rained since the opening moments of the assault by 8:30 a.m.
the leading olers had made some major gains in the center the Germans have been driven back over a mile and the Schwab and redout was almost entirely in Allied hands the problem though lay on the flanks with tial and sampier Devon still held by the Germans and fighting ongoing around the crucifix it was time for the reserves to come through almost as soon as those men of the 107th Brigade began their Advance on the edge of tfal wood to join their comrades in the Enemy Lines they suffered huge lo
sses having recovered from the shock of the initial Advance German artillery now poured fire into the open ground across which the ERS must pass leftenant Fred Barker was there and left this haunting account of what he saw with a sudden crash shell exploded some yards away and still trying to keep a cool head I made my way to the spot for the shell had burst amongst my platoon four men were dead on a Corporal ligher with both legs gone on a hole in the side as I bent over him his eyes opened and
he looked in the mine their mute appeal of unfairness their patient Wonder haunts me still tears rolled down his cheeks slowly and then with the sigh of a tired child he was gone despite the horrific effect of Enemy shellfire by 9:15 some men of the 107th Brigade had reached the Schwab and rout and were now preparing to drive the hardpressed Germans from the last of their lines at 10: a.m. whistles blew and disaster struck just short of the final objective a British artillery barrage slammed in
to the ERS as they approached the dline for 10 minutes they endured that friendly fire until finally it was cooled off but for the enemy it was long enough redeploying German machine guns now open for three directions and hammered the ERS with devastating effect almost unbelievably around 50 Men actually reached stuffred out but tired and exposed they could Advance no further the rest fell back a short distance to take cover where they could by midday the olers were in control of the Schwab and
Ral and in some places had a tenuous hold in the dline the problem though was that all along the front the main British attack had been beaten back with horrific losses and only the olers have made real gains north of the Roman Road unsurprisingly the Germans desperate to retain this vital real estate now turned all their attention on the 36th with men flooding into the area and beginning a series of ferocious attacks to eject the olers from their hard one prize here in the crucifix the position
was almost untenable attacked on all sides and with ti bow still in German hands there was no way of being reinforced leftenant Gallagher's men barricade ated themselves in place using grenades rifles and ammunition taken from the dead to keep the enemy at Bay private Stewart was there and remembered that brutal fighting there was one soldier I will never forget he made himself a special weapon for fighting in the trenches it was part of a pick shaft with a a lump of pear shaped cast iron on on
e end he fought like a devil he must have killed a dozen Germans I don't know how long we were in the line but whilst we were there there we fought every second there was no rest at all the blood actually got into our boots and our socks were soaked with it at 2: p.m. the Germans attacked gain and Unleashed an enormous bombardment with every available gun not on the leading troops but on the ground between them and their own front line effectively cutting the ERS off from any reinforcements adva
ncing along the Hansa line and from goat R out the Germans smashed into the olers driving them back and eventually out of stuff R out forced rearwards the survivors Consolidated in the schwaben and with the last of their strength managed to hold the German Advance at the point of the bayonet all afternoon the ERS held on as attack after attack and constant artillery fire dwindled their numbers and crucially their ammunition multiple messages were sent back requesting support but machine gun fire
from the unconquered ti Val along with German shrapnel scouring No Man's Land made it simply impossible for help to arrive it was not until 7:20 12 hours after the attack had launched that the long hope for reinforcements from the 49th division would emerge from TI tval wood advancing bravely but against a prepared and heavily reinforced enemy they were cut to Pieces by Machine Gun fire in no man's land isolated surrounded and almost completely out of ammunition the remaining ERS clung on as th
e sun set over the battlefield the enemy though simply wouldn't give up and one more huge attack launched in the Twilight against the last Defenders of the Schwab and Redal and the crucifix proved too much those men still able fired their last few rounds or threw their last grenade before withdrawing back across the shattered No Man's Land leaving Fallen friends in their wake the swab and redout had been retaken by midnight the last remnants of that proud division who had led the attack that mor
ning trickle back to man The Battered trenches they departed 18 hours earlier throughout that night all across the som the screams of wounded in no man's land haunted all who were there despite their exhaustion many men would once more head out into no man's land in the hopes of finding their missing comrades amongst them was Robert quig who went out no less than seven times in search of his officer each time returning with a wounded man he would never find his friend left an Harry mcnorton who
is today remembered on the ti valal Memorial to the missing for The Bravery he showed that night near the river on Robert quig would earn the Victoria Cross many more would get a wooden one more than 2,100 Olman would fall on the opening day of the battle of the S their attack which gained more ground than any other unit in the northern part of the battlefield was one of true courage and determination though at unimaginable cost one of the last wounded men to be brought back in from no man's lan
d that night was Herbert Hobbs with both legs Shattered by Machine Gun fire he'd been left unable to move and it would be months before finally he could return home to olster his brothers never did Robert David and Andrew Hobbs all fell that day on the slopes of the river en their bodies like so many others were never recovered and today all three men are remembered on the ti Val Memorial to the missing the 1 of July 1916 saw 120,000 men go over the top of that number half would become casualtie
s and when the dust had finally settled 19,24 men lay dead across these now peaceful Fields making it the single bloodiest day in British military history the battle of the S would go on for 140 more grueling days and the Schwab and rout that key location dominating the ti B Ridge and which the olers had come so close to holding would take three more months of brutal fighting to fall at the cost of thousands of [Music] lives the legacy of that fight would last for decades with many in oler never
forgetting that morning in which so many of their husbands brothers and Sons were lost the Hobbs family was no different searching surviving newspaper records from olster for new news of the family we find that each and every July on the anniversary of her son's deaths Mrs Deborah Hobbs would place a small announcement in the local newspaper in memory of her boys each one accompanied by a few lines of poetry and when in April 1938 she passed away age 79 her daughter Agnes would continue the tra
dition for the rest of her life in July 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the battle she was interviewed one final time in which she described a day she would never forget today the sight of that remarkable bravery by the men of olster is commemorated here with the Clare Tower a replica of that in Northern Ireland found on the estate where many of those men trained before heading to war it stands proudly in the heart of the battlefield in which so many men fought and fell on that July day in 1916
thanks for watching in we want to offer a special thanks to our friends at find my past whose extensive collection of wartime records newspaper archives covering millions of pages of print and specialist military records have been essential in telling the story of the olers on the S for those with an interest in your own family stories in war or peace why not try find my past for free for 7 days or check out their offers and websites at the link below that's all this time thanks again and we'll
see you soon
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