Up early to ensure we were poignantly placed for the 95th anniversary of the Somme battle. Richard's grandfather, Bertram Corthorn DCM, was in the 12th Battalion York and Lancashire regiment (Sheffield City Battallion). Their position on 1st July 1916 was in one of four copses named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 2000 soldiers from the battalion were positioned in trenches at the edge of the copses waiting for the whistle to charge. In less than an hour nearly 600 of them were either killed or wounded ended. On the whole front there were around 50,000 casualties including around 20,000 dead. There were several others marking the occasion around us but if truth be told, after the last veterans died there seemed to be fewer and fewer people remembering the battle. Of course in 5 years time it will be the 100th anniversary and I'm told preparations have already started.
Before the trip I read a book called World War One: A Short History by Norman Stone. It recounted the War without recourse to sentimentalism as it was needed. The empirical information alone was far more moving than a widows tale. The sheer pointlessness of it all made it all the more depressing. Haigs ability or not as a Field Marshall paled somewhat when reading the final chapter and how the allies set the scene for an inevitable and even more bloody second conflict. Chilling!