Like to get a copy of this. "Hundreds of harrowing first-hand accounts of the day of the Battle of the Somme, written by the men who fought in it, are to be made public for the first time. The mostly hand-written experiences of the Brits who went over the top on July 1 1916, give a breathtaking insight into the death, chaos and devastation of the bloodiest day in British military history. Almost 60,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were killed or wounded on that fateful day and there would be more than a million casualties on both sides by the end of the 141-day offensive, 100 years ago on Friday, November 18. The reminiscences, written more than half a century on from the conflict for an author writing about the battle, have been donated to the Imperial War Museum and will be added to its online records of British soldiers who fought on the battlefield in Northern France. Anthony Richards, head of documents and sound at the IWM, said the accounts ranged from some short and quite basic accounts, to others that were 'like a chapter from a book'. He said: 'It's a real cross-section, officers and men. It covers people from all sorts of backgrounds, under age soldiers...one who even changed his name in order to get in. 'They cover all the different experiences on the first day. Most of them cover the feeling of being in the trench, getting ready to go over the top. 'But then some people talk about being wounded straight away, others talk about being captured and taken as a prisoner of war, others talk about actually reaching the enemy trenches and having hand-to-hand combat. You get the complete cross-section really. All these accounts were written in the late 1960s and this was 50 years after the events they are talking about. 'But the vast majority are still very, very detailed and I think that shows you how important those events were to these people that they can remember really small details." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3940086/Harrowing-memoirs-Somme-released-100-years-end-offensive.html#ixzz4Q8Nfxecq
Great link and I'd be happy to read it. However 60000 is the amount of casualties KIA , WIA, MIA for July 1st 1916, not KIA as the headlines mention.
It does actually correct itself in the third paragraph, but you'd think they would have done the byline too.
