ST. JOHN’S — A monument honouring a dark day in Newfoundland and Labrador history will be installed today at the site of a devastating First World War battle in northern France.
On July 1, 1916, hundreds of soldiers with the Newfoundland Regiment were killed or wounded in the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel, many at the foot of a tree about halfway between the British and German trenches.
A replica of the so-called danger tree is set to be permanently installed today at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial.
Historian Frank Gogos is in France for the event with Veterans Affairs Canada, and he says the marker is an important reminder of the “futility of loss” in war.
About 800 members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment charged over the top of the trenches on the morning of July 1, 1916 — many toward the danger tree, which marked a passage into the Germans’ front line.
Gogos said the Germans were waiting with machine-guns, and fewer than 100 members of the regiment made it to rollcall the next morning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2026.
Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press
