This is about July 1st 1916. First, I will give a little OTL information. I am using a dramatized account of the Ulster Division's performance on that day.
[Hamburg, February 26th 1914: Crawford meets arms dealer Bruno Spiro and Edith Kanzki, his secretary and interpreter.]
Spiro: Ich werde 11,000 neue Steyr Gewehre, und 9,000 Mauser Gewehre verkaufen. Auch werde ich 4,600 Vetterli Gewehre liefern, welche Sie schon gekauft haben.
Kanzki: I will sell 11,000 new Steyr rifles, and 9,000 Mauser rifles. I will also deliver 4,600 Vetterli rifles, which you have already bought. I will also sell two million rounds of ammunition. The total price will be L 45,640. It will also cost L 5,000 to buy a steamer and pay for the packing and other expenses.
Crawford: I want each rifle to be wrapped up with one hundred rounds of ammunition,
Hamburg, June 16th, 16:00: He calls at Bruno Spiro’s office.]
Spiro: Willkommen! Haben Sie gut gereist?
Edith Kanski translates: Welcome to Hamburg, did you have a good trip?
Ford: I had a nice trip, but I’m getting tired of all these cranes, and deposits.
Edith: Do you have a place to stay?
Ford: As I’m planning to stay for a week, I can brush up on my German. Do you know of a good pension?
Edith: There is one at the Gaensemarkt. I will connect you.
Ford: I came here, Herr Spiro to deliver a letter of sponsorship for you. If you ever get into trouble with the German authorities, take it to the British Consulate. This will allow you and your family to emigrate to England.
Spiro: It may not help. Germany has a war plan, and I’m afraid it may be compromised. Britain may use it as a pretext to get into a war with Germany. If we are at war, I don’t think the English will take me in.
Ford: Maybe you should warn the government about your apprehensions. Then Germany might change her plans and call off the war.
Spiro: I wish.
Ford: You are Jewish. I was thinking that Germany might do something really stupid.
Spiro: The Germans here are quite tolerant of the Jews.
Ford: This tolerance could change after a war. Keep the letter just in case.
Spiro: Thank you for your consideration. We made need this letter someday.
[The telephone rings. Edith picks it up]
Edith: You have a room at the pension.
Ford: Ask how much a room is for three nights, and if there is a place to park my car.
Edith: Would like to have lunch with me tomorrow?
[Ford drives to the pension and checks in. He meets Edith for lunch, and then they go out on the Alster. Ford practices his German with her.]
Edith: Hast du eine Freundin?
Ford: Ja, aber nicht verlobt. Die Frauen hier sind mehr offen als in England.
Edith: There is also a nude beach we could go to.
Ford: I’ll pass on that one, thank you.
[He drops her off and they say goodbye.
Ford: Wiedersehen.
Edith: Goodbye, where are you going next?
Ford: I’m going to Augsburg. Since it’s an important Protestant city, I want to go to church there.
Edith: They have a religious peace festival in August. Bon Voyage.
[Ford leaves Hamburg on Friday afternoon and spends the night in Hanover.
He arrives in Augsburg on Saturday evening and checks into a pension.]
Clerk: Willkommen, and how long do you plan to stay.
Ford: I will be leaving on Thursday. I want to be in Steyr Austria on Friday.
Clerk: That will be n marks. We are serving the Saturday Eintopf. Help yourself. My name is Ludwig Scholl. I am named for our king.
Ford: I thought the Kaiser was Wilhehm.
Ludwig: Wilhelm is der Kaiser, aber wir haben unser eigenen Koenig.
[Augsburg: June 21st 08:00:] Innkeeper’s wife: Guten
Morgen. Ich heiss Sopie Scholl. Wir habenVollkornbrot mit Konfiture, Oranjensaft, und Speck.
(Good Morning. We have whole grain bread and jelly, orange juice and bacon.)
Ford: That was a good breakfast.
