Going Over The Top WW1.
‘Going over the top’ photographs during actual combat in WW1 were rare.
A rare photograph that shows the moment when the first men go over the top during a raid near Arras, France, on the 24th of March 1917.
An officer of the 10th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), leads the way out of a sap (short trench). Shells are bursting in the distance.
Short trenches (saps) were dug towards the enemy trenches and enabled troops to move forward in a way that limited their exposure to enemy fire.
Lieutenant John Warwick Brooke, the official British photographer, followed them in the sap, into which a shell fell short killing seven men.
Life in the front line always carried an element of danger. The threat could be from snipers, shellfire or from taking part in a trench raid or a major offensive.
Lest We Forget.
Information and photograph came from Imperial War Museums. Image file number IWM Q 5100.
The ‘Going Over The Top WW1’ article was researched by Peter Barnes and was originally posted on his Facebook Page.
He is the owner/partner of Business Advertising Online in Adelaide, South Australia, which has clients Australia wide. The business has operated for thirteen years and creates effective websites and offers advice on how to be found online.