The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)
The battle
This year marks 110 years since the Battle of the Somme. Winston Churchill wrote of it the following in an August 1916 Cabinet Memorandum: ‘the British offensive per se has been a great failure.’ By nightfall on its first day – 1 July 1916 – over 57,000 British soldiers lay dead, wounded, or missing.
Relentless artillery fire shook the earth beneath the soldiers’ feet, smoke filled the skies, and grief pierced many hearts. The fighting and killing continued until 18 November, with men living knee-deep in mud, surrounded by cries from the dying, and ended with over one million casualties. For me, a veteran, the Somme is a vision of hell on earth.
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