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Britain, France mark 100 years since Battle of the Somme

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Britain and France recalled the horrors of the Battle of the Somme on Friday, 100 years after their troops fought and died together in one of the defining offensives of World War I.

Britain's royal family, Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande took part in a commemoration at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France to remember the one million who were left dead, injured or missing in the 141-day battle.

WWI: the Battle of the Somme
WWI: the Battle of the Somme
Jonathan Jacobsen, AFP

Guards of honour, bagpipes and military bands accompanied the moving ceremony in the shadow of the imposing memorial inscribed with the names of 72,000 servicemen who went missing in the surrounding fields.

However, modern political battles could not be ignored, and Hollande had a brief exchange with Cameron after the ceremony, a week after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

British soldiers stand guard as they take part in a ceremony to commemorate the centenary annivery o...
British soldiers stand guard as they take part in a ceremony to commemorate the centenary annivery of the Battle of the Somme, at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France, on July 1, 2016
Stephane De Sakutin, Pool/AFP

"The decision has been taken, it cannot be delayed or cancelled," said Hollande, who made a last-minute change to his schedule to attend the ceremony.

Hollande said a speedy Brexit "would avert all the uncertainties and instability, especially in the economic and financial domains. The faster it goes, the better it will be for them."

Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers load a cannon as they commemorate the anniversary of the B...
Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers load a cannon as they commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme in Thiepval, northern France, on July 1, 2016
Stephane De Sakutin, Pool/AFP

"I want to recall that it is the European idea which allowed us to overcome divisions and rivalries between states, and which has brought us peace for the past 70 years," he said in an earlier statement.

During the ceremony narrators, using old letters, poems and songs, took some 10,000 guests -- who scrambled to pull on plastic ponchos as the clouds burst -- through one of the deadliest battles of all time.

A ceremony is held to mark 100 years since the start of the Battle of the Somme in Ovillers-la-Boiss...
A ceremony is held to mark 100 years since the start of the Battle of the Somme in Ovillers-la-Boisselle, France, on July 1, 2016
Francois Nascimbeni, AFP

"There was high explosives, shrapnel, everything you can imagine. Terrific, hurtling death," read a letter from Private Sean Fendley of the British Army of the first time soldiers went "over the top" to face their German enemy.

The offensive was launched to ease pressure on French forces taking a hammering at Verdun, and was preceded by the largest artillery bombardment in history, with some 1.5 million shells lobbed at the Germans.

Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers take part in the Battle of the Somme memorial ceremony on ...
Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers take part in the Battle of the Somme memorial ceremony on July 1, 2016 at the Thiepval Memorial, in Thiepval
Stephane De Sakutin, POOL/AFP

However, this was not enough to break German defences, and of some 55,000 soldiers who scrambled out of their trenches, 20,000 would be dead by the end of the first day of fighting -- the bloodiest in British military history.

- 'Failures of European governments' -

The Battle of the Somme was a tragedy not only for British, French and German troops, but also Commonwealth nations whose soldiers fought for Britain.

People stand around the Lochnagar crater in Ovillers-la-Boisselle  northern France  on July 1  2016
People stand around the Lochnagar crater in Ovillers-la-Boisselle, northern France, on July 1, 2016
Francois Nascimbeni, AFP

Guests from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, India, Pakistan, Canada and Ireland also attended the event. Germany was represented by former president Horst Koehler.

The commemorations began with the blast of whistles on a former battlefield and in Parliament Square in London at 7:30 am sharp to mark the start of the offensive.

(From left) Britain's Prince William  his wife Catherine and Britain's Prince Harry march ...
(From left) Britain's Prince William, his wife Catherine and Britain's Prince Harry march towards the Thiepval Memorial on July 1, 2016 to attend a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the World War I battle at the River Somme
Francois Nascimbeni, AFP

The previous night Queen Elizabeth attended a night-long vigil in Westminster Abbey while her grandson Prince William was in France along with his wife Kate and brother Harry for a vigil at Thiepval.

"We lost the flower of a generation, and in the years to come it sometimes seemed that with them a sense of vital optimism had disappeared forever from British life," said William.

British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) flanked by a British horse guard officer  walks among th...
British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) flanked by a British horse guard officer, walks among the graves at the Thiepval Memorial, as he attends the Battle of the Somme memorial ceremony on July 1, 2016, in Thiepval
Stephane De Sakutin, POOL/AFP

"We acknowledge the failures of European governments, including our own, to prevent the catastrophe of world war."

By the time the battle ended on November 18, the frontlines had only moved a few miles, and the attritional battle became a defining event in the war, symbolising the horrors of trench warfare and the futility of the conflict.

- 'A place of ruin and death' -

It was also the first battle in which tanks were used.

Prince Charles narrated an account of the devastated battlefield from the writer John Masefield.

"There is nothing white, nor alive, nor clean, in all its extent; it is a place of ruin and death, blown and blasted out of any likeness to any work of man, and so smashed that there is no shelter on it," he said.

"All wars end; even this war will someday end, and the ruins will be rebuilt and the field full of death will grow food, and all this frontier of trouble will be forgotten."

A century on, the eerily calm, bucolic Somme farmlands belie the slaughter wrought there, and are now the haunt of tourists who come to visit some 400 war cemeteries across the region, and the overgrown warrens of trenches.