Wife: I’m glad you liked it. Would you like to go to church? We go to Heilig Kreuz Kirche. It is two churches in one. Mein Mann ist Evangelicsh. Ich bin Katolisch. Wir beiden sind mitgliede darauf. (My husband is Lutheran. I am Catholic. We both are members there)
[Ford goes to the Lutheran side. The Pfarrer greets him after the service]
Welcome to our church. I hear you came from Ulster in Ireland. You seem to be having problems there. Maybe you will have religious peace; it took us a hundred years.
Ford: this is a very interesting church. Maybe we will eventually have peace. But I’m not from Ulster. I am from Tennessee originally.
[They return from church. Sophie introduces him to the other guests] Here are Johan and Frieda, and this is Heinrich. And this is our daughter Helga. She is in the third year of gymnasium. She will be helping with the meals when Johan is called to the reserve camp. Sunday dinner of Schweinebraten and red cabbage is served at three.
Ford: This is delicious
Ludwig: I’m glad you liked it. I do most of the cooking myself.
Helga: I have a suggestion. Ireland can be like the church here. There can be a Protestant Ireland and a Catholic Ireland in one island. The Catholics would be independent of the English, and the Protestants would be independent of the Catholics.
Ford: Have you been studying English history? That might work. Which church do you go to?
Helga: I have been alternating. Now that I’m sixteen, I don’t go that much.
[Next morning at breakfast] Ludwig: what are your plans for today?
Ford: I will be taking the train to Munich and back. I want to check out the Hofbrauhaus.
Sophie: You could have stayed another day for the same price, but it is just as well.
Ludwig will be going to the reserves camp tomorrow. Have a safe trip.
Ford: I wish Ludwig a safe camp.
Ford: that was a good breakfast. I will be checking out now.
Sophie: He is too old for the infantry. He just does the cooking.
[Ford drives through Munich, and crosses the border into Austria. Passing through Salzburg, he arrives in Steyr in the evening.]
Ferenc: Parties in Austria want us to go to war over the assassination. Some of Kaiser Wilhelm’s people are egging them on. We in Hungary don’t think we should go to war.
Ford: I hope you can avoid war. Let us pray for peace.
POD
Kitchener: Since you are already procuring your own uniforms, you request is granted.
Carson: Are we going to have our own artillery?
Kitchener: You’re not trained for it. You will have artillery from England.
[The Somme: Before dawn July 1st 1916. The daily British artillery barrage has begun. Bernard and Crozier are talking.]
Bernard: if the division on our right fails to take Thiepval, our flank will be in the air.
We should change our orders if the village is still in German hands.
Crozier: Do you agree that we should ignore orders and accompany our men in the first assault.
Bernard: Agreed, and I hope this war will settle the Irish question.
[At dawn the padre reads.] Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night, nor the arrow, which flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come near thee. And we must all pray for Maggie that brave motorcycle rider, who was so helpful during our Ulster crisis. O God our help in ages past, we pray that she has a safe delivery of her twins.
[06:00: Billy McFadzean of the Belfast Young Citizens battalion is distributing boxes of hand grenades. Suddenly, a box of grenades falls to the floor. Two pins come out.]
A voice: Uh oh.
[Billy falls on the two grenades, and they go off.]
A comrade: There is not enough left of Billy to bury him. He gave is life for us. This is King Billy’s day. Let us win for Billy McFadzean and King Billy.
[06:15 Breakfast is served, bangers and oatmeal. Rum is served along with the tea.
Ford: We don’t usually serve alcohol in the morning.
Officer: We have been serving issuing rum for a long time. This is a special day.
Ford: You seem to be a very sharp group. I’ll have a drink myself.
[07:00 The Ulster Division forms up in Thiepval Wood ahead of the British trenches and fairly close to the German front line.]
These are the formations:
Left of Ancre: 108th Brigade Right of Ancre 108th Brigade
Mid Antrim RIR, Armagh, Monaghan RIR 11th Btn RIR South Antrim, 13th Btn Down
Right of Ancre: 109th Brigade 9th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Tyrone, 10th RIF Derry
11th RIF Donegal, Fermanagh, 14th RIR Young Belfast
15th RIR N Belfast Volunteers of 17th brigade in support
In rear 107th Brigade 8th Royal Irish Rifles E Belfast Volunteers, 9th RIR W Belfast
, 10th RIR S Belfast
[07:30: The barrage lifts toward the German rear, whistles blow, and the men rise up from their positions. They walk at first] Bell: When we get within fifty yards, we’ll start running.
