The bombing had not destroyed the barbed wire
At 7.20 am 40,000 pounds of explosive was detonated under a German machine gun position at Beaumont Hamel.
The battle line stretched some 25 miles
British troops on their way to the Somme. 750,000 men were sent to the Battle of the Somme
By the end of the first day 60,000 British soldiers were dead.
General Haig – the man who planned the Battle of the Somme
Tanks were first used at the Battle of the Somme