The Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme was the pivotal engagement of World War One, laying waste to thousands of square kilometres of farmland, killing or wounding over a million men, and moving the Allied forces only 20 miles over the course of six months. The BBC’s picture archive has extensive images of the conditions in the trenches, and the slow progress of the advance.

The Battle of Courcelette, one of many on the front line of the Somme Battle, saw the desperate engagement of the Vingt-Deuxiéme Battalion, with horrendous loss of life. Between that battle, and the following one of the Regina Trench, over two thirds of the battalion’s soldiers were lost.