Somme (ISBN 0-7181-2254-2) is a First World War military history book by Lyn MacDonald, published in 1983 by Penguin Books.
An aerial view of the Somme battlefield in July, taken from a British balloon near Bécourt.
The battle[]
The Battle of the Somme started at Sunday 1 July 1916 leading to the biggest losses by Britain in one single day (19,240 dead, 35,493 wounded, 2,152 missing and 585 prisoners for a total loss of 57,470). The battle ended on Tuesday 21 November 1916. The main objective of this battle was to relieve the horrific battle at Verdun.
Writer Lyn MacDonald[]
MacDonald has collected testimonies of soldiers involved in the battle of the Somme. Their stories are horrible. In the beginning, their stories show chauvinism, nationalism and patriotism, but later, with soldiers seeing the stalemate, despair of war. Afterwards everybody again agrees war is terrible.
The original article can be found at Somme (book) and the edit history here.