| The sunken road was in No Man's land on the morning of
the 1st July 1916. Its position made it too dangerous to hold by either
side, though the Germans probably held the advantage through their
dominance of the higher ground. The Lancashire Fusiliers would
have been advancing from left to right. The German's position, called
the Bergwerk, was slightly to the right of the small British Cemetery on
the hillside. By 03:00 hours on the 1st July 1916 two companies of the
Fusiliers had moved into the Sunken Road. The British bombardment was
still going on and this would have helped keep German patrols away. At
07:20 hours the Hawthorn mine was detonated and the British artillery
bombardment stopped because on the far side of the hill the 2nd Royal
Fusiliers were rushing the crater. By now it was broad daylight and the
Germans had already spotted the Lancashire's waiting down below them.
The German artillery put down a bombardment of their own. At 07:30 hours
- ZERO hour - the Lancashire's rose up out of the Sunken Road moving
leftwards out of the above photo. They were cut down within a matter of
metres. |
