Beaumont-Hamel, Somme, France
(Lt. Ernest Brooks / IWM / Getty)
The soldier in this photograph may have viewed his survival as a miraculous intervention. Tragically, seemingly miraculous occurrences were inevitable given the overwhelming number of casualties at the Somme.
He is clutching his MK I helmet, based on the design and patent of John Leopold Brodie. Brodie, born Leopold Janno Braude, was an entrepreneur who had made a fortune in gold and diamond mining. Such helmets were first used by the British Army in combat in the Spring of 1916. Before its introduction, British soldiers would charge at enemy machine guns wearing only cloth caps.
The Somme battle – the largest battle of the First World War – was essentially over by the time this picture was taken in December 1916. It had been fought on the River Somme from July 1 to November 18, with over a million men killed or wounded. It was only with the onset of winter that the battle eventually came to a standstill.
‘The Boche varied from place to place. Just near where we were he was very decent, and sent us in a list of the names of the prisoners he had taken. Afterwards we found that he’d buried our dead and put up crosses to them. “To a brave Englander. To brave English soldiers.” This was a fine thing to have done. They were Bavarians who did this.’
A soldier quoted in The Battle of the Somme, John Masefield, 1919
