This is the story of the first day of the Somme Offensive, 1 July 1916 - the single bloodiest day in British military history. 57,000 British soldiers became casualties, most within a few hours of ...

Live coverage, video and text updates of the World War One centenary coverage from across the BBC marking 100 years since the Battle of the Somme ...

Canadian soldiers leave trenches during the Battle of the Somme, France in 1916. W.I. Castle/Library and Archives Canada/via REUTERS 2016-07-01T13:24:00Z ...

On July 1, 1916, the Battle of the Somme began with British and Empire troops (Ireland, Canada, Newfoundland, India, Australia, New Zealand) going “over the top” across a 20 mile front at 7 a.m.

The Battle of the Somme would rage on, inconclusively, until November 18, dragging over a million men into its vortex of suffering and death.

On July 1, 1916, nearly 20,000 British soldiers died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in northern France. The battle went on for months, and more than a million men were killed or injured.

What was the Battle of the Somme? Fought between July and November 1916, the Battle of the Somme was one of the defining events of the First World War and the largest battle on the western front ...

The Battle of the Somme began by exploding huge mines underneath the German front line. The largest was at La Boisselle and the crater - Lochnagar - survives today. A ceremony is taking place ...