France: Somme battlefields

36 photos taken in 2006, 90 years after the ghastly battle fought by the British and German Armies between 1 July and 18 November 1916. The French also took part, but were preoccupied with the equally grim (and much longer) struggle at Verdun, which the Somme battle was intended to relieve.

Raymond Asquith memorial, Amiens cathedral, 13 July 2006. Raymond was killed on the Somme. He was the eldest son of the Liberal prime minister who took Britain to war in 1914. The First World War, like the Second, touched everybody.

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Raymond Asquith memorial, Amiens cathedral, 13 July 2006. Raymond was killed on the Somme. He was the eldest son of the Liberal prime minister who took Britain to war in 1914. The First World War, like the Second, touched everybody.