"...the hand of time rested on the half-hour mark"

John Redwood: Today we mourn those who died on the Somme

Today we mourn the loss of 19,240 men who died on the first day of the battle of the Somme. Following an eight day bombardment with 1.7 million shells, and seventeen mines exploded under the German front line, 750,000 troops set out across No Man’s land at 7.30 am on that fateful day... It reminds us how much blood and treasure in the past commitment to Europe has cost us, when the world’s oceans beckoned to a better future elsewhere for an island trading maritime nation.