Lives of the First World War

This was a particular location on the Somme which produced one indelible record of the 4th Salford Pals and their activities throughout the long hours of the 24th and 25th of July 1916. For more than two weeks, since the early battles of the Somme area, Trones Wood and the nearby Bernafay Wood had been the scene of bitter fighting, constant churning shellfire and a determined defence by the German Army. Since the 21st of July the 4th Salford Pals had been pushed up in to the ill-defined chaos of trenches which marked the front of Bernafay Wood. Three days after their arrival there the Battalion was moved up, at 4.30am, to the notorious Sunken Lane below Trones Wood. The 4th Salford Pals lost 10 officers and a further 120 casualties amongst the men. The 4th Salford Pals were eventually relieved from Trones Wood at 1.30 am on the morning of the 26th of July. Throughout the remainder of that month and August the Bantams were moved in and out of many locations along the southern arm of the Somme battlefield, Carnoy, Montauban, Maricourt, and Guillemont but September saw them established in the lines at Arras. Already the unique character of the Battalion was waning. It proved impossible to replace their losses with a supply of small stature men from the Reserve Battalion and drafts were now just as likely to be men of average height.

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