Dan Hill
speaker
2,255 appearances
12 recordings
1 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 14 Sep
Dan Hill’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 12 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 5.
Appearances
WW1: Not So Quiet On The Western Front! · Episode 135: The Somme’s Northern Disaster · 6 Jul 2026
podcast
I think at least one of the divisional commanders gets replaced at the end of that day spent.
But both 46th and 56th Divisions are going to suffer really badly as a result of this, and I think actually come in for some undue criticism because the task they were given was never going to be an easy or potentially even achievable one.
In fact, what Comcor really does is it doesn't pin down any troops,
The German defenders there probably pinned down twice as many men as they have themselves.
So it's just heavy loss of life for very little gain, doesn't achieve any surprise, doesn't shift any German reserves elsewhere, and just adds even more to a very, very bloody first aid death toll.
Yeah, and unfortunately, as we move even slightly further south, we're going to see that problem again and again.
And one of the more tragic and I think best known episodes really comes in the shape of the actions in around 31st Division, largely Powell's based division, not exclusively, but largely Powell's based divisions from the north and northwest of England.
The Grimsby's, the Accrington's and the Sheffield Pals, these kind of guys that really we think of most commonly when we talk about the 1st of July.
They're going to be going over the top towards the village of Serre.
Again, another tricky location to attack.
The same spot you can go to today, it was originally four individual copses, is quite often seen as the...
the main part of their front line, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Copses, attacking over a slight but gentle rise into three heavily defended, unsighted German trenches with plenty of wire in front of it and determined defenders with heavy machine guns behind.
who have not been neutralized prior to the attack.
We're talking brand new troops, first time in action, unable to do any of these very complex maneuvers that we see in some areas further to the south.
It's just not a possibility.
You just can't ask troops to do anything too complex in their first time over the top.
And as a result, we're going to see absolute tragedy.
It's, in general, the same pattern repeated north to south across the division's frontage.
Troops going over the top, often being hit as they're leaving their trenches or even in some cases as they're forming up because the element of surprise has so completely gone in this sector that a lot of guys are getting hit before they even go over the top.
So very heavy counter-barrage goes down.
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