Britain and France recalled the horrors of the Battle of the Somme on Friday, 100 years after their troops fought and died together in one of the defining offensives of World War I.

Britain’s royal family, Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande took part in a commemoration at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France to remember the one million who were left dead, injured or missing in the 141-day battle.

WWI: the Battle of the Somme

WWI: the Battle of the Somme
Jonathan Jacobsen, AFP

Guards of honour, bagpipes and military bands accompanied the moving ceremony in the shadow of the imposing memorial inscribed with the names of 72,000 servicemen who went missing in the surrounding fields.

However, modern political battles could not be ignored, and Hollande had a brief exchange with Cameron after the ceremony, a week after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

British soldiers stand guard as they take part in a ceremony to commemorate the centenary annivery o...

British soldiers stand guard as they take part in a ceremony to commemorate the centenary annivery of the Battle of the Somme, at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France, on July 1, 2016
Stephane De Sakutin, Pool/AFP

“The decision has been taken, it cannot be delayed or cancelled,” said Hollande, who made a last-minute change to his schedule to attend the ceremony.

Hollande said a speedy Brexit “would avert all the uncertainties and instability, especially in the economic and financial domains. The faster it goes, the better it will be for them.”

Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers load a cannon as they commemorate the anniversary of the B...

Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers load a cannon as they commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Somme in Thiepval, northern France, on July 1, 2016
Stephane De Sakutin, Pool/AFP

“I want to recall that it is the European idea which allowed us to overcome divisions and rivalries between states, and which has brought us peace for the past 70 years,” he said in an earlier statement.

During the ceremony narrators, using old letters, poems and songs, took some 10,000 guests — who scrambled to pull on plastic ponchos as the clouds burst — through one of the deadliest battles of all time.

A ceremony is held to mark 100 years since the start of the Battle of the Somme in Ovillers-la-Boiss...

A ceremony is held to mark 100 years since the start of the Battle of the Somme in Ovillers-la-Boisselle, France, on July 1, 2016
Francois Nascimbeni, AFP

“There was high explosives, shrapnel, everything you can imagine. Terrific, hurtling death,” read a letter from Private Sean Fendley of the British Army of the first time soldiers went “over the top” to face their German enemy.

The offensive was launched to ease pressure on French forces taking a hammering at Verdun, and was preceded by the largest artillery bombardment in history, with some 1.5 million shells lobbed at the Germans.

Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers take part in the Battle of the Somme memorial ceremony on ...

Men dressed as World War I (WWI) soldiers take part in the Battle of the Somme memorial ceremony on July 1, 2016 at the Thiepval Memorial, in Thiepval
Stephane De Sakutin, POOL/AFP

However, this was not enough to break German defences, and of some 55,000 soldiers who scrambled out of their trenches, 20,000 would be dead by the end of the first day of fighting — the bloodiest in British military history.

– ‘Failures of European governments’ –

The Battle of the Somme was a tragedy not only for British, French and German troops, but also Commonwealth nations whose soldiers fought for Britain.

People stand around the Lochnagar crater in Ovillers-la-Boisselle  northern France  on July 1  2016

People stand around the Lochnagar crater in Ovillers-la-Boisselle, northern France, on July 1, 2016
Francois Nascimbeni, AFP

Guests from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, India, Pakistan, Canada and Ireland also attended the event. Germany was represented by former president Horst Koehler.

The commemorations began with the blast of whistles on a former battlefield and in Parliament Square in London at 7:30 am sharp to mark the start of the offensive.

(From left) Britain's Prince William  his wife Catherine and Britain's Prince Harry march ...

(From left) Britain's Prince William, his wife Catherine and Britain's Prince Harry march towards the Thiepval Memorial on July 1, 2016 to attend a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the World War I battle at the River Somme
Francois Nascimbeni, AFP

The previous night Queen Elizabeth attended a night-long vigil in Westminster Abbey while her grandson Prince William was in France along with his wife Kate and brother Harry for a vigil at Thiepval.

“We lost the flower of a generation, and in the years to come it sometimes seemed that with them a sense of vital optimism had disappeared forever from British life,” said William.

British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) flanked by a British horse guard officer  walks among th...

British Prime Minister David Cameron (left) flanked by a British horse guard officer, walks among the graves at the Thiepval Memorial, as he attends the Battle of the Somme memorial ceremony on July 1, 2016, in Thiepval
Stephane De Sakutin, POOL/AFP

“We acknowledge the failures of European governments, including our own, to prevent the catastrophe of world war.”

By the time the battle ended on November 18, the frontlines had only moved a few miles, and the attritional battle became a defining event in the war, symbolising the horrors of trench warfare and the futility of the conflict.

– ‘A place of ruin and death’ –

It was also the first battle in which tanks were used.

Prince Charles narrated an account of the devastated battlefield from the writer John Masefield.

“There is nothing white, nor alive, nor clean, in all its extent; it is a place of ruin and death, blown and blasted out of any likeness to any work of man, and so smashed that there is no shelter on it,” he said.

“All wars end; even this war will someday end, and the ruins will be rebuilt and the field full of death will grow food, and all this frontier of trouble will be forgotten.”

A century on, the eerily calm, bucolic Somme farmlands belie the slaughter wrought there, and are now the haunt of tourists who come to visit some 400 war cemeteries across the region, and the overgrown warrens of trenches.

AFP
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With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

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