An Irish Soldier describes The World War One Somme, 1976

Emmet Dalton of The 7th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 16th Irish Division talks about his experiences at the Battle of the Somme. Dalton, who won a military cross at the Battle of the Somme, tells Cathal O’Shannon about the use of creeping barrages to advance and the loss of over eight hundred men in a twenty four hour period. “It would be very hard to describe the Somme I don’t know that there has ever been a battle like it. I mean you had two armies in static positions. The movement of either of them would be about two hundred yards, the difference between the two basic front lines.”