Third Year Battlefields trip

Last weekend, a group of 36 Third Year students and staff had an early 4.30am start to travel to the Somme and visit a First World War battlefield. 

The group had a special guest with them – Andy Robertshaw, a military historian and advisor on films such as War Horse and 1917 – whose knowledge really brought the sites to life. 

At one point the students stood in the “Sunken Lane” near the village of Hamel, where the front line ran in 1916. Andy showed them a photograph of troops waiting to attack in that very spot the day before the first day of the Somme on 1 July 1916. Each student was then given an envelope containing the personal details of one of the soldiers in the photograph, and what subsequently happened to them, which they then opened at the same time. It was a poignant moment in which a battle which involved hundreds of thousands of troops was brought down to the level of individuals.  

Other sites visited included the Thiepval Memorial, a huge arch which is inscribed with all the names of the 70,000 allied soldiers who died on the Somme and who have no marked grave.  

The group was able to find a name belonging to alumnus Percy Boswell who left Trinity School in 1912, and who was killed on 1 July 1916. A copy of the letter which he wrote to his parents the night before he died is below. He said, “The Hun is going to get consummate hell just in this quarter and we are going over the top tomorrow when I hope to spend a few merry hours in chasing the Bosch all over the place. I am absolutely certain that I shall get through all right, but in case the unexpected happens I shall rest content with the knowledge that I have done my duty – and one can’t do more.”

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Andy Robertshaw runs the Centre for Experimental Military Archeology (CEMA) in Kent, where he has built a replica WWI trench system based on Railway Wood, Ypres. The History Department take the Junior Year to CEMA every Autumn Field Day as it’s a fascinating day out, and highly recommended. Andy has invited the Trinity Community to one of the free Public Open days in August and September, see details below.