A CENTURY ago the Battle of the Somme was raging in northern France, and this week we look at how another Argyll family was hit by one of the bloodiest struggles of the First World War.
The British forces’ aim was to relieve their French allies at Verdun and weaken the opposing German army, but they were unable to break through enemy lines. It led to a brutal five-month battle of attrition on a 15-mile front, which left one million dead and wounded on all sides.
The 141 days of horror had begun on July 1, 1916, when 100,000 British soldiers were sent over the top to attack the German trenches. But the day was a disaster: the Germans had weathered seven days of artillery fire, and mowed down British troops with machine-gun and rifle fire. It was the bloodiest day in the British army’s history.