Britain fell silent this morning to honour the thousands of soldiers killed in the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago. July 1, 1916, remains the bloodiest day in British military history, with tens of thousands of British, Commonwealth and French forces going 'over the top'.
A two-minute silence ended at 7.30am, the exact time troops left the trenches to cross no man's land. The Royal Horse Artillery marked the occasion with a 100-second gun salute in Parliament Square, London, using First World War guns.
The first day of the Somme offensive saw more than 57,000 casualties, including 19,240 fatalities. Among the worst hit were the 'pals' battalions, volunteer units with limited experience, many of whom were ordered to walk slowly into German machine gun fire. Over the 141-day battle, more than a million men were killed or wounded on both sides.
The silence followed a night-long vigil led by the Queen at Westminster Abbey and at the Thiepval Memorial in France. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry attended a vigil at Thiepval, where 70,000 soldiers with no known grave are commemorated.
During the Abbey service, the Right Reverend Dr Richard Chartres urged reconciliation, quoting Irish poet Thomas Kettle: 'Used with the wisdom that is sown in tears and blood, this tragedy of Europe may be and must be the prologue to the two reconciliations of which all statesmen have dreamed.' He called on the nation to reject those who stir hatred and division.
