• The bodies of two German soldiers lie in a trench badly damaged by artillery fire.
    Battle of the Somme

    How German Officer Stefan Westmann Experienced the Battle of the Somme

    Stefan Westmann, a German medical officer, endured the long British artillery bombardment that began the Battle of the Somme. Stefan Westmann was from Berlin. In 1914, he was a medical student at Freiburg University.

  • Troops of the Gordon Highlanders and ammunition limbers moving up to the forward area on the Albert - Bapaume road, near La Boisselle, July 1916.
    © IWM (Q 857)
    Battle of the Somme

    How The Battle Of The Somme Made Kitty Morter A War Widow

    Kitty Morter was widowed when her husband was killed on the Somme, less than a fortnight after the battle began. His death left her alone to face the birth of their child three months later. On 20 December 1913, aged 19, she married a painter called Percy Morter. Some weeks after war broke out, in the autumn of 1914, Percy was persuaded to enlist by the music hall star, Vesta Tilley.

  • Watching our Artillery Fire on Trônes Wood from Montauban, 1918, Muirhead Bone. One of a portfolio of 60 prints.
    Watching our Artillery Fire on Trônes Wood from Montauban, 1918, Muirhead Bone.
    Battle of the Somme

    How War Artist Muirhead Bone Recorded The Battle of The Somme

    Muirhead Bone was a well-established draughtsman and etcher when he became the first official war artist in July 1916. This was intended as a one-off appointment to provide further illustrations of the Battle of the Somme for publications like the War Pictorial.

  • Gilding metal headdress badge to the Machine Gun Corps, being crossed machine guns surmounted by an Imperial (King’s) crown.
    © IWM (INS 4958)
    Battle of the Somme

    Second Lieutenant Edward Colle MC

  • Khaki twill, open necked, four-pocket officer's service dress jacket with 'early' cuff rank and featuring bronzed Border Regiment buttons, but with collar badges missing. The right sleeve is entirely torn away from the body and there is much evidence of dried blood to the lower right of the garment.
    © IWM (UNI 10830)
    Battle of the Somme

    Second Lieutenant Harold Cope

    Harold Douglas Cope was so severely wounded at Delville Wood on the Somme in August 1916 that his tunic had to be cut off him before he could receive treatment. Cope landed in France in March 1915 with 1/8th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment. He served at Ypres as a corporal before being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Border Regiment in November 1915.

  • Munition workers painting shells at the National Shell Filling Factory No.6, Chilwell
    First World War

    IWM: First World War Galleries Podcasts

    Immerse yourself in IWM's Podcast series narrated by James Taylor, which will walk you through life in Britain and abroad during the First World War.

  • Oswald Blows
    © IWM
    Heroes

    Corporal Oswald Blows

    British-born Oswald Samuel Blows served on the Somme with the Australian Imperial Force, taking part in their toughest battle at Pozières. Oswald Blows left England in the autumn of 1910 and settled in Western Australia. He learned about the outbreak of war while he was in the Australian bush. On 19 October 1914, he enlisted in the 10th Australian Light Horse, but left the Army a month later.

  • Battle of Bazentin Ridge, 14-17 July 1916. An officer observing from the ruins of Longueval Church.
    © IWM (Q 4418)
    Heroes

    Lieutenant Robert Smylie

    Robert Stewart Smylie, a 42-year-old father of three, died on the Somme with photographs of his wife and children in his shrapnel-damaged wallet. By the summer of 1914, Robert Smylie had been the headmaster of Sudbury Grammar School for three and a half years. Despite his age and family responsibilities, he joined the Army when the First World War broke out. 

  • Metal whistle (L 8.5cm x W 2cm x D 2cm) with leather strap attached. The body of the whistle is impressed with the maker's name: 'Hudson & Co / 13 Barr St / Birmingham / 1908 / Hudson's / Patent'.
    © IWM (EPH 4955)
    Battle of the Somme

    Lieutenant Wilfred Walton

  • Battle of Albert. Roll call of the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, on the afternoon of 1 July 1916, following their assault on Beaumont Hamel during the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.
    © IWM (Q 734)
    Battle of the Somme

    What Are The Middlebrook Papers?

    These newly revealed eye-witness accounts of the Battle of the Somme explore the thoughts, feelings and experiences of the men who went over the top on 1 July 1916. The documents record the testimonies of 500 British veterans of one of the First World War's key and most costly battles, the majority of which have never been seen before.

  • Lieutenant Kenneth C Macardle, 17th Battalion Manchester Regiment, killed in action on the Somme, 9 July 1916.
    © IWM (HU 35936)
  • 2nd Lieutenant Percy George Boswell, 8th Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (8th Division), killed in action on the Somme, 1 July 1916.
    © IWM (HU 35941)
    Heroes

    Second Lieutenant Percy Boswell

    Percy George Boswell was 22 years old when he went over the top in the first hour of the Battle of the Somme. Percy Boswell was born in Lambeth, London in 1894. He joined the Army in September 1914 soon after the First World War broke out, serving first as a private in the 5th Battalion, London Regiment. 

  • A British sentry going up to his post, the Somme, July 1916
    First World War

    First World War Galleries Podcast: Part V - Total War

    The bloody and ferocious battle of the Somme

  • White metal disc suspended on neck chain. W.P. NEVILL 8 EAST SURREY REGT 15 Montpelier Rd. Twickenham C of E.
    © IWM (EQU 5258)
    Battle of the Somme

    Captain Wilfred 'Billie' Nevill

    Wilfred 'Billie' Nevill led his men forward on the first day of the Battle of the Somme by kicking two footballs ahead of them as they attacked.