On my previous post I made the statement that Robert Dixon’s Varicose Vein operation probably saved his life. Not because the operation itself was life saving, but because of where he probably would have been stationed if not for the operation. The Battle of the Somme. It had started on July 1st, 1916. was a military disaster. On that day alone Britain suffered a staggering massacre of close to 60,000 casualties including 19,000 deaths. On that same day the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of 800 men were all but wiped out. ( the reason Canada Day is known as Memorial Day in Newfoundland) The Battle of the Somme continued all summer and into the fall when the Canadian Divisions were called upon. In September, while Sergeant Dixon is in the hospital being operated on, the 1st Canadian Infantry Battalion to which he would soon be assigned were on the frontlines in in Courcelette. The casualties for the 1st Canadian Infantry alone for that September are shown in the War Diary entry below. 77 men killed, 332 wounded, and 40 missing. The Battle of the Somme goes down in history as a military disaster. The British Empire/Commonwealth suffered 420,000 casualties, i French 195,00, the Germans 600,000. Included in the Commonwealth numbers are 24,000 Canadian casualties of which 8,000 were fatalities. All this over about 8 kilometers of land – and when it was all said and done – nothing had really been accomplished by other side. A good time to be in the hospital for Sergeant Dixon. Although while he was in hospital it is highly likely that we would have witnessed the results of this Battle as the casualties continually arrived.
