By the time it was all over, the Allies would have more than 650,000 soldiers killed, wounded, missing or taken prisoner, and both the Allies and the Germans would each lose about 200,000 lives. July 1 st would only be the first day of more than four brutal months of fighting during the Battle of the Somme, a campaign in which Canada would also see significant action. But this time it was not snow flying all around them-the Newfoundland Regiment would be practically decimated in less than half an hour of intense German fire. As they walked into the hail of machine gun and artillery fire, it was said that many of them tucked their chins in, almost like they were walking into the teeth of a blizzard back home. This gnarled tree was nicknamed the "danger tree" by the Newfoundland troops and it marked the spot where many of them would fall that morning. John’s, NewfoundlandĪs the Newfoundlanders advanced toward the enemy, there was a tree partway down the slope that marked the spot where German fire seemed to become particularly intense. Courtesy of the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL NA-6067), St. A wounded man is brought in at the Battle of the Somme, 1916.
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