Ford: I have an idea. Do you know of the rebel yell, or a shout like it?
Bell: That ‘s a great idea. I’ll pass it on.
The Ulsters yell and shout “No surrender”, and break into a charge.
In many places they reach the enemy trenches, before the Germans can come up.
Soldiers: Come out with your hand up.
Germans: Kamerad!
[In other places along the line, the Germans surrender after a brief fight.
On either side of the Ulster Division it’s a different story. On the right, the Salford Pals and Newcastle Commercials of the 32nd Division attack as ordered. Marching slowly and covering more of no man’s land, they are cut down before they reach Thiepval. The commanding officers issue an order] There shall be no further attacks. [And on the left, the 29th Division also fails to advance. Because it fails to advance, the two battalions north of the Ancre do not make much progress. Robert Quigg along with his commanding officer, Lieutenant McNaghten of the Mid Antrim Battalion advance three times, only to be driven back. McNaghten does not come back. The Armagh Monaghan Battalion gains a foothold in the German line, but is also driven back. The 13th County Down Volunteers battalion just to the right of the Ancre is also hit hard. Lieutenant Fullerton is its only unscathed officer.] We can’t go on this way, to the right.
[German first trench, 08:30: Francis Thornley of the South Antrim battalion leads the way to the next trenches] Charge! Other soldiers: Remember the Boyne! No surrender. [With the mortar bombers going on before, they begin to take the second line of trenches. The Tyrone battalion on the extreme right comes under flanking fire from the machine guns at Thiepval, but continues to move forward. Captain Bell creeps toward a machine gunner and shoots him. He later advances with a mortar gun. He shoots mortar bombs at the next line of trenches.] Bell: Damn, the gun is jammed. I’ll have to throw the bombs by hand. Ford, pass me the mortar bombs, and I’ll throw them.
[Ford collects bombs from the soldiers, who have one each, and passes them to Bell.
They are now getting into Feste Schwaben.
[He throws several bombs into the trenches. Meanwhile, the Belfast battalions are advancing from their positions. The Thiepval machine gunners pound the South Belfast Volunteers under colonel Bernard.] Bernard: I’m hit. You should move toward the left. [Bernard falls. As they move toward the left, the West Belfast also begins to waver. Major Gaffikin waves the orange sash.] Come on boys, no surrender.
[The 107th Brigade presses on to the German front lines. Colonel Crozier sets up his headquarters here. They then join up with soldiers from the 108th and 109th brigades and pour into the Schwaben. Ford and his comrades throw grenades at the Germans, who throw grenades of their own] Soldier: this is a Belfast riot on Vesuvius.
[After a bloody mess of hand to hand fighting, they secure the redoubt.]
Germans: Kamerad.
[They take five hundred prisoners. With one guard to sixteen prisoners they send them back through the fire of no man’s land]
Prisoner: Can’t we just lie here until things quiet down?
Guard: Keep going to our lines. They will take care of you.
[Gaffikin and Thornley discuss what to do next.
Gaffikin: Our next objective is Stuff Redoubt on D line.
Thornley: I think we should also send a patrol to our right.
[A patrol goes to the right, and encounters an empty trench.]
Soldier: Should we go on?
Corporal: We don’t have enough men with us; it could be full of Germans around the corner.
POD 2
[The patrol turns back. But the Ulsters advance toward the D line.
Meanwhile, General Hubert Gough of the Reserve Army is waiting with his cavalry.
He telephones General Rawlinson.]
The 18th and 30th divisions on our right have taken all their objectives, and the country appears to be open. Should I advance now?
Rawlinson: you are to advance only in the center
Gough to himself: The 29th, 32nd, and 34th divisions have been stopped dead. Where can my cavalry advance?
Messenger on telephone: The Ulster Division has taken the Schwaben redoubt and is advancing toward the fourth German line.
Gough: Now, my horses can go.
