THE torment suffered by British soldiers who advanced towards the Germans on July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, has been well documented. The lesser-known story of two men from the Bradford Pals who were executed for not participating has been cited in a new book on the battle by acclaimed war historian Hugh Sebag-Montefiore.

Here he tells the story of Privates Herbert Crimmins and Arthur Wild of the 18th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment (2nd Bradford Pals) - the only British soldiers executed for desertion on July 1, 1916 - and questions whether they really deserved the absolute penalty.

"The 18th West Yorks sustained more than 440 casualties during the July 1 attack, more than half the battalion. They were just some of the 57,000 British casualties that day including almost 20,000 killed. My book describes the attacks made during the four months from that devastating opening day to the termination of the Somme offensive in November 1916.

I wanted to explain why the Big Push on the Somme was a failure. The main reason why it failed was that the generals were inexperienced and did not use their common sense. But I also wanted to show the human heartbreak behind the statistics.

At around 6.30pm on June 30, British troops marched off from Bus-les-Artois to the front line at Serre, the words of Major-General Wanless O’Gowan, 31st Division’s commander ringing in their ears: ‘Good luck men. There is not a German left in the trenches. Our guns have blown them all to hell!’

Once installed in the frontline assembly trenches early in the morning of July 1, they had to wait long hours before the countdown started for the attack. Shortly after 7am the men in one of the assembly trenches, passing the time singing, were interrupted by the warning call: '20 minutes to go boys!’

At 7.20am the first waves of British troops climbed over the top. Sergeant-Major George Cussins, from the 16th Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment (1st Bradford Pals), 93rd Brigade’s left hand support unit, confirmed that: ‘Five minutes before zero, at 7.25am, the enemy machine gun rifle fire and shrapnel was directed against the parapet of our assembly trench - the southern half of Bradford Trench, causing us to suffer considerably. A lot of men never got off the ladder, but fell back, and many fell back from the parapet while getting over.’

German machine gunners managed to dominate a battlefield filled with hostile advancing soldiers. One German officer reported that his gun team shot no less than 20,000 machine gun bullets during July 1. Hardly surprising that troops within the 93rd Brigade, the 31st Division’s southernmost unit, struggled to make it past their own wire, let alone into the German trenches.

Given the number of young men who died during the Serre attack, many families felt their loved ones had been recklessly sacrificed. Nevertheless, one wonders whether even their torment could have compared with that suffered by the families of two young Bradford men whose lives were ended intentionally by a British firing squad.

During June 1916 Privates Herbert Crimmins and Arthur Wild, aged 32 and 24 respectively, were acting as ration carriers in the 18th Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment (2nd Bradford Pals) on the Somme. At around midday on the eve of the battle, all ration carriers were warned not to leave the camp at Bus les Artois.

Unwisely, Crimmins and Wild disobeyed that order, and at around 2pm crept out to one of the local estaminets. They had not returned by 4pm, when the officer responsible for them received the order to march to the front line two hours later. After staying in the estaminet until it closed for the afternoon, they went to sleep in a nearby cornfield, waking at dusk. Too frightened to return to their battalion immediately, they moved around the Somme rear area for three days, finally handing themselves in on July 4.

That meant they missed the attack on Serre, and were both charged with desertion, their court martial taking place on August 21, 1916. It is not clear whether they were represented at the hearing - nor is the extent to which two crucial pieces of evidence were challenged.

An NCO testified that before they went to the estaminet, he told them to be ready to go to the front line trench are at 5.45pm. If that was true, it could be argued that they had deliberately intended to avoid the impending action. This was a significant point, given that General Sir Douglas Haig, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, subsequently stated that notwithstanding the rule which permitted the absolute penalty for any man absent without leave, men would only be executed if they deserted deliberately.

But had they? It does seem a bit unlikely that a corporal would have known about the plan to move to the trenches before his superior officer heard about it. The second crucial statement was made by Arthur Wild, who claimed that he hadn't given himself in after sleeping off the drink because he was fearful of the consequences and because he feared he couldn't stand the noise of the guns. If Private Wild, and Crimmins, knew before they absconded that they were about to go up where guns were firing, it could be said they had deserted deliberately. But if Wild merely meant to say that neither he, nor his friend, had been told about the imminent move, but merely wanted to be temporarily free of the constant fear of being sent to the front line, that might have fallen outside Haig’s definition of what was inexcusable.

If the recommendations of the court martial had been presented to their brigadier and the intervening commanders up to Haig without further comment, it is probable that the men would have escaped serious punishment. Although the court condemned them to death, it unanimously recommended clemency because Crimmins had a good character and Wild could be excused for being nervous of the guns, having had shell shock.

However, when their commanding officer sent the court martial papers to their brigadier, he added derogatory comments about both men, based on evidence not submitted to the court. Even if his judgement was correct, a more humane person might have let the men off because of the mitigating circumstances. What cannot be justified is the way he reached his verdict, depriving the men of the chance to argue their case.

It was probably this allegation of deliberate desertion that sealed their fate, and it is perhaps no surprise that on seeing it, the 93rd Brigade’s commander John Ingles, and eventually Haig, recommended the death sentence. The two men were shot by firing squads on September 5, 1916.

After the execution, they were buried nearby. General Wanless O’Gowan is said to have kicked away flowers placed by their graves, muttering: "These men are best forgotten".

But Arthur Wild’s family is said to have responded by paying for the following inscription to be engraved on his gravestone: ‘Not forgotten by those who loved him best’."

* Somme: Into the Breach by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore is published by Viking Penguin, priced £25