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2018 France/Belgium Trip Post No. 22
From Ocean Villas it was a short drive to the Ulster Memorial Tower situated on the D73 road between the villages of Hamel and Thiepval.
It was the first official memorial to be erected on the Western Front and was dedicated on 19th November 1921.
The 70 ft high tower itself is a replica of a well known Ulster landmark, Helen’s Tower, which stands on the Dufferin and Ava Estate at Clandeboye, County Down and commemorates the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division and the heavy losses suffered by them on 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Helen's Tower in Clandboye in County Down was selected as the most appropriate building to replicate for the monument on the 1916 Somme battlefields.
It was in the shadow of Helen’s Tower that the men of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Fusiliers and the Royal Irish Regiment in the newly formed Ulster Division drilled and trained on the outbreak of war. For many the distinctive sight of Helen’s Tower rising above the surrounding countryside was one of their last abiding memories of home before their departure for England and subsequently the Western Front.
On 1 July 1916 the Ulstermen left the British Front Line at the eastern end of Thiepval Wood, to the left of the Thiepval village fortress, crossed no man's Land and broke through the badly damaged German Front Line trench. They managed to capture the difficult obstacle of the large German stronghold at the Schwaben Redoubt, a triangle of trenches with a frontage of 300 yards, a fearsome German strongpoint with commanding views.
During the day the 109th Brigade successfully managed to advance their position for about a mile beyond their starting positions, almost reaching the German field gun positions at Stuff Redoubt located in the valley leading to Grandcourt.
The Germans counter-attacked from mid-afternoon, also the Divisions on either flank not making any headway meant that lethal enfilade fire from the Thiepval defences added to the danger that the forward troops might be cut off. Troops who had managed to reach the German second line also suffered casualties from friendly artillery fire who were unaware how far the Irishmen had advanced.
Regrettably, due to the difficulty of supplying ammunition, equipment, food and water to the men in the forward positions, they had to fall back. The position was considered untenable by the end of the day and the decision was made to withdraw back to the German Front Line.
One of the reasons behind the Ulstermen successfully breaching the German Line and penetrating to their second line defences was that their commanders thought tactically and strategically instead of blindly following orders.
The British Generals were confident that the week-long artillery barrage during which one and three-quarter million shells were fired would destroy the German wire and bunkers. They gave the order that when the barrage had lifted then they were to leave their positions and walk across no mans land as there wouldn't be much opposition.
Instead, the Irishmen crawled as far out as they could into no mans land right behind the barrage and as soon as the barrage lifted they raced to the enemy trenches before the Germans could bring their machine guns up from the deep fortified bunkers. By comparison, most of the other Divisions along the fifteen mile Front suffered horrendous casualties and gained very little ground.
At the end of the day on 1st July the 36th (Ulster) Division had been awarded 4 Victoria Crosses and suffered over 4,900 casualties: 79 officers and 1,777 other ranks killed
102 officers and 2,626 other ranks wounded, 7 officers and 206 other ranks missing, 1 officer and 164 other ranks taken prisoner.
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