Battle of the Somme World War One’s Centenary Remembrance Events Held

The Battle of the Somme, one of World War One’s bloodiest, was fought in northern France and lasted five months, with the British suffering almost 60,000 casualties on the first day alone.

At a vigil in France, the Duke of Cambridge paid tribute to the fallen soldiers, saying “we lost the flower of a generation”.Commemorations are being held in the UK and France to mark the centenary of the start of the Battle of the Somme.

The nation fell silent to mark the moment on 1 July 1916 when the battle began and the start of the bloodiest day in British military history.

A ceremony at the Lochnagar crater on the battlefield was held and on Thursday night the Queen attended a vigil at Westminster Abbey.

The battle saw more than one million men killed and wounded on all sides.