Today is the 100th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles in human history - The Somme. The action itself went on from July into November 1916, but the first day alone saw over 57,000 British casualties, almost 20,000 of whom were killed. During the entire battle the British suffered 420,000 casualties, 72,000 of which have no known grave, while the French sustained over 200,000 and the Germans 500,000.
I had a number of relatives who were involved in various bits of action, and I'm currently aware of three who died. These were Thomas Sherriff (age 31, Lancashire Fusiliers, killed on the first day of the offensive, his interesting story is detailed here); Arthur Meffan (age 19, Highland Light Infantry, wounded on 16th July at Longueval, and died on 27th July); and David Howarth (age 36, Manchester Regiment, killed on 7th July when his regiment lost nearly 600 men to German machine-gun fire).
You can read more about my family WWI casualties here, and a list of family WWI participants here.
