The Battle of The Somme began.
"The Big Push" where over 120,000 British and Empire troops attacked the German defensive lines along an 18 mile front north of the River Somme.
By 4pm that afternoon, there were almost 60,000 British casualties, of whom nearly 20,000 died.
We shall remember them.
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And we are getting all steamed up over Phil Parkinson and mythical takeovers.
Sometimes it is important to get priorities right.
God Bless Them.
Not sure if it still appears in the Times but there used to be every year an in memoriam notice with the toast raised by one batallion the night before the battle 'Gentleman, when the barrage lifts'... that battalion of 800 lost 90% of its men in 24 hours.
Second that.
The definitive read on the first day is Martin Middlebrook's book. Peter Hart has also written an excellent tome on the whole four and a half months of the battle.
By noon 100,000 British infantrymen from 129 battalions had gone over the top- with 50% being killed or wounded.
By dusk, another 22,000 had 'gone over the top' - with the result that 19,240 died, 35,493 were wounded, 2,152 were missing and 585 captured.
Approximately :-))
At least five French Divisons attacked that day too...
Yes they did - and very successfully too. Different tactics.
However the main aim of the Somme Offensive was......
..."to relieve the pressure on the French Armies fighting at Verdun".
It did that, and more, though you would be hard pressed to tell that if you visited either battlefield. Bless 'em.