[Back to the advancing Ulsters]
Gaffikin: Although we are almost at the Stuff redoubt in the fourth line, it is very quiet
There don’t seem to be any soldiers about.
Ford: I can imagine the people saying, ‘nobody here but us cooks’.
[A shell falls.]
Soldier I’m hit.
Gaffikin: It looks like the Jerries caught us by surprise.
Thornley, looking at direction of fire: These are our own guns.
C.C. Craig, brother of James Craig, looking at watch: We are ten minutes ahead of schedule.
Gaffikin: We need to get into the trench. The German guns will soon be aiming at us too.
[While the rear party moves back away from the firing, the forward party storms the trench]
Germans: Kamerad, wir sind nur Koecher.
[There are cooks and orderlies, of the Bavarian 10th Division and an artillery observer, but no armed soldiers. Ludwig is a cook.]
Gaffikin: We have only forty men here; the rest of the party has fallen back under our fire. If we don’t get reinforcements, we will have to withdraw. It won’t be long before they counterattack.]
Ford: I’m hungry. If you are cooks, can you get us some food and water?
Gaffikin: Are you nuts? They may poison us.
Thornley: I think its OK. We will just eat their tinned food.
We will keep a lookout for any Germans coming.
Ludwig: Be my guest.
[The cooks prepare coffee and some tinned stew]
Gaffikin: If you poison us you’ll pay dearly.
[They begin to eat the meal. The British fill their canteens with water.
Thornley: The stuff that happens here, stays in Stuff.
Koch; Ja, Die Staub dass hier geschiet, bleibt hier.
Craig: Man sagt dass Ihr um Frieden bittet.
Ludwig: The war has lasted long enough.
[They are halfway through the lunch when the lookout calls.]
The Germans are coming. It looks like hundreds of them.
Gaffikin: Fall back to the Schwaben.
Ford to Germans: We can’t take you with us. Sorry to eat and run. It was nice to eat with you.
[The men fall back to the Schwaben Redoubt.
The British artillery keeps the Germans at bay for a while. Along the way, Craig is wounded in the leg. They leave him in a shell hole, where he is taken prisoner.]
Ford: The Germans thought they could trap us in their trench
Thornley: We did not just get drinking water; we can use it for our machine guns.
Gaffiken: If this ever gets out, there will be courts martial galore on both sides. It’s not like Christmas of 1914.
[When they get back to the Schwaben, they get an order not to advance beyond the Schwaben. They have received to late. Major Peacocke made it to the Schwaben from the British front lines. He becomes the senior officer present.
Peacocke: How is the situation?
Adjutant: It is not looking very good. The Germans have begun to counter attack, our men have begun to withdraw from their farthest gains, and we can’t get any reinforcements through the machine guns at Thiepval.
Peacocke: Send word to GHQ that the artillery must silence the machine guns at Thiepval.
[A messenger braves no man’s land to deliver the message to headquarters.]
Staff: We can’t direct our artillery there. We heard that there are British troops in Thiepval.
[Gough is still waiting, when he receives messages] The 36th division has been stopped by artillery. And they can’t get any reinforcements.
Gough: I would not go against the Ulsters at the Curragh. Today I can’t go with them at the Somme.
The first POD is the Ulster Division's not getting their own artilery. In two instances the english artilery let the 36th Division down. Firstly, according to the received opinion, the English artilery was shelling the Ulsters when they were at the Stuff Redoubt. And then the English artilery refused to silence the machine guns at Thiepval which were giving them such a hard time.
If the UD had their own artilery, they would have been better coordinated, and not run into friendly fire. Second, they would not have hesitated to silence the machine guns at Thiepval.
In TTL the Ulsters would have been able to get into Feste Stauben with greater numbers, and could have held it untl reinforcements arrived. And if the patrol had gone to the right in greater force and/or the machine guns at Thiepval had been silenced, the English could have sent the reinforcements. If the Ulsters were still holding Stuff, when the reinforcements arrived, theBritish would have had a deep rnd wide breakthrough. With this breakthrough Gough with his cavalry could have rolled up a large part of the German line. with this victory, the English would hve been more willing to accept the German peace feelers.
