Newfoundland Memorial Park, Beaumont Hamel, France
Newfoundland Memorial Park is a site on the Somme battlefield near to Beaumont Hamel. The land was bought by the Canadian government after the First World War. It was named after the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, which had provided one battalion of 800 men to serve with the British and Commonwealth Armies. It's tragic part in the action of 1st July 1916 is remembered through this memorial park. The site is also a memorial to all the Newfoundlanders who fought in the First World War, most particularly those who have no known grave.
The park does, nevertheless, preserve the memory of the men of the many other regiments from the French, British and German Armies who fought and died on this part of the Somme battleground from September 1914 into 1918.
The Newfoundland Memorial Park was opened on 7th June 1925 by Field Marshal Earl Haig. Newfoundland Park is one of only two Canadian National Historic Sites outside Canada. The other National Historic Site is also in France at Vimy Ridge. The landscape architect for the design of the park was R H K Cochius.
Dedication Stone
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At the entrance to the park there is a bronze cast with the following words inscribed on it:
Tread softly here! Go reverently and slow!
Yea, let your soul go down upon its knees,
And with bowed head and heart abased strive hard
To grasp the future gain in this sore loss!
For not one foot of this dank sod but drank
Its surfeit of the blood of gallant men.
Who, for their faith, their hope,—for Life and Liberty,
Here made the sacrifice,—here gave their lives.
And gave right willingly—for you and me.
From this vast altar—pile the souls of men
Sped up to God in countless multitudes:
On this grim cratered ridge they gave their all.
And, giving, won
The peace of Heaven and Immortality.
Our hearts go out to them in boundless gratitude:
If ours—then God's: for His vast charity
All sees, all knows, all comprehends—save bounds.
He has repaid their sacrifice:—and we—?
God help us if we fail to pay our debt
In fullest full and unstintingly!
Memorial to the 29th Division
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On the morning of 1st July 1916, as the Battle of the Somme began, the 29th Division was in action on the British Front Line in the location which is now Newfoundland Memorial Park. The division suffered a high number of casualties as a result of the success of the German defence in this sector. Many were cut down before they got anywhere near the German Front Line. Many were killed and wounded as they moved forward from the rear of the Front Line to follow on in the attack.
The divisional badge was a red triangle.
In Action at Gallipoli, 25th April 1915 - 8th January 1916
The 29th Division was formed up in the United Kingdom between January and March 1915. In mid March it was sent to Egypt, from where it sailed to take part in the Gallipoli Campaign, landing at Cape Helles on 25th April 1915. After 8 months of fighting in the Gallipoli Penninsular the 29th Division left Gallipoli on 7th and 8th January 1916, as part of the secret, silent evacuation of British troops from this fighting front. After a few weeks in Egypt the Division was ordered to move to the Western Front.
29th Division Arrives on the Somme Battlefront, March 1916
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Passing through the Mediterranean port of Marseilles the 29th Division arrived in the rear of the Somme battle front from 15th to 29th March 1916. From this time the Division was put into the British Front in the area north of the Ancre River, near to the German-held village of Beaumont Hamel. For the following three months the battalions in the Division spent their time doing tours of trenches and training behind the lines to prepare for the large British offensive against the German position planned for the end of June.
29th Division in the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916
Following a 7 day artillery bombardment of the German Front and Rear areas, the battalions of the 29th Division were in position in their Assembly Trenches in the early hours of Saturday 1st July. At 07.20 hours the huge Hawthorn mine was blown on the left of the division's position. The leading battalions in the attack left the British Front Line trench at 07.30 hours.
The Caribou Memorial
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The Caribou is one of 5 such memorials on the Western Front which commemorate the location where the 1st Battalion of the Newfoundland Regiment was in action. The caribou is the emblem of the Newfoundland Regiment. The sculptor of the bronze caribou was an Englishman called Basil Gotto.
The Caribou Memorial is situated on the high ground at the western side of the park, behind the British July 1916 Front Line, from where the 1st Battalion the Newfoundland Regiment began it's advance into the attack on that fateful morning. The shrubs around the rocks are native plants from Newfoundland.
