It is a question often asked: what was the worst day in Britain’s military history?
Depending perhaps on their definition of ‘Britain’, some might point to 14 October 1066, when a Norman victory at the Battle of Hastings set these isles on a new course. Others might claim it was 29 March 1461, during the Wars of the Roses, when an estimated 50,000 soldiers clashed at Towton, the largest and bloodiest battle fought on home soil. For his part, no less a figure than Winston Churchill was certain, when he described the WWII Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 as truly the ‘greatest disaster’ ever to befall the British Army.
While these may all be worthy contenders for the ignominious title of Britain’s worst military debacle, it is another date – one that fell 110 years ago this summer – that for many will spring most readily to mind. When it comes to the grim business of wholesale slaughter and the futile waste of young British lives, 1 July 1916 – the first day of the Battle of the Somme – rightly holds a unique place in the national consciousness.
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