Twenty-two years later this same location was symbolically chosen by Hitler for France to formally sign its capitulation to Germany's advancing troops.
The Somme battles could be regarded as a colossal military defeat for Britain – though without it there would almost certainly not have been the ultimate victory over Germany in 1918.
'[The Somme] is a capital country in which to undertake an offensive when we get a sufficiency of artillery for the observation is excellent and we ought to be able to avoid the heavy losses which infantry have suffered on previous occasions.’
General H Rawlinson, Commander 4th Army, 1916
