Somme Success on 1st July 1916

In this episode we mark the 110th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Somme by following the successful advance by 6th Northamptonshire’s on that infamous day. How did they achieve their objectives on such a disastrous day for the British Army? We tell their story through the eyes of the soldiers who were there. Men like their popular Commanding Officer George Ripley – what did he give each of his boys as a present before the battle? And Richard Jerrams. Richard and his mate Joe walked 25 miles, and slept overnight in a ditch, to enlist with the battalion. What happened to them? We also hear about Private Fred Roberts, who used found himself face to face with Germans in a dugout…what happened then.