The British artillery pounded the German position for a week prior to their attack set for 1 July 1916. More than 1.5 million shells rained down on the German front line positions. This massive artillery effort was desigbed to so weaken the German defenses that the British assault would be a walk over – a matter of crossing No Man’s Land to occupy the German positions. To the surprise and shock of many in the first wave that morning, the Germans manned their line in strength. They had simply endured the British bombardment in deep undergrounds shelters – some as deep as 45-60 feet. They then emerged from their dugouts and manned their machined guns and mowed down the advancing British infantry. By the end of the day more than 19,000 were killed and more than 38,000 wounded for little gains. The first day of July 1916 remains the single most costly day in British military history. While no Canadian units participated in the opening of the battle, the Newfoundland Regiment, from Britain’s oldest colony, assaulted German positions at Beaumont-Hamel. The cost to the tiny colony was high. Of the 721 Newfoundlanders that participated in action that morning, 619 became casualties included 234 killed. Many families in Newfoundland were devastated – it was said that the Newfoundlander’s assault failed “because dead men can advance no further.” The Somme offensive ground on through July and August with little gains to show for the enormous casualties suffered on both sides. At the beginning of September, the Canadians entered this bloodbath. Moving from Belgium, the 1st Division, including the 16th Battalion and Piper Richardson, took over a sector of front near Pozières from the exhausted Australians who had suffered 23,000 casualties in their six weeks on the Somme. The 16th Battalion was involved in a series of local attacks between 4 and 7 September and suffered 349 casualties. This was just the beginning. Joined by the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, the Canadian assaults continued. By October they were poised to assault the infamous Regina Trench, reputed to be the longest German Trench system on the Western Front. In the pre-dawn hours of 8 October, with a cold rain falling, the kilted soldiers of the 16th waited for the order to attack. Richardson was not originally included to go in on this assault. However, so strongly did he plead to be permitted to “go in” that his battalion commanded relented. At 4:40 am, the artillery opened up on the enemy positions and the Canadian Scottish went “over the top.” The artillery was supposed to cut the German barbed wire but the first Canadians to reach the wire entanglements found them very much intact. The attack soon stalled as the Scots, failing to breach the wire, went to ground. Richardson had not yet been ordered to play his pipes that morning, but sizing up the desperate situation facing the Battalion, he turned to his Sergeant Major and in his thick Scottish brogue asked, “Will I gie ‘em wind…?” “Ay mon, gie ‘em wind” was the Sergeant Major’s reply. What happened next is nothing short of unbelievable. Ignoring the withering German machine
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