Photo Gallery: Commemoration of the Battle of the Somme - Sir John Monash Centre

On the 1^st of July we remembered those who served on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme.

Each year on the 1st of July, ceremonies to commemorate the Battle of the Somme begin at 07:28am at Lochnagar Crater. In 1916, the explosion of a mine placed by the Royal Engineers Tunnelling Companies marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. Photo: Somme Tourisme

A moving service was held in Contalmaison, at McCrae’s Battalion Great War Memorial. It commemorates the dead of the 16th Royal Scots battalion formed by Sir George McCrae, who participated in the Battle of the Somme. The battalion was known as “The Sporting Battalion” for its high number of professional sportsmen. Photo: Somme Tourisme.

The Royal British Legion held a service at the Thiepval Memorial engraved with the names of more than 72,000 servicemen who served in the British and South-African forces who have no known grave. Many of them participated in the Battle of the Somme. Photo: CWGC.

Not far from the Thiepval Memorial, the Somme Association held a commemorative service at the Ulster Tower where the men of the 36th Ulster Division fought on 1 July 1916. Photo: CWGC.

The Canadian Department of Veterans’ Affairs held a poignant service at the Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. The caribou overlooks the preserved trenches of the battlefield on which the Newfoundland Regiment was almost wiped out on the morning of the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Photo: CWGC.

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