HELL ON EARTH

The battle of the Somme offers a powerful reminder of the brutal reality of trench warfare

At 7.30am - designated Zero Hour' - on 1 July 1916, over 200,000 men of the British Army emerged from their trenches in the Somme A Valley, northeastern France. They were met by a relentless barrage of machinegun, rifle and artillery fire from the German positions. This assault, which had been part of an Anglo-French plan to break through the German lines, quickly unravelled, deteriorating into a waking nightmare. Before the day was out, over 57,000 casualties - including 19,240 deaths - made that day, the first of the battle of the Somme, the bloodiest in British military history.

PLANNING THE BIG PUSH

During the winter of 1915-16, Allied commanders had agreed to a French-led strategy for a joint attack astride the River Somme where the Anglo-French armies met, aimed at repulsing the Germans from northern France. Having borne the brunt of the fighting since 1914, the French were keen for the British to step up. But a surprise German attack on the town of Verdun in February 1916 forced France to commit huge resources to its defence, leaving the British to shoulder most of the logistics for the upcoming summer offensive.

General Sir Douglas Haig assumed command of the British armies in December 1915, while General Ferdinand Foch headed up the French. Haig, conscious of the Germans' formidable defences along the Somme, had been reluctant to fight there. Rather, his preference had been to strike from the Ypres Salient in the summer of 1916 with the aim of securing the Belgian coast for the landing of further troops.