SOMME TUNIC
A wonderfully preserved uniform worn during the campaign in 1916
The first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916 is an infamous event in British military history. In a single day, 57,470 British soldiers became casualties as part of the ‘Big Push’ against German positions in the salient of the River Somme. In the teeth of fierce machine-gun, rifle and artillery fire, troops were cut down in droves with almost 20,000 killed.
One unit that suffered especially high casualties was 2nd Battalion, Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment) during the attack on ‘Mash Valley’ near Ovillers-la-boisselle. Advancing in four waves, its ranks were devastated with all but 51 out of 673 officers and men killed, wounded or missing.
One of the wounded was Captain George Johnson, an experienced Boer War veteran. He was one of the few to reach the second line of German trenches but was forced to retreat with other survivors when his ammunition ran out. Returning to the British trenches after dark, Johnson had been wounded in the chest, pelvis and right forearm. While he was receiving medical attention behind the lines, the right sleeve of his service tunic was cut away before he was evacuated to Britain on 3 July.
Johnson was sent to St Thomas’ Hospital in London where he remained until he was passed for light duties at regimental depots. However, his wounds continued to plague him and he required further operations to remove bullet fragments before he was given a war wound pension in July 1917.
Despite his injuries, Johnson remained in the army until 1921 and died in 1968 at the age of 90.