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© Stéphane Compoint
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Battle of the Somme : Lochnanar Crater (Big Mine), close to village of La Boiselle. The mine exploded on July 1, 1916 at 7:28 am, marking the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. That day, the men jumped from their positions ignoring they rushed towards imminent death caused by their own camp : for a few minutes before the infantry assault, several huge explosions triggered by the allies and intended to break the German front lines, dug deep craters such as this borehole, which is 100 meters in diameter and 30 meters deep, and currently the only accessible to public. The beginning of the Battle of the Somme was the scene of a terrible carnage : 58000 men killed or wounded in the first day. Four months later, the result is terrible : 1200000 men put out of action for a total of 3000000 men. It was the British, with about 420,000 dead, wounded, missing and prisoners on the only sector of the Somme, who pay the heaviest tribe to slaughter, and 1st July 1916 was the worst day of their entire military history. Every July 1st at 7:28 am, the British hold a ceremony around this crater : in its bottom are deposited thousands of poppies. There are 410 British cemeteries in the Somme.
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