At the base of the Caribou there are three bronze panels listing 814 names for the Memorial to the Newfoundlanders Missing. These are Newfoundlanders who died on land and at sea in the First World War and who have no known graves.
The Caribou can be accessed by a path and there is an orientation table giving an overview of the park. From here there is an excellent view of the Memorial Park and across the landscape to Beaumont village and to Thiepval on the high ground of the southern bank of the Ancre River.
5 Caribou Memorials on the Western Front
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- Newfoundland Memorial Park, Somme battlefield near Beaumont Hamel
- Geudecourt (1916), Somme battlefield near Bapaume
- Harelbeke (1918), near Courtrai (Kortrijk)
- Masnières (1918), near Cambrai
- Monchy-le-Preux, near Arras
Military Cemeteries
There are three cemeteries in the memorial park:
Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 2
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51st (Highland) Division Memorial
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On 13th November 1916 the village of Beaumont Hamel was attacked and captured by the 51st (Highland) Division. The memorial was unveiled in 1924 and is a sculptured statue of a Scottish soldier in his kilt. He looks across the landscape over the Y Ravine and beyond the German Front Line where this successful action broke through.
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The sculptor was George Harry Paulin, A.R.S.A.,F.R.B.S. (1888-1962). The title of the sculpture was “Bronze Statuette - Memorial to 51st Highland Division at Beaumont Hamel 1924”. The model for the sculpture was a Company Sergeant Major in the Division.
Y Ravine - the Leiling Stollen
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The German regiment in the line at Beaumont Hamel was the 119 Reserve Infantry Regiment. The regiment had arrived in this sector in late September 1914, at which time it been engaged in a fight with the French Army. In August 1915 the French Army left this sector and the British Army took over. 119 Reserve Infantry Regiment, however, held this part of the German Front Line for 19 months as part of the 26th Reserve Division before the Battle of the Somme began on 1st July 1916.
The men of the 119 Reserve Infantry Regiment were recruited mainly from a mining area in the German occupied province of Lorraine. As a result of their skills at mining they spent much of their time developing the sector's defences. They dug a number of large bunkers and protective man-made caverns, called “Stollen” or “Feste”, into the chalk landscape around Beaumont Hamel village. South of the village, one of these large bunkers was the Leiling Stollen. It was built into the natural feature of a Y shaped ravine within the area of the German Front Line. The name Leiling was given to the bunker after Hauptmann Leiling, one of the German captains in the regiment and designer of the bunker.
The German Front Line in this part of the sector at Y Ravine was situated at the bottom of a gentle slope. The British Front Line was situated a few hundred metres away on the higher ground of the slope. In spite of the pounding of the German Line by the 7 day British artillery bombardment before the attack on 1st July most of the German soldiers had survived the shelling by sheltering in their protective bunkers. German accounts state that their nerves were frayed by the end of the 7 days, but their casualties were relatively light. When the British artillery fire was lifted off the German Front Line trenches a few minutes before Zero Hour of 07.30, the German soldiers at the bottom of the hill near Y Ravine were able to get back quickly into their battered trenches and man their machine guns. The British battalions making their way down the slope towards them were plain to see and were fired on by the German defenders as they approached them.
This photograph taken from Y Ravine and the German Front Line clearly shows the slope down which the British battalions of 29th Division had to advance to reach the German Front Line. The British casualties were very heavy. Many never reached the German Front Line.
The men of the Newfoundland Regiment moved forward at about 09.00 hours to follow on behind the leading battalion in the advance of 88th Brigade. Many of them were shot down trying to clamber overground to cover the few yards from where they were in the rear of the British Front Line to start their advance down the hill.
The Danger Tree
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The Danger Tree is a petrified tree and the only original tree in this location to survive the 1914-1918 fighting in this location.
The Visitors' Centre
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The Visitors' Centre was opened on 1st July 2001. The displays within the Centre focus on the historical and social situation of Newfoundland at the start of the 20th century. It covers the history of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment from when it was formed in 1914 to the end of the First World War. There is a Memorial Room in the Centre with a copy of the Newfoundland Book of Remembrance. A number of personalities who served with the Regiment are portrayed along with other memorabilia and short video clips.
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Aerial Photo of the Newfoundland Memorial Park courtesy of Veterans Affairs Canada