Lives of the First World War

At 9.30 pm during the evening of the 30th of June the 3rd Salford Pals left their billets at Senlis and marched to the shelter at Blackhorse Bridge, below Authuille. It would be close to 1 O,clock before we were settled in a dug - out meant for 20 there would be 50 of us, very little sleep was possible, and we were not sorry when dawn broke on the 1st of July. At 7.10 am the 3rd Salford Pals set off on their desperate journey, marching along the Ancre's banks for 1.000 yards before they turned east into Blighty Valley. Nevertheless the 3rd Salford Pals in the front line were not to be deterred and efforts to get forward were continued with hesitation at the front line. Within the deluge of casualties Salford and its surrounding districts would suffer accordingly. On this one day the 3rd Salford Pals lost 11 officers and 270 men (out of 20/557). The casualties incurred by the 3rd Salford Pals Battalion were spread further afield and reflected their community origins in the Pendleton, Swinton, Eccles, and Patricroft districts. More than 60% of the officers had become casualties, and 55% of the men. At the same time the 1st 2nd and 3rd Salford Pals Battalions were reconstructed in to temporary units of two Companies, and made up of the shocked survivors, the Battalion Reserves and men of the transport section and quartermaster's staff, but whose presence could not disguise the truth that the character of these Battalions was now irretrievably changed.

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