[Hamburg, February 26th 1914: Crawford meets arms dealer Bruno Spiro and Edith Kanzki, his secretary and interpreter.]
Spiro: Ich werde 11,000 neue Steyr Gewehre, und 9,000 Mauser Gewehre verkaufen. Auch werde ich 4,600 Vetterli Gewehre liefern, welche Sie schon gekauft haben.
Kanzki: I will sell 11,000 new Steyr rifles, and 9,000 Mauser rifles. I will also deliver 4,600 Vetterli rifles, which you have already bought. I will also sell two million rounds of ammunition. The total price will be L 45,640. It will also cost L 5,000 to buy a steamer and pay for the packing and other expenses.
Crawford: I want each rifle to be wrapped up with one hundred rounds of ammunition,
Hamburg, June 16th, 16:00: He calls at Bruno Spiro’s office.]
Spiro: Willkommen! Haben Sie gut gereist?
Edith Kanski translates: Welcome to Hamburg, did you have a good trip?
Ford: I had a nice trip, but I’m getting tired of all these cranes, and deposits.
Edith: Do you have a place to stay?
Ford: As I’m planning to stay for a week, I can brush up on my German. Do you know of a good pension?
Edith: There is one at the Gaensemarkt. I will connect you.
Ford: I came here, Herr Spiro to deliver a letter of sponsorship for you. If you ever get into trouble with the German authorities, take it to the British Consulate. This will allow you and your family to emigrate to England.
Spiro: It may not help. Germany has a war plan, and I’m afraid it may be compromised. Britain may use it as a pretext to get into a war with Germany. If we are at war, I don’t think the English will take me in.
Ford: Maybe you should warn the government about your apprehensions. Then Germany might change her plans and call off the war.
Spiro: I wish.
Ford: You are Jewish. I was thinking that Germany might do something really stupid.
Spiro: The Germans here are quite tolerant of the Jews.
Ford: This tolerance could change after a war. Keep the letter just in case.
Spiro: Thank you for your consideration. We made need this letter someday.
[The telephone rings. Edith picks it up]
Edith: You have a room at the pension.
Ford: Ask how much a room is for three nights, and if there is a place to park my car.
Edith: Would like to have lunch with me tomorrow?
[Ford drives to the pension and checks in. He meets Edith for lunch, and then they go out on the Alster. Ford practices his German with her.]
Edith: Hast du eine Freundin?
Ford: Ja, aber nicht verlobt. Die Frauen hier sind mehr offen als in England.
Edith: There is also a nude beach we could go to.
Ford: I’ll pass on that one, thank you.
[He drops her off and they say goodbye.
Ford: Wiedersehen.
Edith: Goodbye, where are you going next?
Ford: I’m going to Augsburg. Since it’s an important Protestant city, I want to go to church there.
Edith: They have a religious peace festival in August. Bon Voyage.
[Ford leaves Hamburg on Friday afternoon and spends the night in Hanover.
He arrives in Augsburg on Saturday evening and checks into a pension.]
Clerk: Willkommen, and how long do you plan to stay.
Ford: I will be leaving on Thursday. I want to be in Steyr Austria on Friday.
Clerk: That will be n marks. We are serving the Saturday Eintopf. Help yourself. My name is Ludwig Scholl. I am named for our king.
Ford: I thought the Kaiser was Wilhehm.
Ludwig: Wilhelm is der Kaiser, aber wir haben unser eigenen Koenig.
[Augsburg: June 21st 08:00:] Innkeeper’s wife: Guten
Morgen. Ich heiss Sopie Scholl. Wir habenVollkornbrot mit Konfiture, Oranjensaft, und Speck.
(Good Morning. We have whole grain bread and jelly, orange juice and bacon.)
Ford: That was a good breakfast.
Wife: I’m glad you liked it. Would you like to go to church? We go to Heilig Kreuz Kirche. It is two churches in one. Mein Mann ist Evangelicsh. Ich bin Katolisch. Wir beiden sind mitgliede darauf. (My husband is Lutheran. I am Catholic. We both are members there)
[Ford goes to the Lutheran side. The Pfarrer greets him after the service]
Welcome to our church. I hear you came from Ulster in Ireland. You seem to be having problems there. Maybe you will have religious peace; it took us a hundred years.
