It's the first of July, 1916. The British lines near the upper reaches of the River

Somme in France are packed with anxious young soldiers. They stand shoulder to shoulder,

one man pressed tightly against the next, clutching rifles close to their chests. Some smoke

cigarettes to take their mind off the day ahead. All of them listen intently for a break

in the artillery barrage that's been hitting German positions opposite them for a week.

No man's land has been torn up by artillery fire into a moon scape of shattered trees

and gaping shell craters. Let the sun rose higher in the sky. A call comes down the

line to fix bayonets. A junior officer stares intently at his wristwatch, counting down

the minutes until zero hour. At 730, shrill whistles pierce the silence up and down the line.

The solemn scene turns into a flurry of activity as the first wave of troops clamber up ladders

and march towards German lines. Sartreins, corporals, push more men forward for turning and

heading towards the enemy trenches. But the British quickly realize that the artillery

has failed to cause any significant damage. The German barbed wire is intact. German

defenses have largely withstood the bombardment. Their lines are littered with deep bunkers

dug into the air. As the British march forward, the defenders emerge shaken but unharmed.

They pour a deadly stream of rifle and machine gun fire into the advancing troops, grinding

the British to a halt, inflicting horrendous casualties. By the end of the first day of the

song, some 57,000 British soldiers were dead, wounded or missing. It's remembered as

the bloodiest day in the history of the British military. And the hope for a quick decisive

breakthrough had been shattered. The battle of the song would ultimately drag out over

five long months of a traditional warfare. There would be a staggering 420,000 British casualties

and over half a million German casualties before its end. The First World War was a devastating

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