When the Somme Ran Red

The ’Tykes’ of the light infantry during the Great WarThis book was written during wartime by a gassed British infantry officer incapacitated and no longer fit for service in the trenches. Dugmore was an unusual soldier who would normally have been considered too old for front line duties from the outset. He was already well into middle age at the outbreak of hostilities having spent a career as a naturalist and sportsman and it was only due to influential friends that he managed to obtain a commission in an infantry regiment-the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Yet this was not his first experience of the Western Front. As the German Army swept into Belgium, the civilian Dugmore-armed only with a cine camera-travelled to the front as the small Belgian Army vainly attempted to stem the advance, to experience the war at first hand. His account of this early stage of the war makes unusual and fascinating reading. After joining the army, the author joined his regiment serving in the trenches during the period leading towards the First Battle of the Somme in 1916 and it is this and his time during the battle itself that are the principal subjects in this account. Dugmore’s book is, of course, full of admiration for the Yorkshiremen with whom he served and he gives much detail about trench warfare as well as valuable insights into the Somme attack, its consequences and dreadful aftermath. Available in softcover and hardcover with dustjacket.