Express & Star

Battle of the Somme 100th anniversary: Britain remembers our darkest day

Britain came to a standstill today as the nation stopped to remember the 100th anniversary of The Battle of the Somme.

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Services and memorial events took place in the Black Country and Staffordshire to mark the start of the battle that became the bloodiest in British military history.

Last night, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh attended the main national vigil around the Grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey. The tomb holds an unidentified British soldier killed on a French battlefield, brought back and buried in the abbey to honour the unknown dead of the war. At the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, 141 candles, one for each day of the fighting, were lit yesterday evening.

There were also vigils at the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle, Clandeboye and Helen's Tower, in County Down, Northern Ireland and at the Welsh National War Memorial, Cardiff.

And in France the enormous Thiepval Memorial To The Missing on the Somme was lit up for a vigil for the first time to commemorate the Somme's war dead. Today a commemorative service took place at the same memorial, which told the story of the Somme through cultural and military content, including hymns, readings and music. In attendance were The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge alongside Prince Charles and Prince Harry, Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Many horses were among the fatalities during the bloody battle

The memorial is the largest Commonwealth war memorial in the world.

At 7.28am this morning, the entire country held a national two minute silence to mark the moment the first wave of soldiers went over the top in the Battle of the Somme.

It followed the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery firing guns from Parliament Square for 100 seconds and a reading in Westminster Abbey. Whistles were blown to mark the end of the two minute silence after the 7.30am chimes of Big Ben. A National Commemorative Service also took place at Manchester Cathedral and was followed by a people's procession through Manchester to Heaton Park.

See the four-page special in today's Express & Star

The Battle of the Somme started at 7.28am on July 1, 1916, when whistles were blown ordering Allied forces to climb out of their trenches and cross no-man's land. By the end of the day almost 20,000 men had died. More than a million soldiers were killed and wounded on both sides of the fighting come the end of the four-month battle in northern France.

The First World War would continue for another two years. Among the men killed was Walsall-born Lieutenant Trevor Davies, Artillery Liaison Officer to the 139th Brigade, who died shortly after going over the top on July 1 – a day after sending his last letter home.

It read: "I am going over the parapets in the morning with the infantry. The attack will be made under cover of dense smoke, and with a little luck we should get across alright, but one never knows." A display inspired by Lt Davies will be set up by 210 (Staffordshire) Battery of the Royal Artillery Regiment at its unit in Fallings Park.

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