BOOK REVIEWS
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Beaumont Hamel |
I find the Beaumont Hamel area the most evocative and reflective place on the Somme, so I was very interested to receive this book for review.
There were two main periods of fighting around Beaumont Hamel - 1st July, 1916, and 13th November, 1916. In this book, Nigel Cave begins by giving a brief overview of these two periods. The greater part of the book which follows is a more detailed account, in roughly chronological order, of events in the area, covering the two main periods of fighting of course, but much more.
Nigel Cave has researched and selected his material very well, and the book is designed to make it easy for the reader to understand the full story. The book has 15 maps, and "pull-quotes" in the margins direct the reader to the appropriate one as the stories behind this area unfold. There must be hundreds of photographs, too. There is hardly a double-page spread which doesn't contain at least one photograph or map, and many of the photographs are new to me.
There are places around Beaumont Hamel which have become "historical symbols" of the Somme battles and of the Great War itself and Nigel Cave covers these in great detail - the detonation of the mine under the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt, which "kicked off" the battle of the Somme on 1st July, 1916, and which had its own tragic implications; the story of the Lancashire Fusiliers in the nearby Sunken Road - then and now one of the saddest places on the Somme. It was in and near this road that Geoffrey Malins, the official cinematographer filmed many of the scenes included in the 1916 film, "The Battle of the Somme," including his film of the Hawthorn Ridge mine blowing up - an image which has become one of the great visual icons of the war, and there is a detailed account of Malins's comings and goings in the area on that day.
There is also an account of the tragic events which overtook the Newfoundland Regiment, whose only battalion went into action on 1st July, 1916 just outside Beaumont Hamel. The site of their attack, purchased by the Newfoundland Government after the war, is now known as the Newfoundland Memorial Park and is probably the most visited Great War site on the whole of the old Western Front, (the only other serious contender being the Menin Gate at Ypres.) Here the battlefield was left exactly as it was, and Nigel Cave gives an excellent account of what happened to the Newfoundlanders, plus a very clear interpretation of what is to be seen and learned in this, their memorial.
From here, the Chronological story moves to the events of November, 1916, when the 51st (Highland) Division attacked from the same trenches as the Newfoundlanders, in what was to become known as the Battle of the Ancre and finally captured the village of Beaumont Hamel - ending the Battles of the Somme almost where they had begun.
There are also chapters on the use of tanks at Beaumont Hamel, on one of the most famous and controversial military executions which took place in the area, and more, all meticulously researched and sensitively presented.
This in itself would be enough, but the book is not yet finished. There is a section on the Cemeteries and Memorials to be seen around Beaumont Hamel and then there are details of possible tours, by car or on foot, with references back to the main body of the book. (Tours on foot are a great possibility here, where a lot happened in a very small area.)
All in all, I think that this is an excellent book. It provides a solid body of information for the Great War student reading at a distance, and, when the reader is "in the field" it becomes a very useful guide to the principal places around this tiny village.
"Beaumont Hamel" is one of the "Battleground Europe" series from Pen & Sword Books. This is the first one that I have read, but if Nigel Cave, as General Editor of the series, insists on the same degree of pure, helpful information as he has provided in this book of his own, then the series itself deserves to become an important resource for the general reader and battlefield visitor alike.
BEAUMONT HAMEL (NEWFOUNDLAND PARK)
is published by Leo Cooper, Pen & Sword Books, Ltd.
ISBN 0-85052-398-2
Paperback, 189, pages - maps, photographs
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