The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

Sept."IT FCHAPTER IVTHE SOMMEthe Germans, by their activity around Ypres, intended to check the preparations of the British Army forthe impending offensive on the Somme, they were unsuccessful. The general plan of the Allies was to attack simultaneously on all fronts and thus pin downthe enemy, preventing him from moving his troops from onetheatre to another. It also was intended to relieve thepressure at Verdun and gradually wear down the resistanceof the Central Powers. While the struggle was called theBattles of the Somme, it was for the British the battle ofthe Ancre. The river Somme subsequently divided theBritish and French ;the advance by both armies ran parallel to the river. The first objectives of the left flankof the British were along the eastern bank of the riverAncre which proved almost impregnable.Enormous preparations had been made. A Reserve Armyunder General Gough had been formed especially forEvery Division in the Army was to take inthis offensive.turn its share in the assaults. As a result of the greatactivity of the Ministry of Munitions, guns and shellshad been pouring into the country for months. A preparatory bombardment of unheard of proportions wasplanned. Instead of the usual intensive shelling on asmall front for a few hours this final word in modernwarfare was to be a concentration on a large front fora fortnight. In the first bombardment the individualbooming of gun or howitzer was lost in the endless roarof innumerable pieces of all calibre. It was like a continuous peal of thunder. At night thousands of overlapping flashes illuminated the sky for miles. The manycoloured rockets which flared into this blazing firmamentlingered at the peak of their flight to signal a garrison s26