The Bradford pals

Own West Yorkshire Regiment. Locally it was known as 'The Bradford Pals' and later, when the Citizens' Army League were able to cope with.
Table of contents

• Bradford Pals 1914-1918
• 5 thoughts on “Bradford and the Battle of the Somme, 1st of July 1916”
• The Bradford Pals
• What Happened to the Pals? - Bradford WW1 Group

This original grave marker is unique.

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The one cross has 63 names pinned to it for the men buried in Owl Trench. Casualty rates were tragically high especially amongst the young officers who led their men with such zeal. It is estimated that out of a fighting strength of 24 officers in the 1st Bradford Pals 12 were to die and 10 were wounded.

It is estimated that from Other Ranks, 69 died, declared missing and wounded. From a similar fighting strength in the 2nd Pals, 16 officers and Ors became casualties, of which about 1 in 4 would die. Once the full horror became apparent, the atmosphere in Bradford was one of shock, disbelief and almost overwhelming sorrow. Even those who had escaped personal bereavement could not fail to notice the drawn curtains in the front rooms of houses in every street.

5 thoughts on “Bradford and the Battle of the Somme, 1st of July 1916”

The objective of their attack was the village of Serre where they had been told there would be little resistance. Instead they were met by fire from German machine guns. By the end of the first hour of the battle, men from Bradford were casualties and no ground had been gained. In common with other Northern towns, when war broke out in , friends and work mates in Bradford had rushed to enlist together to form Pals battalions. July 1st is still the most disastrous single day ever experienced by the British army.

The full extent of the tragedy was brought home to Bradford in the following days as the lists of casualties, accompanied by passport-style photographs of the dead, appeared in local newspapers. Click on the 'more' button below to see some of their memories.

On the 7th of August he initiated a volunteer recruitment drive which saw , men enlist in 2 weeks. By mid September nearly , men had volunteered.

By December around 2,, men had volunteered to fight for Britain. Bradford Park Avenue football player, Donald Bell was one of the men who joined at the start of the war. In July , at the Battle of the Somme, the Battalion was placed in reserve near the town of Albert.

On the 5th of July the Battalion was ordered to attack the German Horseshoe trench, coming under heavy machine gun fire. Donald Bell was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery during this attack. He is the only professional football player to be awarded the VC. By February a further men had enlisted. By the end of the first day men were killed or wounded. The 2nd Battalion of Bradford Pals were involved in a trench raid on the evening before the battle.

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In this raid men were killed or wounded. In the first two days of the Somme the Bradford Pals Battalions saw casualties of men, out of an initial men who had joined the battalions. At the outbreak of war Bradford already had its own Territorial Army regiments. The Battalion consisted of mainly textile workers from the local factories, along with Officers from professional backgrounds such as Doctors and Solicitors.

The Battalion met on a weekly basis and Officers and men trained together, forming a strong bond within the Battalion.

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