Ford: this is a very interesting church. Maybe we will eventually have peace. But I’m not from Ulster. I am from Tennessee originally.
[They return from church. Sophie introduces him to the other guests] Here are Johan and Frieda, and this is Heinrich. And this is our daughter Helga. She is in the third year of gymnasium. She will be helping with the meals when Johan is called to the reserve camp. Sunday dinner of Schweinebraten and red cabbage is served at three.
Ford: This is delicious
Ludwig: I’m glad you liked it. I do most of the cooking myself.
Helga: I have a suggestion. Ireland can be like the church here. There can be a Protestant Ireland and a Catholic Ireland in one island. The Catholics would be independent of the English, and the Protestants would be independent of the Catholics.
Ford: Have you been studying English history? That might work. Which church do you go to?
Helga: I have been alternating. Now that I’m sixteen, I don’t go that much.
[Next morning at breakfast] Ludwig: what are your plans for today?
Ford: I will be taking the train to Munich and back. I want to check out the Hofbrauhaus.
Sophie: You could have stayed another day for the same price, but it is just as well.
Ludwig will be going to the reserves camp tomorrow. Have a safe trip.
Ford: I wish Ludwig a safe camp.
Ford: that was a good breakfast. I will be checking out now.
Sophie: He is too old for the infantry. He just does the cooking.
[Ford drives through Munich, and crosses the border into Austria. Passing through Salzburg, he arrives in Steyr in the evening.]
Ferenc: Parties in Austria want us to go to war over the assassination. Some of Kaiser Wilhelm’s people are egging them on. We in Hungary don’t think we should go to war.
Ford: I hope you can avoid war. Let us pray for peace.
POD
Kitchener: Since you are already procuring your own uniforms, you request is granted.
Carson: Are we going to have our own artillery?
Kitchener: You’re not trained for it. You will have artillery from England.
[The Somme: Before dawn July 1st 1916. The daily British artillery barrage has begun. Bernard and Crozier are talking.]
Bernard: if the division on our right fails to take Thiepval, our flank will be in the air.
We should change our orders if the village is still in German hands.
Crozier: Do you agree that we should ignore orders and accompany our men in the first assault.
Bernard: Agreed, and I hope this war will settle the Irish question.
[At dawn the padre reads.] Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night, nor the arrow, which flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come near thee. And we must all pray for Maggie that brave motorcycle rider, who was so helpful during our Ulster crisis. O God our help in ages past, we pray that she has a safe delivery of her twins.
[06:00: Billy McFadzean of the Belfast Young Citizens battalion is distributing boxes of hand grenades. Suddenly, a box of grenades falls to the floor. Two pins come out.]
A voice: Uh oh.
[Billy falls on the two grenades, and they go off.]
A comrade: There is not enough left of Billy to bury him. He gave is life for us. This is King Billy’s day. Let us win for Billy McFadzean and King Billy.
[06:15 Breakfast is served, bangers and oatmeal. Rum is served along with the tea.
Ford: We don’t usually serve alcohol in the morning.
Officer: We have been serving issuing rum for a long time. This is a special day.
Ford: You seem to be a very sharp group. I’ll have a drink myself.
[07:00 The Ulster Division forms up in Thiepval Wood ahead of the British trenches and fairly close to the German front line.]
These are the formations:
Left of Ancre: 108th Brigade Right of Ancre 108th Brigade
Mid Antrim RIR, Armagh, Monaghan RIR 11th Btn RIR South Antrim, 13th Btn Down
Right of Ancre: 109th Brigade 9th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Tyrone, 10th RIF Derry
11th RIF Donegal, Fermanagh, 14th RIR Young Belfast
15th RIR N Belfast Volunteers of 17th brigade in support
In rear 107th Brigade 8th Royal Irish Rifles E Belfast Volunteers, 9th RIR W Belfast
, 10th RIR S Belfast
[07:30: The barrage lifts toward the German rear, whistles blow, and the men rise up from their positions. They walk at first] Bell: When we get within fifty yards, we’ll start running.
