The Northumberland Fusiliers


St Eloi Attack


The momentum of the Fusiliers' attack was slowed by the German barbed wire defences. This illustration shows the determined men trying to get through the wire, suffering torn flesh and clothing. But the attack was before dawn and should not show any daylight. The high parapet of the German trench is nowhere to be seen and the trench itself does not look destroyed as in fact it was. The first Germans they came across were either buried under mud or too dazed to resist but these Germans look as if they are ready to fight, except for the overweight man in a helmet. The Fusiliers themselves are wearing the newly issued steel helmets which replaced the soft khaki forage caps in 1916.


Regimental details


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by Stephen Luscombe