The Royal Newfoundland Regiment trained here on the shores of Quidi Vidi Lake before going overseas. The Trail of the Caribou Memorial Park celebrates the successes and failures in battle.
I salute you individually; you have done better than the best.
- Lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston, Corps Commander
It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour and only failed because dead men can advance no further.
- General Sir Beauvoir de Lisle, Divisional Commander
The Newfoundlanders and their comrades in the 29th Division arrived on the Western Front, in France, late in March, 1916. They immediately began to prepare to take part in "the Big Push" - - the all-out assault by the British and French armies against the Germans. We know it today as the "Battle of the Somme".
By the end of June, they stood alongside 160,000 other British soldiers, poised to attack along the 23 km (14 mi) British Sector. The 29th Division was to assault Beaumont Hamel, one of the strong points along the German line. The Germans knew the attack was coming, because it was impossible to hide the preparations.
The Battle began on the first of July 1916, a bright, warm sunny day. At 7:20 a.m., the British detonated a huge mine underneath Hawthorn Ridge, the key to the German defences at Beaumont Hamel. Several mines in other parts of the Front were detonated eight minutes later.
The 2nd South Wales Borderers were in the Front Line ahead of the Newfoundlanders. They attacked at 7:30 a.m., as part of the first wave that moved forward along the entire Front. German artillery and machine gun fire cut them to pieces within a few minutes. The 1st Border Regiment, as the second wave, went over the top at 8:05 a.m., and met the same fate.
At 8:45 a.m., Brigade HQ ordered the Newfoundlanders to move forward at 9:15 am., in the third wave. Lieutenant-Colonel Hadow, their Commanding Officer, asked Brigade HQ whether the enemy's front line had been captured. He was told: "the situation is not cleared up", and was again ordered to attack.
The Newfoundlanders climbed out of their trench on "St. John's Road", 229 m (250 yd) behind the British front line, and advanced down a gentle slope towards the enemy. They stood alone on the battlefield. The Essex, to their right, were unable to move forward because the trenches ahead of them were clogged with dead and wounded soldiers.
Many of the Newfoundlanders fell before they reached their own front line. Amid a perfect storm of enemy fire, they clustered at the zigzagged gaps in the British barbed wire - - gaps which the Germans had long since targeted. (One of the gaps was near a shattered tree, which became known as the "Danger Tree"). Only a handful emerged through those gaps. Very few reached the German wire. It was folly to order them forward in an attack that had to fail, and could not possibly yield even the most minor tactical advantage.
In Winston Churchill's later words, the First of July, saw "the greatest loss and slaughter in a single day in the whole history of the British Army". In all, 57,470 men became casualties: 19,240 were killed or died of wounds; 32 of the 143 British Battalions that attacked lost more than one-half their soldiers. But no unit paid a dearer price than did the Newfoundlanders. Of the 801 men attacked that morning; only 68 were able to answer roll call the next day.
The British Army's Battle Honour for the first part of the Battle of the Somme is "Albert". The Newfoundland Regiment was given right to carry the Honour "Albert (Beaumont Hamel)" on its Colours.
The Newfoundlanders gave their country and the world an example of gallantry and devotion to duty that has never been surpassed and seldom, if ever, equalled. Truly, they were "Better than the Best".