Somme Remembered At Centenary Commemorations

The Queen has led a night-long vigil to remember the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed and wounded at the Battle of the Somme.

The Westminster Abbey vigil, along with others taking place across the UK and Ireland, will be held until 7.30am, the time tens of thousands of troops went over the top of the trenches to be gunned down by German soldiers 100 years ago.

David Cameron, Prince Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will join French president Francois Hollande and other dignitaries at the Thiepval memorial in northern France, where a service will be held to mark the 1 July centenary.

The Royal couple and Prince Harry also attended a night vigil at the Thiepval memorial.

William paid tribute to those who lost their lives at the Somme, saying: "We lost the flower of a generation and in the years to come it sometimes seemed that with them a sense of vital optimism had disappeared forever from British life."

He added: "It was in many ways the saddest day in the long story of our nation."

Some 1.2 million troops were killed, injured or listed as missing in the World War I battle, which lasted for nearly five months and was seen as a military tragedy for Britain and Commonwealth countries.

The Prime Minister has said that the 100-year commemoration allows people to "reflect on the sacrifice not just of the thousands of British and Commonwealth troops who gave their lives, but of the men on all sides who did not return home."

Mr Cameron said: "It is an opportunity to think about the impact of the devastation felt by communities across all of the nations involved, which left mothers without sons, wives without husbands and children without fathers.

"The young men who left our shores believed in the cause for which they fought and we honour their memory.

"This event and the Thiepval monument itself bear testament to a solemn pledge - those who died here will never be forgotten."

The Thiepval monument bears the names of more than 72,000 British and South African soldiers who died in the battle but whose bodies were never discovered.

Around 20,000 British troops were killed on the first day of the Somme alone, while tens of thousands more were maimed or wounded.

It came to symbolise the horror of trench warfare, with the front line barely shifting despite the slaughter of troops on both sides.

The Thiepval memorial is one of six events marking the centenary in the Picardy region of France.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission still maintains 240 cemeteries in the area.