Britain, France unite at WWI's bloodiest battlefield on 100th anniversary
Even as Britain prepares to leave the European Union, the country's prime minister and Prince Charles stood alongside France's president at a cemetery in northern France in a moment of silence Friday to mark their countries' mutual sacrifices 100 years ago at the Battle of the Somme on the bloodiest day in British military history.
More than 1 million British, French and German soldiers were killed, wounded or went missing in the lengthy World War I battle in which 20,000 British soldiers alone were killed on the first day of fighting.
The sacrifices of the bloody campaign, which lasted from July 1 to Nov. 18, 1916, are commemorated at the Memorial of Thiepval, erected in 1932 to honor the 73,367 servicemen of the British Empire who died in the Somme sector with no known grave.
Six hundred British, Irish and French children were on hand to lay bouquets on the 600 British and French graves of the cemetery.
Many descendants of soldiers, often wearing poppy and cornflower pins — the British and French symbols to remember those who died — attended the solemn event, the Associated Press reported.
French President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Britain’s Prince Charles were scheduled to read texts describing the horrific scenes and the devastated landscapes of the front line in 1916.
The main ceremony started with the sound of cannon shots shortly after noon. Wreaths were laid at the Cross of Sacrifice by Cameron, Hollande, Prince Charles, Irish President Michael D. Higgins and Horst Koehler, former president of the Federal Republic of Germany.
In Britain, the centenary was marked nationally by two minutes of silence at 7:28 a.m., the moment soldiers went over the top of their trenches to begin the battle, the BBC notes.
On the night before the attack, the BBC recounts, Second Lieutenant Percy Boswell wrote about the day to come: “I am absolutely certain that I shall get through alright but in case the unexpected does happen, I shall rest content with the knowledge that I have done my duty and one can’t do more.”
Boswell died on the first day of battle at the age of 22.
The fact that the close French-British bonds are being recalled just a week after Britain's vote to leave the European Union was not lost on many participants.
“In many ways, there is a link between the current events we’re discussing and what happened 100 years ago. It’s the importance of keeping peace and security and stability on our continent,” Cameron told members of Parliament on Wednesday. “We’re going to be standing together and remembering the sacrifices all those years ago.”
Hollande struck a similar note Wednesday at a EU summit that focused on how to cope with the departure of the United Kingdom from the 28-member alliance.
“History connects us,” Hollande said. “France and the United Kingdom are very close, connected by a tunnel, with a very significant presence of French people in the United Kingdom and of British people in France ... And we have with the British a very close economic relationship.”
Last month, Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel jointly commemorated the centenary of the Battle of Verdun, the longest battle of World War I. Both leaders praised their countries’ friendship in the aftermath of two world wars and the strengthening of their bonds through EU cooperation.