Ford: I have an idea. Do you know of the rebel yell, or a shout like it?
Bell: That ‘s a great idea. I’ll pass it on.
The Ulsters yell and shout “No surrender”, and break into a charge.
In many places they reach the enemy trenches, before the Germans can come up.
Soldiers: Come out with your hand up.
Germans: Kamerad!
[In other places along the line, the Germans surrender after a brief fight.
On either side of the Ulster Division it’s a different story. On the right, the Salford Pals and Newcastle Commercials of the 32nd Division attack as ordered. Marching slowly and covering more of no man’s land, they are cut down before they reach Thiepval. The commanding officers issue an order] There shall be no further attacks. [And on the left, the 29th Division also fails to advance. Because it fails to advance, the two battalions north of the Ancre do not make much progress. Robert Quigg along with his commanding officer, Lieutenant McNaghten of the Mid Antrim Battalion advance three times, only to be driven back. McNaghten does not come back. The Armagh Monaghan Battalion gains a foothold in the German line, but is also driven back. The 13th County Down Volunteers battalion just to the right of the Ancre is also hit hard. Lieutenant Fullerton is its only unscathed officer.] We can’t go on this way, to the right.
[German first trench, 08:30: Francis Thornley of the South Antrim battalion leads the way to the next trenches] Charge! Other soldiers: Remember the Boyne! No surrender. [With the mortar bombers going on before, they begin to take the second line of trenches. The Tyrone battalion on the extreme right comes under flanking fire from the machine guns at Thiepval, but continues to move forward. Captain Bell creeps toward a machine gunner and shoots him. He later advances with a mortar gun. He shoots mortar bombs at the next line of trenches.] Bell: Damn, the gun is jammed. I’ll have to throw the bombs by hand. Ford, pass me the mortar bombs, and I’ll throw them.
[Ford collects bombs from the soldiers, who have one each, and passes them to Bell.
They are now getting into Feste Schwaben.
[He throws several bombs into the trenches. Meanwhile, the Belfast battalions are advancing from their positions. The Thiepval machine gunners pound the South Belfast Volunteers under colonel Bernard.] Bernard: I’m hit. You should move toward the left. [Bernard falls. As they move toward the left, the West Belfast also begins to waver. Major Gaffikin waves the orange sash.] Come on boys, no surrender.
[The 107th Brigade presses on to the German front lines. Colonel Crozier sets up his headquarters here. They then join up with soldiers from the 108th and 109th brigades and pour into the Schwaben. Ford and his comrades throw grenades at the Germans, who throw grenades of their own] Soldier: this is a Belfast riot on Vesuvius.
[After a bloody mess of hand to hand fighting, they secure the redoubt.]
Germans: Kamerad.
[They take five hundred prisoners. With one guard to sixteen prisoners they send them back through the fire of no man’s land]
Prisoner: Can’t we just lie here until things quiet down?
Guard: Keep going to our lines. They will take care of you.
[Gaffikin and Thornley discuss what to do next.
Gaffikin: Our next objective is Stuff Redoubt on D line.
Thornley: I think we should also send a patrol to our right.
[A patrol goes to the right, and encounters an empty trench.]
Soldier: Should we go on?
Corporal: We don’t have enough men with us; it could be full of Germans around the corner.
POD 2
[The patrol turns back. But the Ulsters advance toward the D line.
Meanwhile, General Hubert Gough of the Reserve Army is waiting with his cavalry.
He telephones General Rawlinson.]
The 18th and 30th divisions on our right have taken all their objectives, and the country appears to be open. Should I advance now?
Rawlinson: you are to advance only in the center
Gough to himself: The 29th, 32nd, and 34th divisions have been stopped dead. Where can my cavalry advance?
Messenger on telephone: The Ulster Division has taken the Schwaben redoubt and is advancing toward the fourth German line.
Gough: Now, my horses can go.
