Rsearching the French Army on the Somme June/July 1916

[gommecourt]

First can I say how pleased I am to be here and I wish I'd followed the links to the Forum on the Pages 14-18 a long time ago.

I am currently researching a book about the start of the Battle of the Somme which will include, for the first time in English as far as I am aware, a detailed account of the the French Army's part in the attack on 1st July 1916. To date I have translated about 80% of the French infantry, artillery and engineer's War Diaries available on line. I was also able, last month, to copy about 300 pages of the main narrative and annexes of the 'Les Armees Francaises dans la Grande Guerre' relating to the planning and conduct of the attack. The staff at the Historial in Peronne very kindly gave me access to this when I was visiting the French areas of the battlefield in August.

I am still looking for more information. For example:

1. Although I have some trench maps from the on-line diaries and the main map from the AFGG a good sized trench map for both sides of the river would be useful. If anyone can help me find one I would be grateful;
2. I have also been trying to find a copy of Palat's volume of the 'La Grande Guerre sur le front Occidental' which relates to the Somme. I just missed a copy for sale last month. If anyone knows of a copy for sale I would be grateful if they could let me know;
3. On a more detailed note, the reports of the 1st Colonial Corps concerning the attack on 1st July and the diary entry for that date do not appear in the on-line version of the diary. Does anyone know whether this is completely missing or, if it still exists, know where I can find a copy?

If anyone has any other suggestions about sources on this subject I would be very interested to hear of them. I am only sorry I cannot write these requests in French but, though I can read reasonably well with the aid of a dictionary, my written French remains sadly in the classroom from when I was 15 years old.

Lastly, I have recently obtained copies of two books: Les Canons de la Victoire 1914-18 which covers the guns of the AC, AL and ALGP. I hope to post some further questions about some of these weapons over the coming weeks and look forward to any help and advice members may be able to give.

I look forward to meeting more Forum members here over the coming weeks.

PS For information I have previously written two books on the subject of the attack on Gommecourt on 1st July 1916 (under the name Alan MacDonald) and hope this shows that I am not just asking for help to pass the time!!!

[ww1_USA]

Hi Gommecourt,
There is a wonderful British series of battlefield books. I don't have the titles in front of me, but one of them is called simply "Hindenburg Line."

Secondly do you have the Atlas of World War I?
Narayan