THIEPVAL: Britain and France recalled the horrors of the Battle of the Somme on Friday, 100 years after their troops fought and died together in one of the defining offensives of World War I.

Britain’s royal family, Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande took part in a commemoration at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France to remember the one million who were left dead, injured or missing in the 141-day battle.

Guards of honour, bagpipes and military bands accompanied the moving ceremony in the shadow of the imposing memorial inscribed with the names of 72,000 servicemen who went missing in the surrounding fields.

The offensive was launched to ease pressure on French forces taking a hammering at Verdun, and was preceded by the largest artillery bombardment in history, with some 1.5 million shells lobbed at the Germans.

However, this was not enough to break German defences, and of some 55,000 soldiers who scrambled out of their trenches, 20,000 would be dead by the end of the first day of fighting — the bloodiest in British military history.

The Battle of the Somme was a tragedy not only for British, French and German troops, but also Commonwealth nations whose soldiers fought for Britain.

Guests from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, India, Pakistan, Canada and Ireland also attended the event. Germany was represented by former president Horst Koehler.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016