"But None Certainly Have A Finer Record Than The Suffolks"

Daily, the casualties list published in the Times continued to grow.
In the four weeks since 1st July, the Suffolk Regiment had lost 684 men in action. No fewer than six Battalions had fought in the battles of the Somme; a battle that was still ongoing. These losses cut through every walk of life, every class of society. Cricketers, former public shoolboys, underage territorials, bakers, brickworker's and fenland ice skaters all fell in the face of the enemy.
Amidst the endless lists of the fallen, came praise for the Regiment and the gallantry of its men in action from a reporter at the front. A paragraph in the Times on July 26th, ran; "Mention ought also to be made, in another connexion, of the Suffolks. These I have spoken of before, and of the heroism which they showed at a critical moment in another stage of this battle. it would be absurd, in such splendid fighting as has been done here, to say that any one Regiment or Class of troops has done better than any other. It has been a matter of opportunity only, but none certainly have a finer record than the Suffolks." 
The accolade was greatly appreciated by all who saw it reprinted in the Regimental Gazette of  July/August 1916, but there was still a long way to go in defeating the enemy. The battle would continue.

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