The 1st July marks the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, one of the most important battles of the First World War. The losses incurred on just this day were terrible: some 57,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were made casualty including 19,000 killed; the French suffered 20,000 losses. Never had Great Britain and its allies from the Commonwealth been involved in such a conflict and never had they experienced such a military catastrophe. When the battle came to an end in late November 1916, more than one million French, German, British and Commonwealth soldiers had been killed, wounded, reporting missing or captured.
It will rank alongside Hannibal’s battle against the Romans at Cannae. Thank you for reminding us all Cherie. R.I.P so many fine men.
The losses were horrific, it always chills me to think about it and how it affected so many lives (living and dead).
A sad time indeed, would it were that “we” could learn to live in peace.
It seems that human nature leads society away from peace. Humans keep repeating the same mistakes time after time…
Ha.. You got the wrong hashtag.
Shouldn’t it be #wearehere?
Just a different hashtag for the same historical event