The Battle of the Somme was one of the first major actions of the First World War in which Kitchener’s New Army and the famous Pal Battalions were involved to any degree.

Kitchener realised early on that the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was an obvious source of recruits for the New Army, but in view of the situation with the Irish at the time there were a number of political problems. 

The original aim was to get the UVF men to enlist, not as units in their own right, but scattered throughout other units.

The Battle of the Somme was fought principally by the soldiers of Lord Kitchener’s ‘New Army’. 

These were just ordinary men from all walks of life united by their resolve to put the Germans in their place.  They were almost half a million strong, entirely volunteers, and hardly any of them had been in uniform for more than 23 months.  At best they were half trained.