This is a nice find from the battlefield which is British 1908 pattern shovel head [en trenching tool] which is in relic condition it is rusty but solid with some rust damage it has been nicely cleaned and is perfect for display or any collection. The shovel was recovered from near the village of Mametz which was part of the German defensive line on 1st July 1916 during the First attack by the British on the first day of the battle of the Somme. This is a very nice relic from a very famous area of The Somme battlefield.The shovel comes with A5 laminated information card.
In June 1916, the British preliminary bombardment cut much of the barbed wire protecting the Mametz defences and destroyed many of the trenches in the first position occupied by Reserve Infantry Regiment 109 of the 28th Reserve Division. On the 1st July 1916 when the British 7th Division advanced behind a creeping barrage, much of the German front line was quickly overrun and many prisoners taken; delays further forward caused the infantry to lag behind the barrage and suffer far more casualties. Mametz was occupied during the morning by the British 20th Brigade but a German counter-attack forced most of the British troops out, until a second attack during the afternoon, when the advance of the British 18th Division on the right flank, had cut the Germans in the village off from Montauban to the east. The German defence collapsed, and the 7th Division reached all its objectives on the right and in the centre and began to consolidate, ready to receive a German counter-attack.
This is a nice find from the battlefield which is British 1908 pattern shovel head [en trenching tool] which is in relic condition it is rusty but solid with some rust damage it has been nicely cleaned and is perfect for display or any collection. The shovel was recovered from near the village of Mametz which was part of the German defensive line on 1st July 1916 during the First attack by the British on the first day of the battle of the Somme. This is a very nice relic from a very famous area of The Somme battlefield.The shovel comes with A5 laminated information card.
In June 1916, the British preliminary bombardment cut much of the barbed wire protecting the Mametz defences and destroyed many of the trenches in the first position occupied by Reserve Infantry Regiment 109 of the 28th Reserve Division. On the 1st July 1916 when the British 7th Division advanced behind a creeping barrage, much of the German front line was quickly overrun and many prisoners taken; delays further forward caused the infantry to lag behind the barrage and suffer far more casualties. Mametz was occupied during the morning by the British 20th Brigade but a German counter-attack forced most of the British troops out, until a second attack during the afternoon, when the advance of the British 18th Division on the right flank, had cut the Germans in the village off from Montauban to the east. The German defence collapsed, and the 7th Division reached all its objectives on the right and in the centre and began to consolidate, ready to receive a German counter-attack.
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