History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

This was a battle on the Western Front between the British Army, which included soldiers from the Commonwealth, and the French against the German Army. The 15 mile front was alongside the Somme River in Northern France. The battle began on 1 July 1916 and lasted 141 days until the 18 November. More than a million men were wounded or killed.  The first day was the worst in the history of the British Army when 57,470 men were injured, of whom 19,240 died. The original British Expeditionary Force of regular soldiers had suffered heavy losses in 1914 and 1915. The Army at the Somme were made up of the remaining regular soldiers, the Territorial Army and Lord Kitchener's ‘Pals’ battalions, composed of men from local towns who had answered his call to volunteer. As well as the ground troops, the battle was noticeable for the use of air power and tanks. There are various estimates of the casualties, but the general accepted figures for the numbers of wounded and dead for...