‘Carnage on the Somme’: the story behind this tragic footage. On 1 July 1916 the British and French launched their summer offensive in the Somme region. On the first day, the British troops suffered 57,000 casualties, with 19,000 killed, and 35,000 wounded. This iconic footage from the 1916 documentary film ‘The Battle of the Somme’ has become synonymous with the battle’s carnage. That year, millions of cinema-goers watched the film. Its maker Lieutenant Geoffrey Malins recalled filming the resc

Today marks the anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme. #OTD in 1916 over 19,000 Commonwealth servicemen would be killed in action - with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Thiepval Memorial commemorating over 72,000 men killed on the Somme who have no known grave. Here CWGC Intern Jack Humphrey explains the significance of the memorial in location to the battlefield. #WW1 #CWGCinterns | Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Discover facts about the Battle of the Somme and see how the site has changed since 1916 with footage from The Battle of the Somme film overlaid with shots of the same locations 100 years on in a poignant reminder of the impact of war. | Imperial War Museum London