Pssst Musket have a word with your pal Steve Shaw about the evils of "rounding up".

Oh by the way Steve the discussion here relates to people here stating that the war was unnecessary, that the British Army was badly led, that the men who volunteered were duped and lied to and had no idea what they were fighting for.

The people declaring that on this forum have provided absolutely no evidence that withstands even the most rudimentary examination to support their point of view. Both Keith and myself have introduced information and quotes from many historians, highly respected in their academic specialist fields that counter the arguments put on this forum. The discussion does not centre around one day of one battle that lasted for over four months it covers over four years of a particularly bloody war.

"They all unequivocally say that overall the army was well led and had the support of the people." - Keith A of Hertford

That Steve Shaw IS what historians generally say about the First World War and every metric you wish to use to gauge it supports that.

By the way Steve as you wish to walk those 25 miles along the section of the Somme any idea of what you would have encountered on the subsequent days? You have only concentrated on one part of the battlefield on one particular day haven't you.

Dead British bodies per mile = 144 as the average death toll for the entire battle was ~3,600 per day - the Germans lost even more. At the end of the battle the Germans retreated from the high ground that they had held with commanding views over British positions, ground that the British now found themselves occupying.

By the end of 1916 the Germans, at Verdun and on the Somme, instead of "bleeding the allies white", which was their intention from the outset in February of that year, found themselves no further forward in their prosecution of the war and in counting the cost found that they had lost their best troops in the process.

By the end of 1916 the British on the Somme now knew that their "Citizens Army", of which many had been extremely sceptical, could defeat the Germans, their morale was high and their command now knew, in terms of tactics and equipment, what was required to break the stalemate of trench warfare on the "Western Front". They also knew with the utmost conviction that the tools to defeat the Germans were held in their hands.