[Back to the advancing Ulsters]
Gaffikin: Although we are almost at the Stuff redoubt in the fourth line, it is very quiet
There don’t seem to be any soldiers about.
Ford: I can imagine the people saying, ‘nobody here but us cooks’.
[A shell falls.]
Soldier I’m hit.
Gaffikin: It looks like the Jerries caught us by surprise.
Thornley, looking at direction of fire: These are our own guns.
C.C. Craig, brother of James Craig, looking at watch: We are ten minutes ahead of schedule.
Gaffikin: We need to get into the trench. The German guns will soon be aiming at us too.
[While the rear party moves back away from the firing, the forward party storms the trench]
Germans: Kamerad, wir sind nur Koecher.
[There are cooks and orderlies, of the Bavarian 10th Division and an artillery observer, but no armed soldiers. Ludwig is a cook.]
Gaffikin: We have only forty men here; the rest of the party has fallen back under our fire. If we don’t get reinforcements, we will have to withdraw. It won’t be long before they counterattack.]
Ford: I’m hungry. If you are cooks, can you get us some food and water?
Gaffikin: Are you nuts? They may poison us.
Thornley: I think its OK. We will just eat their tinned food.
We will keep a lookout for any Germans coming.
Ludwig: Be my guest.
[The cooks prepare coffee and some tinned stew]
Gaffikin: If you poison us you’ll pay dearly.
[They begin to eat the meal. The British fill their canteens with water.
Thornley: The stuff that happens here, stays in Stuff.
Koch; Ja, Die Staub dass hier geschiet, bleibt hier.
Craig: Man sagt dass Ihr um Frieden bittet.
Ludwig: The war has lasted long enough.
[They are halfway through the lunch when the lookout calls.]
The Germans are coming. It looks like hundreds of them.
Gaffikin: Fall back to the Schwaben.
Ford to Germans: We can’t take you with us. Sorry to eat and run. It was nice to eat with you.
[The men fall back to the Schwaben Redoubt.
The British artillery keeps the Germans at bay for a while. Along the way, Craig is wounded in the leg. They leave him in a shell hole, where he is taken prisoner.]
Ford: The Germans thought they could trap us in their trench
Thornley: We did not just get drinking water; we can use it for our machine guns.
Gaffiken: If this ever gets out, there will be courts martial galore on both sides. It’s not like Christmas of 1914.
[When they get back to the Schwaben, they get an order not to advance beyond the Schwaben. They have received to late. Major Peacocke made it to the Schwaben from the British front lines. He becomes the senior officer present.
Peacocke: How is the situation?
Adjutant: It is not looking very good. The Germans have begun to counter attack, our men have begun to withdraw from their farthest gains, and we can’t get any reinforcements through the machine guns at Thiepval.
Peacocke: Send word to GHQ that the artillery must silence the machine guns at Thiepval.
[A messenger braves no man’s land to deliver the message to headquarters.]
Staff: We can’t direct our artillery there. We heard that there are British troops in Thiepval.
[Gough is still waiting, when he receives messages] The 36th division has been stopped by artillery. And they can’t get any reinforcements.
Gough: I would not go against the Ulsters at the Curragh. Today I can’t go with them at the Somme.
The first POD is the Ulster Division's not getting their own artilery. In two instances the english artilery let the 36th Division down. Firstly, according to the received opinion, the English artilery was shelling the Ulsters when they were at the Stuff Redoubt. And then the English artilery refused to silence the machine guns at Thiepval which were giving them such a hard time.
If the UD had their own artilery, they would have been better coordinated, and not run into friendly fire. Second, they would not have hesitated to silence the machine guns at Thiepval.
In TTL the Ulsters would have been able to get into Feste Stauben with greater numbers, and could have held it untl reinforcements arrived. And if the patrol had gone to the right in greater force and/or the machine guns at Thiepval had been silenced, the English could have sent the reinforcements. If the Ulsters were still holding Stuff, when the reinforcements arrived, theBritish would have had a deep rnd wide breakthrough. With this breakthrough Gough with his cavalry could have rolled up a large part of the German line. with this victory, the English would hve been more willing to accept the German peace feelers.