French kids pay tribute to British soldiers killed during Battle of the Somme

28 May 2023 , 19:04

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Children gathered to pay tribute to fallen British soldiers at the memorial

It was the bloodiest killing field on the worst day in British military history.

The 34th Division suffered nearly 6,500 casualties – including 2,267 dead – at La Boisselle on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Five years after the First World War ended, in May 1923 the Daily Mirror reported on the inauguration of a memorial in the small village.

Now, 100 years on, locals have paid a fresh tribute, with 34 children aged three to eight, laying poppy crosses at the foot of the obelisk. Mayor of La Boisselle Christian Bernard said: “We are proud to have this memorial in our village.

The memorial was inaugurated 100 years ago

Historians David and Julie Thomson remember those who have fallen (Charlie Varley/varleypix.com)

“The children have come today, out of their lessons, just as they did 100 years ago, because it is important we and future generations remember the events here.”

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The death toll on July 1, 1916 came after a huge mine detonated by British forces outside La Boisselle signalled the start of their advance.

It left behind the Lochnagar Crater, which at 69ft deep and 330ft wide, was the Western Front’s largest blast hole.

British troops resting in a captured German trench in 1916 (Getty Images)

Local Brits David and Julie Thomson, who run a B&B in the village in northern France, were involved in the tribute.

David said: “It was particularly moving to see the children show such respect to those who died so long ago.

“This was particularly touching as it’s exactly 100 years since the memorial was opened. The numbers are just shocking. 6,500 British soldiers killed or wounded in one day.”

The British Army suffered 57,000 casualties across battlefields on the Somme’s first day.

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